Associate, Partner Relations

About Cradles to Crayons:

Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. We supply clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Our vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive. 

Two in 5 kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top 10 reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity—just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. Cradles to Crayons keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of our mission and is the only large-scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than four million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, and nationally. 

Cradles to Crayons takes a two-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity: 

1. In-person Engagement—through tens of thousands of children and adults volunteering at our Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from our communities for our Service Partners to distribute to the children they serve.   
2. Advocacy and Awareness—Cradles to Crayons is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach.  

Cradles to Crayons’ strong financial health and ongoing effectiveness and reliability have helped it earn a Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator every year since 2009. C2C has a budget of $19M for FY27 and a total staff of approximately 100.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

Cradles to Crayons is a leader in collaboration, building partnerships and raising awareness about the importance of essential items for families in need. We collaborate with a network of over 100 Service Partner organizations located across the Commonwealth and provide them with high quality, individually tailored items for children from birth through the age 12. This network of Service Partners includes schools, hospitals, head start programs, homeless shelters, community centers, early intervention programs and more.

The Partner Relations Associate role is based in our Giving Factory and facilitates the distribution of our essentials to partner organization. The person in this role is responsible for building relationships with our partner account holders, managing partner orders, and providing excellent customer service within this network of Service Partners.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Model and lead a positive “One Cradles” culture, underpinned by Cradles’ Cultural Values and related behaviors

Customer Service

• Provide excellent customer service to Service Partners by greeting them upon arrival, locating completed orders, assisting in getting orders to the point of transportation, and offering assistance with donation loading
• Ensure quality correspondence with Service Partner account holders regarding their orders, accounts, partnership questions, and more through the partner relations email inbox and phone line.
• Provide technical support to partners using the online ordering system aka “the portal”
• Assist Account Holders going through the application process including creating new accounts and reactivating existing accounts in the database.
• Lead new partner onboarding via partner orientations, trainings, and more; provide one-on-one support to new account holders. Update Account Holder training materials as needed
• In collaboration with Partner Relations Manager and Operations Director, manage item availability in the “partner portal” 
• Ensure that all guidelines and contract standards are executed; ensure that all paperwork and contracts are current and effectively managed.

Operations

• Work collaboratively with Production Team to prepare orders for fulfillment each week
• Oversee the daily distribution of orders and coordinate pickups with Partner account holders
• Supervise our expedited Emergency Order fulfillment and distribution
• Ensure data integrity by:
  • Closing out orders in the online database as they are picked up
  • Accurately recording any items that are either cancelled or added at the time of pick-up
  • Reviewing and maintaining accurate account holder information
• Assist with special distribution events as needed
• Effectively communicate with Service Partners around compliance of pick-up and order etiquette
• Help maintain general warehouse cleanliness and organization
• Manage the “Partner Shelf” by ensuring appropriate items are offered, and any tracking of items distributed is efficient and accurate
• Manage special distributions ie, Back to School Events, partner appreciation events/efforts, Everyday Essentials Program deliveries
• Maintain Family Assistance resources, creating and updating town one pagers, updating website search feature, ensuring timely updates for accurate support to families seeking assistance
• In collaboration with the Partner Relations Team, prepare and send monthly newsletter to Everyday Essentials Program active Account Holders
• Work with Partner Relations Manager to conduct partnership waitlist review sessions and onboard new partner organization

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• Maintain the highest level of customer service with staff members, volunteers, donors and Service Partners
• Maintain a positive attitude with staff members, volunteers, donors and Service Partners
• Data is tracked accurately, and data entry completed in a timely manner
• Maintain excellent and timely communication with other staff members, volunteers, in-kind donors and Service Partners
• Maintain a safe and organized work environment
• Functions are completed in accordance with established standards, policies, and procedure

Required Experience/Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Fluent in Spanish
• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• 3 year’s relevant work experience required
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong customer service experience required
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, and Excel)
• Organize information and pay attention to detail
• Maintain a safe working environment
• Work independently, under supervision, and in a team-based and goal-oriented environment
• Follow detailed instructions
• Background in community engagement or grassroots organizing a plus
• Spanish proficiency or fluency a plus
• Lift up to 50 lbs

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

The estimated starting salary for this position is $25.00-26.00 per hour based on geographic labor market. The compensation offered to the successful candidate may vary from the posted range based on geographic location, work experience, education, and/or skill level, among other things.

This is a benefits-eligible position. Cradles to Crayons offers a generous benefits package, which includes, but is not limited to:

• Health benefits including medical, dental, vision and a Health Reimbursement Arrangement
• A monthly cell phone and internet usage stipend
• Employer-sponsored short- and long-term disability and basic life insurance
• Retirement plan matching
• Annual professional development stipend

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH:

Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Working Conditions:

This is a warehouse environment and normal changes in temperature are to be expected while working inside the warehouse or outside, on or around the loading dock. There are no hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions.

Accommodation:

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, requirements may be modified to reasonably accommodate disabled individuals. However, no accommodations will be made by Cradles to Crayons which may pose serious health or safety risks to the employee or others, or which impose undue hardships on the organization.

To Apply:

Please send a cover letter and resume with relevant experience to https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/what-we-do/careers/