Director of Marketing & Audience Growth

WHO WE ARE

United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) is home to the change makers and justice seekers. We're individuals from various walks of life making collective steps towards a better future for our community. Our focus is on bringing about real and sustainable change by unleashing the collective power of people to open minds, unite diverse communities, and convert compassion into action for a more just, inclusive, and thriving L.A. County. Together, we make tangible impact on some of our region's most pressing challenges by expanding educational opportunity, advancing economic mobility, strengthening community resilience, and helping people thrive. For us, being 'united' isn't just in reference to our organization but to our hope for the future of Los Angeles. Regardless of race, gender, orientation, or self-identification - we do our part as one by making room for all. 

WHAT WE DO

Our Marketing & Communications department advances United Way's mission by connecting our mission to the key constituents, donors and partners who help drive awareness, action, giving, volunteerism and advocacy. We bring the organization’s vision for community change to life by creating engaging content, events, communications and experiences that grab the attention of our partners, donors, neighbors, and challengers alike.

WHY WE NEED YOU

We are inviting creative, data-driven marketing leaders with a passion for connecting people to causes that change lives to apply for our Director of Marketing & Audience Growth role.

In this role, you’ll build a modern, integrated marketing function that combines compelling creative work, digital strategy, and measurable audience and donor growth—turning visibility into participation, advocacy, philanthropic support, and stronger relationships with communities across Los Angeles.

You’ll have the unique opportunity to shape how one of Los Angeles’s most established nonprofit organizations reaches new supporters, deepens existing donor relationships, and connects the next generation to lasting impact.

HOW YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE TO THE CAUSE

Strategic Marketing, Audience & Donor Growth

• Develop and execute an integrated marketing and audience-growth strategy that expands reach, attracts supporters, deepens engagement, and converts awareness into measurable participation, advocacy, and giving.
• Translate UWGLA’s Strategic Plan and Community Impact, Revenue and Engagement, and Technology and Marketing implementation priorities into annual channel and campaign plans with measurable goals.
• Partner with Development to build segmented donor journeys for Tocqueville Society ($10,000+), Leadership Giving ($1,000–$9,999), and lapsed donors, supporting new-donor acquisition, retention, upgrades, and reengagement.
• Lead marketing strategy for UWGLA’s 15,000-plus donors giving under $1,000, including targeted stewardship, reactivation, upgrade, and recurring-giving opportunities, in partnership with Development.
• Build acquisition strategies for first-time and next-generation donors; identify emerging audience segments, motivations, behaviors, and growth opportunities for donors, volunteers, and advocates.
• Use market research, audience insights, and sector trends to strengthen UWGLA’s relevance and guide brand positioning, integrated campaigns, and long-term revenue diversification.

Digital Marketing, Donor Conversion & Campaigns

• Lead digital marketing across email, organic and paid social, search, display, and other channels, with channel-specific acquisition, engagement, conversion, and retention goals.
• Create and optimize digital donor journeys and conversion paths, including visitor-to-donor, email-to-donation, first-time and recurring giving, and post-event engagement.
• Plan integrated campaigns supporting Community College Success, fundraising priorities, and signature events such as WalkUnitedLA, including participant recruitment and post-event stewardship.
• Develop cause-marketing strategies and creative corporate partnerships that expand reach, elevate UWGLA’s brand, and create new engagement and revenue opportunities.
• Partner with Corporate and Employee Giving to build scalable workplace campaign and partner toolkits that strengthen employee participation, corporate relationships, and event promotion.
• Own paid-media strategy, budget allocation, targeting, testing, and optimization; evaluate acquisition and recruitment costs, campaign conversions, and paid-media return.

Brand Positioning & Creative Direction

• Lead strategies to strengthen UWGLA’s brand relevance, visibility, and differentiation in Los Angeles, positioning the organization as a leading partner in education, economic mobility, and opportunity for all.
• Set and evolve visual brand guidelines and shared creative templates for consistent, audience-centered experiences across marketing channels and partner touchpoints.
• Translate core messaging and impact storytelling developed with Communications into targeted campaigns, digital experiences, sponsorship materials, and event marketing.
• Direct and manage external agencies, designers, and creative vendors, including scopes, budgets, timelines, and quality of deliverables.

