Senior Digital and Communications Consultancy

BACKGROUND

ChildFund Rugby’s partnerships with organisations around the world to use rugby as a powerful tool for positive social impact, supporting children and young people to play, learn, and lead.

ChildFund Rugby’s partners deliver Pass It Back, an integrated rugby and life skills approach that supports children and young people facing barriers to participation and opportunity. Through rugby-based learning, young people build critical social and emotional skills that help them navigate challenges, contribute to positive social change, and take leadership roles in their lives and communities.

ChildFund Rugby is World Rugby’s global Social Impact Partner, through a multi-year partnership.

ChildFund Rugby is led by ChildFund Australia on behalf of the ChildFund Alliance, a global network of 10 organisations working in more than 60 countries.

The services required under this consultancy operate at the intersection of two domains:

• Evidence-driven Sport for Development - safeguarding, impact reporting, ethical storytelling, community voice, and equitable representation.
• Commercial sport - partner amplification, brand growth, campaign execution, media operations, fan engagement, and aligned content.

ChildFund Rugby is in a critical phase focused on demonstrating how global sport can translate visibility, partnerships, and major events into measurable supporter engagement, lead generation, revenue, and impact.

ChildFund values Respect, Integrity, Collaboration, Change, Empowerment, and Excellence.

OVERVIEW

Services are required to design and deliver a digital and communications strategy that converts ChildFund Rugby’s global rugby visibility, partnerships, and major event platforms into measurable supporter engagement, qualified leads, and revenue. The service provider will lead performance-oriented communications across digital, media, content, campaign, and partner activation channels, ensuring that storytelling, audience engagement, and conversion pathways are directly aligned with ChildFund Rugby’s growth objectives through to the conclusion of Rugby World Cup 2027.

REPORTING

The service provider will report to ChildFund Rugby’s Co-Directors.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy

Lead the development and execution of ChildFund Rugby’s global communications for impact strategy to:

• Strengthen visibility and brand equity, while consistently and ethically reflecting robust international development principles and supporting revenue generation.
• Engage audiences across sport, government, and international development.
• Support priority revenue-generation pathways, with clear and measurable routes from awareness to audience action.
• Position impact communications as a strategic asset for funding, partnerships, and licence to operate.
• Ensure a through-line across channels from storytelling to media to digital to commercial partnerships and engagement of donors.
• Support social impact partnerships with international sport federations through major event activations and always-on engagement platforms.
• Support delivery of sponsorship and partnership obligations through creative storytelling, campaign assets, visibility reports, and evidence-backed impact communications.
• Build on ChildFund Rugby’s global narrative by developing clear messaging and ethical, evidence-based stories that authentically centre children and young people, reinforce key Sport for Development outcomes, and meet the expectations of public audiences, commercial partners, donors, and revenue-generation channels.

Digital

• Lead ChildFund Rugby’s digital ecosystem, including website, social media channels, CRM-linked communications, digital campaigns, paid media, landing pages, donation journeys, lead capture, audience segmentation, and analytics.
• Shape and deliver a global content calendar that integrates milestones, partner activations, rugby events, campaign moments, and audience engagement trends.
• Design, test, optimise, and report on digital journeys that convert rugby audiences into supporters, donors, and qualified leads.
• Develop, test, and optimise paid and organic digital campaigns, ensuring campaign spend is aligned with audience, lead generation, and revenue objectives.

Media Relations

• Manage proactive and reactive media engagement across sport, international development, and mainstream outlets.
• Build and leverage relationships with sport, international development, and other news media.
• Pitch and prepare media releases, op-eds, and other features; developing talking points, speeches and briefing notes.
• Lead crisis communications and issues management in close coordination with leadership.

Content Development

Oversee the development of multi-format content, including video, editorial, graphics, campaign assets, web content, social media content, partner toolkits, donor communications, and impact products, ensuring all content supports audience engagement, lead generation, revenue, and partner value. This includes:

• Translate Sport for Development into compelling, insight-led, multi-platform communications aligned to major rugby moments, tournaments, and campaigns.
• Translate Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) data into accessible, compelling communication products for diverse stakeholders.
• Coordinate communication packages for delivery partners, Ambassadors, and rugby stakeholders to ensure brand alignment and message consistency.
• Support campaign-specific landing pages, donation flows, sign-up mechanisms, and calls to action linked to priority revenue generation channels.

Coordination, Vendor Management and Advisory Support

• Work effectively across a multi-country, multi-disciplinary team, operating within agreed timelines and performance expectations, engaging key staff and external collaborators (designers, videographers, agencies).
• Oversee communications budgets, procurement, and contracts.
• Provide senior-level counsel on communications risks, issues, and opportunities.

The service provider will coordinate agencies supporting the ChildFund Rugby website and Salesforce lead journeys, and provide day-to-day technical direction to an experienced Communications and Content Coordinator.

DELIVERABLES

• A clear and actionable Global Communications for Impact Strategy aligning brand, narrative, digital, media, campaign milestones, partner activations, and revenue generation priorities.
• A digital and content strategy, including paid media, organic channels, website, CRM-linked communications, audience journeys, and a global content calendar.
• A lead generation and supporter conversion strategy, including audience segmentation, landing pages, sign-up mechanisms, donation journeys, calls to action, and nurture pathways.
• A proactive and reactive earned media strategy spanning sport, international development, mainstream media, and major event moments.
• Campaign and content packages for partners, Ambassadors, influencers, delivery partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Monthly performance reporting across digital engagement, media activity, content performance, lead generation, supporter journeys, and revenue-linked communications activity.
• Other deliverables as agreed through the consultancy work plan.

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• At least 6 years of experience in senior digital communications, digital campaigning, digital fundraising, performance marketing, or related fields, including use of CRM, email marketing, analytics, paid media, and website performance data to inform campaign decisions.
• Experience in sport, major events, commercial partnerships, or sport-adjacent sectors is an advantage.
• Experience designing digital supporter journeys, lead generation funnels, or fundraising campaigns.
• Experience working with senior stakeholders, agencies, creative suppliers, and partner organisations.
• Experience in international development or social impact is desirable - an understanding of ethical storytelling and social change is essential. 
• Authentic, creative and compelling storytelling skills.
• Strategic thinking, forward planning, and strong analytical capabilities.
• Ability to operate across commercial, sport, and international development sectors.
• Excellent relationship-building skills across cultures and sectors.
• High resilience, adaptability, and ability to manage competing deadlines.
• Fluency in English, with French an advantage.

OTHER INFORMATION

Location: open globally with a requirement to work regularly with stakeholders across Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Contracting: consultancy services to December 2027. Open to individuals, groups or businesses/agencies. This is a fixed-term output-based consultancy and does not constitute a staff or employment position.

Application Deadline: 12 June 2026.

Applicants should submit a brief proposal outlining relevant experience, proposed approach, availability, daily/monthly rate or fee structure, and examples of relevant work.

Shortlisted applicants may be asked to provide a proposed work plan for the first 90 days.

All applicants and any personnel engaged in delivering the services are expected to remain alert and responsive to any child safeguarding and Sexual Exploitation, Abuse or Harassment (SEAH) risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills to promote strong safeguarding practices, understand the child safeguarding and PSEAH policy and procedures, and ensure conduct consistent with those policies.