
Email & SMS Marketing Specialist
AgileGrid Solutions · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $75,000 / year
- United States
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Job highlights
- Lead email and SMS marketing campaigns for non-profit.
- Engage donors, families, and applicants.
- Utilize ActiveCampaign for strategy and execution.
- Drive fundraising and educational equity missions.
- Analyze campaign performance and provide insights.
About the role
About The Company
ACE Scholarships is a reputable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2000 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Dedicated to promoting educational equity, ACE provides low-income children with access to quality K-12 private education through partial scholarship programs. Over the past 25+ years, ACE has successfully awarded more than 140,000 scholarships valued at over $390 million, positively impacting thousands of families across multiple states including Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. The organization is actively exploring expansion opportunities supported by national funding partners and is preparing for the upcoming Federal School Choice Tax Credit Program scheduled to launch in January 2027, which promises to broaden access to school choice for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide.
About The Role
ACE Scholarships is seeking a strategic, innovative, and mission-driven Email & SMS Marketing Specialist to lead and enhance our multi-channel communication efforts. This role is vital in managing and executing email and SMS campaigns that foster donor engagement, family and applicant outreach, storytelling, and fundraising initiatives. The ideal candidate will have prior experience working in fast-paced, mission-oriented environments, with a strong proficiency in ActiveCampaign or similar platforms. You will oversee the entire lifecycle of campaigns, from development to analysis, ensuring they align with organizational goals and compliance standards. Your work will directly contribute to increasing engagement, driving conversions, and supporting ACE’s mission to advance K-12 educational freedom.
Qualifications
The ideal candidate will possess 4-6 years of hands-on experience in email marketing, with proven success managing campaigns within nonprofit, education, advocacy, or fundraising sectors. Proficiency in ActiveCampaign or comparable ESPs such as MailChimp or Klaviyo is essential, including automation, segmentation, workflows, and reporting. Familiarity with SMS marketing principles, compliance regulations (TCPA, 10DLC, opt-in/opt-out), and permission-based texting is required. Strong copywriting skills, with the ability to craft persuasive and emotionally resonant content tailored to segmented audiences, are necessary. Basic knowledge of HTML/CSS for email customization, graphic design skills (using Canva or Adobe), and experience integrating email and SMS strategies in a unified approach are highly desirable. A bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, Marketing, or related fields is preferred, along with familiarity with CRMs like Salesforce or Bloomerang. Knowledge of education policy and current K-12 issues, as well as experience working in multi-state organizations, are advantageous.
Responsibilities
Email Marketing:
- Develop and implement integrated email and SMS marketing strategies targeting various stakeholder groups, including donors, families, scholarship applicants, and partner schools, across different stages of engagement such as acquisition, cultivation, retention, and major gifts.
- Create compelling, on-brand copy for emails and SMS messages, including attention-grabbing subject lines, concise content, calls-to-action, and personalized messaging designed to inspire donations, applications, event participation, and sharing.
- Manage audience segmentation within ActiveCampaign, maintaining clean lists, building targeted segments based on criteria like giving history, geography, engagement, and application status, while ensuring compliance with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, TCPA, and other regulations.
- Design, test, and deploy campaigns using ActiveCampaign’s tools, including responsive templates, automation workflows (welcome series, donation acknowledgments, impact updates, year-end appeals, urgent fundraising pushes), A/B testing, personalization, dynamic content, and multi-channel sequences.
- Coordinate with web development teams to ensure contact forms are integrated with ActiveCampaign for effective lead capture and conversion.
- Develop and optimize subscriber marketing funnels to enhance engagement and conversion rates.
Text Message Marketing
- Lead SMS strategy development, including obtaining and validating opt-ins, managing consent and opt-outs, and automating STOP handling.
- Execute high-engagement SMS broadcasts and MMS campaigns with images for added impact, including urgent fundraising appeals, event reminders, real-time updates, text-to-give initiatives, and two-way communication for supporter interaction.
- Monitor deliverability, set quiet hours, and analyze open and response rates to maximize timely engagement without overwhelming supporters.
