Email & SMS Marketing Specialist

ACE Scholarships•Greenwood Village, CO

6h•$65,000 - $75,000•Onsite

About The Position

ACE Scholarships is seeking a strategic, creative, and mission-aligned Email & SMS Marketing Specialist to lead and optimize multi-channel messaging efforts using ActiveCampaign. This role will oversee donor stewardship, family/applicant engagement, impact storytelling, and fundraising appeals. The specialist will manage the full lifecycle of email and SMS campaigns, drive engagement and conversions, ensure compliance, and integrate messaging to support organizational goals in education reform. ACE Scholarships is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2000 in Denver, Colorado, dedicated to providing low-income children with equal access to quality K-12 private schools through partial scholarship support. Over the past 25+ years, ACE has delivered more than 140,000 scholarships worth over $390 million. This school year, ACE is serving approximately 16,000+ children across multiple states and is preparing for the Federal School Choice Tax Credit Program. ACE's mission is to advance K-12 educational freedom by securing financial support for families to access the quality education of their choice. The organization's values include ACE Founding Principles, Accountability, Innovation, Adaptability, Optimism, and Kindness.

Requirements

4-6 years of hands on experience in email marketing, with demonstrated success managing strategies and campaigns (preferably in nonprofit, education, advocacy, political/ issue-based or fundraising organizations).
Proficiency in ActiveCampaign (or similar ESP like MailChimp, Klaviyo) for email automation, segmentation, workflows, and reporting.
Familiarity with SMS marketing principles, compliance (TCPA, 10DLC, opt-in/opt-out), and best practices for high-engagement, permission-based texting.
Strong copywriting skills. Ability to create persuasive, emotionally resonant, concise content tailored to segmented audiences through email and ultra-short SMS formats.
Experience with list management, A/B testing, automation, analytics, and basic HTML/CSS for email customization.
Prior experience integrating email and SMS in a unified strategy (e.g., cross-channel automations, triggered SMS follow-ups to email opens).
Knowledge of nonprofit fundraising tactics (year-end appeals, peer-to-peer, text-to-give, recurring giving).
Familiarity with CRMs (Salesforce, Bloomerang) and integrations with ActiveCampaign.
Basic graphic design skills (Canva, Adobe) for email/SMS visuals (MMS images).
Understanding of Google Analytics, tracking, or ROI attribution for multi-channel campaigns.
Comfort in a collaborative, fast-paced nonprofit environment with a focus on measurable mission impact.
Strong alignment with ACE’s mission, values, and founding principles.
Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, English, Marketing, other related fields, or equivalent working experience.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of education policy and current events in K-12 space.
Experience working in a national or multi-state organization.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute integrated email and SMS marketing strategies across stakeholder audiences (donors, families, scholarship applicants, schools) and donor/funder lifecycles (acquisition, cultivation, retention, major gifts, recurring support).
Write compelling, on-brand copy for emails and SMS messages, including strong subject lines, short-form text content, calls-to-action, and personalized messaging that inspires action (donations, applications, event RSVPs, shares).
Manage audience segmentation in ActiveCampaign. Build and maintain clean lists, segment by criteria (e.g., giving history, geography, engagement level, application status), ensure list hygiene, grow subscribers ethically, and comply with CAN-SPAM, TCPA, GDPR, A2P 10DLC, and other regulations.
Design, build, test, and deploy campaigns using ActiveCampaign. Create responsive templates, set up automations/workflows (welcome series, donation thank-yous, impact updates, year-end appeals, urgent fundraising pushes), implement A/B testing, personalization, dynamic content, and multi-channel sequences (email + SMS triggers).
Collaborate with web development team to ensure all contact forms are properly integrated with ActiveCampaign for lead conversion.
Develop appropriate subscriber marketing funnels.
Lead SMS strategy specifically: Obtain and validate opt-ins (double opt-in where possible), manage consent and opt-outs (automated STOP handling).
Send high-engagement SMS broadcasts and MMS (with images for added impact).
Develop use cases such as urgent fundraising appeals, event reminders, coordination, real-time impact updates, text-to-give campaigns, and two-way conversations (e.g., keyword responses for donor questions or application support).
Set quiet hours, monitor deliverability, and track high open rates (typically 98–99%) to drive timely action without overwhelming supporters.
Coordinate closely with organizational partners, state teams, development, scholarship programs and external vendors.
Track performance metrics, analyze insights and deliver regular reports and recommendations to leadership on engagement, growth and ROI.
Monitor, analyze, and report on performance metrics for both channels (open/click-through/conversion rates, unsubscribe rates, revenue attributed, SMS engagement/response rates).
Ensure all content complies with nonprofit best practices, brand guidelines and platform policies.
Collaborate with marketing, development/fundraising, programs, and communications teams to align messaging with broader campaigns, events, press releases, social media and storytelling.
Own the ongoing optimization and best practices within ActiveCampaign: maintain platform setup, troubleshoot issues, implement AI-assisted content generation (where available), and train team members on usage as needed.
Stay current on email/SMS trends, nonprofit best practices, deliverability standards, compliance, and platform updates to maximize ROI and supporter experience.

Benefits

Medical Insurance (with generous employer contribution)
Dental Insurance (with generous employer contribution)
Vision Insurance
Voluntary Life Insurance
HSA, FSA, Limited FSA, and Dependent Care FSA pre-tax spending accounts
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Free, Employer-paid Short-term, Long-term, and AD&D insurance.
401(k) with 6% employer match with immediate vesting
Monthly cellphone stipend
Scholarships for employee’s whose children are actively enrolled in a K-12 private school ($3,500/child, up to $10,500/year).
On-site amenities in Colorado Home Office including employer paid parking, gym, cafe, and building security, and in-office coffee and snack bard, and walking treadmill.