Unice

Director, Sports Partnerships

UNICEF

New York, NY

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Job Description

Posted On: June 29, 2016

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to save and improve children’s lives, providing health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF (USF) supports UNICEF’s work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States. Together, we are working toward the day when ZERO children die from preventable causes and every child has a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, please visit unicefusa.org.


Director, Sports Partnerships


Reporting to the Senior Director, Corporate Partnership Development, the Director of Sports Partnerships will be responsible for leading USF’s efforts to engage with athletes, teams, and leagues to advocate for children in need and to mobilize resources to support UNICEF's efforts. The Director will also be responsible for stewarding the retention and growth of existing high priority sports partners and building a high profile team of professional athletes, TeamUNICEF USA, united in their commitment to children and individually engaged in advocating and fundraising for UNICEF with a special focus on UNICEF Kid Power and emergencies.


Key Responsibilities/Outcomes (include but are not limited to):

  • Directly manage a portfolio of key sports partnerships and ensure best-in-class stewardship and reporting practices to assure the long term retention and growth of sports partnerships
  • Lead the development and rollout of TeamUNICEF USA, including progressively deepening engagement plans for individual athletes around issues that the athlete cares about in collaboration with Celebrity Engagement team
  • Institute and lead the TeamUNICEF USA Advisory Board to advise and assist the USF in achieving its strategic development goals and objectives
  • Lead cultivation of new sports partners with the potential to generate additional funding for UNICEF programs worldwide
  • Develop and coordinate account planning/management process of high priority relationships, including leveraging internal and external PR, communications, marketing and interactive marketing support as needed
  • Lead all new partnership discussions, including development of partnership propositions and presentations for athletes, teams, and leagues in collaboration with PR, marketing and account management teams as appropriate
  • Work closely with UNICEF Kid Power (UKP) team to develop sport pillar of UKP campaign strategy that compliments overarching Sports Partnerships and UNICEF Kid Power objectives and is inclusive of national, high profile opportunities as well as national grassroots opportunities such as youth leagues that drive content acquisition, large-scale mission participation or significant fundraising.
  • When appropriate, leverage relationships with leagues and athletes to make connections to sponsor companies of value to the UKP campaign and/or broader corporate partnership team.
  • Evaluate and develop opportunities for leagues, teams and athletes to participate in key USF platforms
  • Lead and explore opportunities for teams and league to participate in UNICEF’s new emergency response program “UNICEF NOW” to activate sports fans to donate after large-scale global disasters
  • Stay abreast of trends and developments in sports marketing and philanthropy, updating the work stream’s strategy and goals as needed
  • Serve as an internal and external champion for USF’s sports partnerships work and represent the USF at internal and external meetings and events


    Required Skills

  • Bachelor’s degree and at least seven to ten years’ experience in cause marketing, corporate/cause partnerships, account management, and/or corporate branding/marketing. Experience in international development and/or corporate social responsibility trends and practices a plus. A mix of corporate and non-profit experience preferred.
  • Proven ability to generate revenue; creative thinker with ability to identify and pursue new opportunities
  • Ability to build relationships with individuals with diverse personalities and styles and at different levels of seniority
  • Ability to develop and execute an account plan including goals, metrics, strategy, and tactics
  • Ability to effectively lead internal and external meetings
  • Experience with integrated marketing programs (digital/social media, PR, marketing collateral, etc.) targeted to different consumer and corporate audiences
  • Thrives in a fast-paced environment and can prioritize while working under multiple deadlines
  • Excellent problem solving skills; ability to effectively collect, analyze, organize, distill and present information
  • Excellent negotiation skills, able to build consensus and find creative solutions
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills
  • Self-motivated; ability to lead projects independently from concept to completion
  • Must demonstrate USF Core Values: Trust, Respect, Accountability, Innovation, Teamwork, and Service