Operations & Collaboration
- Work closely with organizational partners, state teams, development, scholarship programs, and external vendors to ensure cohesive messaging and campaign execution.
- Track and analyze campaign performance metrics, providing regular reports and strategic recommendations to leadership to improve engagement and ROI.
- Ensure all content complies with nonprofit best practices, brand standards, and platform policies.
- Collaborate with marketing, development, programs, and communications teams to align messaging with organizational campaigns, events, press releases, and storytelling initiatives.
- Maintain and optimize ActiveCampaign platform setup, troubleshoot issues, implement new features, and train team members on platform usage.
- Stay informed on the latest trends in email and SMS marketing, nonprofit communication best practices, and platform updates to maximize campaign effectiveness.
Key skills/competency
- Email Marketing Strategy
- SMS Marketing
- ActiveCampaign
- Donor Engagement
- Fundraising Initiatives
- Copywriting
- Audience Segmentation
- Campaign Analysis
- Marketing Automation
- Nonprofit Marketing
Skills & topics
- Email Marketing
- SMS Marketing
- Marketing Specialist
- Nonprofit Marketing
- Fundraising
- Donor Engagement
- ActiveCampaign
- Marketing Automation
- Communications
- Content Creation
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in nonprofit marketing, email/SMS campaigns, and platforms like ActiveCampaign. Quantify achievements in donor engagement and fundraising.
- Craft a compelling cover letter: Express passion for ACE Scholarships' mission and clearly articulate how your skills align with the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist role.
- Showcase platform proficiency: Detail your experience with ActiveCampaign, MailChimp, or Klaviyo, emphasizing automation, segmentation, and reporting capabilities.
- Demonstrate compliance knowledge: Mention your understanding of TCPA, CAN-SPAM, and GDPR regulations relevant to email and SMS marketing.
- Prepare for interviews: Be ready to discuss your strategic approach to multi-channel campaigns and provide examples of successful donor engagement initiatives.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What are the key responsibilities of the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist at ACE Scholarships?
- The Email & SMS Marketing Specialist at ACE Scholarships will be responsible for developing and executing multi-channel communication strategies, creating compelling content for emails and SMS, managing audience segmentation, designing and deploying campaigns, and analyzing performance metrics to drive donor engagement and fundraising efforts.
- What experience is required for the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist role at ACE Scholarships?
- The role requires 4-6 years of experience in email marketing, specifically within nonprofit, education, advocacy, or fundraising sectors. Proficiency in ActiveCampaign or similar ESPs, familiarity with SMS marketing principles and compliance, and strong copywriting skills are essential. A bachelor's degree in a related field is preferred.
- What marketing platforms does ACE Scholarships use for email and SMS?
- ACE Scholarships primarily uses ActiveCampaign for their email and SMS marketing efforts. Proficiency in this platform, or comparable ESPs like MailChimp or Klaviyo, is essential for candidates applying for the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist position.
- How does this role contribute to ACE Scholarships' mission?
- The Email & SMS Marketing Specialist plays a crucial role in advancing ACE Scholarships' mission by fostering donor engagement, reaching out to families and applicants, sharing impactful stories, and supporting fundraising initiatives that provide K-12 scholarships to low-income children.
- What kind of content will the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist create?
- The specialist will create persuasive and emotionally resonant content for emails and SMS messages. This includes attention-grabbing subject lines, concise copy, clear calls-to-action, and personalized messaging designed to inspire donations, applications, event participation, and sharing.
- What compliance regulations are important for this role at ACE Scholarships?
- It is important for the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist to be familiar with and ensure compliance with regulations such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, TCPA, and 10DLC for both email and SMS communications. This includes managing opt-ins and opt-outs effectively.
- Is graphic design or HTML/CSS knowledge necessary for the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist position?
- While not strictly mandatory, basic knowledge of HTML/CSS for email customization and graphic design skills using tools like Canva or Adobe are highly desirable for the Email & SMS Marketing Specialist role. This helps in creating visually appealing and on-brand marketing materials.
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