Program and Volunteer Coordinator

Founded in 2003, GiGi's Playhouse Inc.'s mission is to change the way the world views Down syndrome through national campaigns, educational programs, and by empowering individuals with Down syndrome, their families, and the community. All programs are free and are therapeutic in nature. Each one of our programs is designed to work on specific skill development, including speech and language, literacy, socialization, and fine and gross motor skills. GiGi's Playhouse currently has over 58 locations across North America and growing by several locations annually.

GiGi's Playhouse offers innovative programs for children and adults with Down syndrome, designed to develop confidence and the development of a broad variety of skills – educational, therapeutic and career development. The Program and Volunteer Coordinator facilitates the implementation of all programs, ensures they operate effectively, supports volunteer recruitment, orientation, scheduling, training, and recognition of volunteers within the Playhouse. This includes making sure programs are properly staffed with skilled and trained volunteers and follow structured curriculums. Interacting well with people at all levels of the organization is necessary - daily communication with staff, volunteers and participants with varied diagnoses and their families will be needed in this role to be successful. A flexible schedule is a must, as you may be needed to oversee or cover programs when needed, including some evenings and weekends. All staff members are the face of GiGi's Playhouse and play an essential role representing GiGi's to families, volunteers, donors, and community members.

Essential Job Functions:

Program Oversight and Continuous Improvement

• Ensure all programs at the Playhouse meet the stated objectives and branding messages delivered by the GiGi's Playhouse national office
• Maintain a project log for ongoing improvement of current programs and activities to help inform better solutions
• Partner with National Program Director to leverage and continually improve centralized strategies and tools for program execution and volunteer management

Volunteer Management

• Represents GiGi's Playhouse at Volunteer Recruitment events within the community
• Recruit new volunteers to ensure the Playhouse is continually supported for all programs, events and other Playhouse needs
• Responds to volunteer inquiries and questions via phone and email in a timely and professional manner. Oversees the Volunteer email address for the Playhouse.
• Hosts and leads New Volunteer Orientation sessions, according to the GiGi's Playhouse model, a minimum of once per month. Sends email/phone reminders to attendees 5-7 days prior to the Orientation. Performs follow up from Volunteer Orientation within 3-5 days.
• Conducts one-on-one Volunteer Orientation sessions for volunteers who are not able to attend the monthly session.
• Collects volunteer needs and is responsible for scheduling volunteers into volunteer roles using our volunteer categorizations
• Informs Program Leaders/Committee Chairs when a new volunteer has been placed
• Maintains volunteer information in GiGi's Playhouse database, including entering volunteerdemographics, availability, interests
• Coordinates and schedules volunteer trainings and provides on-going training as needed
• Maintains open communication with the Executive Director to ensure volunteer needs are covered and successful programs and events are delivered
• Coordinates Volunteer Recognition events for all Playhouse Volunteers, a minimum of two times per year
• Coordinates with staff for social media, website and blog entries relating to volunteer impact,recognition, and stories
• Manage all key volunteers (e.g., Education Coordinator, Literacy and Math Coordinators, etc.) to ensure all programs, events and activities are fully supported for the needs of the Playhouse, and meeting with them on a regular basis to keep up to date on needs and news

Program Impact, Participation and Volunteer Hours

• Becomes an expert at Salesforce (relational database tool) to document and track volunteer activity and program participation, including reporting on trends
• Continually seek opportunities to track program impact and document it in Salesforce, while minimizing program interference and volunteer paperwork
• Demonstrate sufficient understanding of program objectives and execution models to be able to fill in on occasion to help support program needs.
• Actively work to grow program participation, volunteer hours, family and community connections through marketing efforts
• Solicit regular and measurable input from local families regarding program needs and schedules.
• Demonstrate fidelity relative to Salesforce to document and track volunteer activity, program participation, family data, etc.

Program Marketing

• Updates online calendar with all programs and events, at least 6 weeks in advance
• Continually captures success stories, quotes, and quality pictures during programs for use in marketing efforts
• Develop weekly e-newsletter, gathering stories and pictures per the required format/ template
• Informs and inspires families, volunteers, donors and other constituents via social media, website, blog, and email newsletter campaigns by sharing pictures, news, events, volunteer needs and stories in partnership with local Executive Director
• Create promotional flyers and other graphics for local Playhouse events

Program Strategy and Planning

• In partnership with Program Committee and/or Executive Director, define long term (6-12 months) program plan, including program sessions, themes, rolling out new programs, etc.
• Solicit input from Playhouse families to understand additional demand for new program types, better program times, themes, etc. to ensure the Playhouse is meeting the needs of families while remaining consistent with the GiGi's mission

Administration & Office Management

• Greet and connect with all visitors to the Playhouse, including families, volunteers, and donors, whether they visit in person, via phone or email.
• Maintain the physical appearance of the Playhouse; ensure a welcoming, clean, organized, and safe environment for families, volunteers, and donors at all times.

Operational and Strategic Management

• Drive the Playhouse's achievement of the GiGi's Standards of Execution, continually striving to achieve Center of Excellence level on all SOE's.
• Deliver outstanding operational execution in the Playhouse to ensure a high-quality experience for families, volunteers, donors, and community members.
• Support the team's ability to maintain all Playhouse hours.
• Ensure the proper upkeep of the Playhouse facility and its assets.

Engage with Program Participants and Families

• Ensure the program lineup and quality serves the needs of the community while executing the full fidelity expected of GiGi's Signature programs.
• Connect with families in the local Down syndrome community to help them further engage in Playhouse programs, volunteer activities, and events.
• Continually gather stories and pictures of Playhouse programs and activities to effectively demonstrate impact.

Connection to GiGi's Playhouse national office, Playhouse network, and local Board of Managers

• Attend GiGi's annual National Leadership Conference
• Leverage all nationally developed tools and resources in lieu of building new processes, programs, and tools from scratch.

Competencies

• Teamwork: Balances team and individual responsibilities; exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; puts success of team above own interests; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; supports everyone's efforts to succeed.

• Problem Solving: Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics.

• Written and oral communication: Ability to express ideas and thoughts verbally; expresses ideas and thoughts in written form; exhibits good listening and comprehension; keeps others adequately informed; selects and uses appropriate communication methods.

• Adaptability: Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.

• Innovation: Displays original thinking and creativity; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas; presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention.

• Planning/Organizing: Prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; plans for additional resources; sets goals and objectives; organizes or schedules other people and their tasks; develops realistic action plans.

• Quality: Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; monitors own work to ensure quality.

• Customer Service: Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments.

• Technical Skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills related to technical tools.

GiGi's Playhouse Core Values: GiGi's challenges all staff and volunteers to embody the following core values:

• Enthusiasm: Bringing positive, high energy to our work.

• Best of All: Always looking to improve in all that we do. Challenge yourself every day.

• Get It Done: Making things happen and blasting through barriers when needed; figure it out.

• Believe: Believe in ourselves, believe in our mission, believe we can achieve all that we set out to achieve.

• Locally Concerned, Enterprise Minded: To best serve our local communities, we share our location's best practices and have the humility to leverage the collective learnings from across the GiGi's network.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $40, $45,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Ability to Relocate:

• Canton, OH 44718: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person