Website, Marketing Technology, AI & Performance

• Lead marketing strategy for the website refresh, user experience, search visibility, landing pages, and online-giving conversion in partnership with Development and Technology.
• Define marketing-technology and integration requirements with Development and IT, connecting donor records, the giving platform, email, events, and campaign data to support segmented outreach.
• Evaluate and responsibly deploy emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to improve personalization, segmentation, campaign effectiveness, and operational efficiency, with attention to data quality and privacy.
• Establish dashboards and reporting for qualified audience growth, donor acquisition and retention, recurring giving, conversion, campaign-attributed leads, and marketing-influenced revenue.
• Track and improve key marketing efficiency measures, including cost per new donor, cost per event participant, paid-media return, and conversion by audience segment; report results regularly to leadership.

Team Management & Department Operations

• Mentor and coach staff, setting measurable expectations and providing timely, respectful feedback and professional development.
• Establish campaign planning, intake, production, and prioritization processes that enable effective cross-functional collaboration and on-time delivery.
• Manage the marketing budget and hold agencies, vendors, and contractors accountable for outcomes and effective use of resources.
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

WHAT 1 YEAR OF SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Integrated marketing and growth plan operational, centered on Community College Success, donor and corporate engagement, WalkUnitedLA, and revenue diversification, with quarterly campaign and audience performance reviews.
• Segmented acquisition, stewardship, and re-engagement journeys in place for key donor groups (major donors $10k+, mid-level, under-$1,000, and next generation), contributing to 10% growth in new donor acquisition.
• Website refresh roadmap created and digital donation funnel established with conversion, online giving, and recurring giving baselines set and performance improving against jointly approved targets.
• Social media reach or engagement increased 25% across priority platforms; qualified email, prospective-donor, volunteer, and advocacy audiences growing measurably.
• Community College and WalkUnitedLA campaigns deployed with measurable audience, corporate, participant, and supporter-conversion outcomes with coordinated stewardship and follow-up.
• Brand guidance, templates, and audience-targeted campaign resources adopted internally.
• Marketing technology assessment completed with prioritized improvements and a shared donor data and automation roadmap developed with Development and Technology teams.

SKILLS YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED (The Must-Haves)

Education & Experience

• You have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• You bring at least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in marketing, digital strategy, brand management, or audience development.
• You have at least 3 years of experience supervising and developing direct reports.

Personal Qualities & Competencies

• You enjoy a hybrid environment that includes both in-person and remote work styles and are able to work from our DTLA office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and additional days as needed.
• You understand the value of racial equity as an organizational operating principle and are committed to continued learning on issues related to race, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• You are curious about emerging technology and artificial intelligence and always looking for practical ways to apply new tools to work smarter and drive greater impact.
• You have developed and executed integrated, multichannel campaigns that delivered measurable results.
• You have a strong command of digital marketing channels, including email, paid media, social platforms, search, and website optimization.
• You use audience segmentation and digital analytics to measure performance and continually optimize campaigns.
• You bring strong creative judgment, with experience directing brand development, visual design, and marketing production.
• You turn strategic objectives into actionable marketing plans with clear, measurable outcomes.
• You balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution, rolling up your sleeves when the work calls for it.
• You manage multiple complex projects, budgets, and agencies at once, keeping competing priorities on track.
• You are an organized, collaborative communicator who builds strong partnerships across teams.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU’RE A FIT (The Nice-to-Haves)

• You have worked in nonprofit marketing, fundraising, donor engagement, or another mission-driven environment.
• You have built campaigns focused on supporter acquisition, donor conversion, or membership growth.
• You are familiar with CRM platforms, marketing automation, and digital fundraising technology.
• You have hands-on experience with Google Analytics 4, email marketing platforms, digital advertising platforms, and content management systems.
• You know Greater Los Angeles communities, philanthropic networks, and nonprofit organizations.
• You know your way around the Microsoft Windows operating system and its essential programs, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Hiring Salary Range: $120,000-135,000 per year dependent on internal equity and a variety of job-related factors including, but not limited to, experience, training, education, and market demands.
The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 403(b) plan, pension, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, paid holidays, and paid time off.