Communications & Engagement Lead

Job Purpose

Your legacy will be a tangible impact on slowing down climate change, helping nature recover and creating social impact by communicating our vision, and the scale of our projects, to a wide range of audiences.

You will join a fast-growing organisation that started in 2019 with four volunteers and has grown to a staff team of nineteen (with more recruitment in the pipeline for 2024), over 1,000 volunteers and ownership of nearly 600 acres of land that will grow woodlands of over 160,000 trees.

We are looking for an experienced communications professional with exceptional media experience and editorial skills.

ANT has a broad and varied network of audiences; stakeholders, partners, landowner and  fundraising supporters.

You will help take our impact to the next level by inspiring and influencing others to follow us in our ambitious plans for change.

Main responsibilities

• Work with the Head of Engagement, Communications and Fundraising to develop a new Communications strategy for the organisation

  • As part of this work, look at an overall approach that will guide stakeholder engagement plans for individual projects. This will cover local landowners, project partners, governmental bodies, NGO stakeholders

• Building the narrative & telling stories  

  • Develop messaging that captures the imagination of our different audiences - around the scale and ambition of our projects, their innovative aspects

  • Translate complex projects & partnerships into simple, compelling ideas

  • Work with woodland project teams & land managers to identify stories from our habitats that will bring the positive impact of our work to life

  • Coordinate with our Impact & Knowledge lead on our latest impact data and case studies. Present key points to audiences in an accessible way and tell a compelling before-and-after story

• Maximise our media coverage

  • Generate local & national media coverage to build awareness of our projects, in response to external developments where appropriate

  • Work with partner organisations to produce mutually beneficial stories, leveraging their networks and resources

  • Work with the fundraising team to promote our fundraising pushes, in particular our project-based crowdfunding campaigns

  • Help prepare statements and presentations for the CEO

• Overall responsibility of our communications channels

  • Build out a proactive calendar of communications based around our events and key points in project timelines

  • Design comms plans around our advocacy and campaigns work

  • Oversight of day to day management of email campaigns and journeys, social, website 

  • Coordinate production of high quality content including video and photography

• Line management of the Communications Officer, supporting them to develop and grow their skills 

• Engagement

  • As part of the overall comms mix, you will coordinate the stakeholder engagement functions of ANT that work with landowners, strategic partners and local government bodies

  • Ensure that the engagement direction as laid out in the Communications strategy is followed more widely across the organisation 

  • In this capacity you will also line manage the Outreach Co-ordinator

• As with all Avon Needs Trees roles, contributing to grant writing and fundraising activities

• Other duties and opportunities as required