Development and Marketing VISTA - PAID Opportunity

About the role

The Development and Marketing VISTA will build long-term organizational capacity across three critical areas: social media and influencer marketing, event and donor development, and grant readiness. This is not a maintain-the-status-quo role—you’ll create scalable systems, documented playbooks, and reusable tools that strengthen Idaho Youth Ranch’s ability to raise funds, tell its story, and sustain mission-critical programs long after your service term ends.

Responsibilities

• Conduct landscape research to map influencer categories aligned with sustainability, thrift culture, youth advocacy, and mental health awareness, then design a comprehensive Influencer Engagement Framework covering eligibility criteria, partnership tiers, messaging guidelines, and brand alignment standards.
• Develop outreach templates, onboarding materials, partnership agreement templates, and content expectation guides that staff can use independently.
• Build an internal tracking system for influencer prospects and performance metrics, create a campaign planning calendar aligned with organizational priorities, and compile everything into a formal Influencer Partnership Manual for long-term sustainability.
• Develop standardized event planning workflows, master checklists, and documentation toolkits—including budget templates, vendor comparison matrices, risk assessments, and post-event evaluation frameworks—for Idaho Youth Ranch’s recurring fundraising and community engagement events.
• Design stewardship frameworks outlining communication cadences, recognition tiers, and engagement pathways, and draft reusable templates for thank-you letters, follow-up emails, and sponsorship acknowledgments.
• Build a tracking structure that maps donor and sponsor engagement stages, research new funding sectors, and compile all materials into a Development Systems Playbook.
• Conduct grant landscape research to identify funding opportunities in youth mental health, trauma-informed care, youth homelessness, workforce development, and related areas, then build a centralized grant research database with standardized evaluation criteria.
• Create reusable narrative libraries—organizational history, program descriptions, theory of change, impact statements, and boilerplate language—along with program-specific case statement templates.
• Develop a grants tracking calendar and workflow system, a data compilation framework for outcome metrics, and a comprehensive Grants Process Guide covering everything from opportunity identification through submission readiness.

Requirements

An ideal candidate should be a strategic thinker who loves building systems and toolkits that other people can pick up and run with. They must have excellent writing skills, comfortable with research, analysis, and organizing complex information into clear, actionable formats. Experience with or strong interest in social media marketing, nonprofit development, or grant writing is preferred, but a bachelor’s degree is not required.

Qualifications

• Genuine passion for youth mental health, community impact, or the nonprofit sector.

Skills

• Strategic thinking
• Excellent writing skills
• Research and analysis
• Organizing complex information
• Experience with social media marketing, nonprofit development, or grant writing

Benefits

• Modest living allowance paid biweekly, plus a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award upon completion.
• Health coverage option, childcare assistance (if eligible), and choice of end-of-service stipend or additional education award.
• Non-competitive eligibility for federal employment for one year after service.
• Professional development, networking, and mentorship within a mission-driven organization.