CONTRACT Special Events Coordinator

Collaborative for Children is a Houston-based non-profit organization dedicated to championing young futures through early childhood education. Focused on creating an ecosystem of the highest quality child care in communities that need it most, Collaborative for Children aims to prepare more young children to enter kindergarten curious, confident, and ready to learn. The organization's work is critical to shaping every milestone that follows a child's earliest years, including school success, workforce readiness, and economic opportunity, ensuring that Houston gains a stronger and better-skilled future labor force. Collaborative for Children fosters an inclusive and mission-driven workplace culture that is family-friendly, collaborative, and fun. It embraces diversity in backgrounds, talents, experiences, interests, and ideas and values employees who demonstrate passion, drive for results, high organization, resilience, and authenticity.

The position of Special Events Coordinator is a contract role based in Houston, running from June to September 2026. This role is mostly remote but requires the candidate to reside in the Greater Houston area for event site logistics, team, and organizational meetings. The primary responsibility of this role is to provide planning and execution support for all logistics related to special events, with a particular focus on the signature fundraising event, the Annual Luncheon held on September 24th. This event is the key fundraising highlight for Collaborative for Children, supporting its mission to transform early childhood education in Houston.

As a Special Events Coordinator, you will take the lead in planning and executing event logistics, including pre-event preparation, day-of coordination, and post-event follow-up. The job involves coordinating a wide range of activities such as venue selection, AV and technical setup, catering, décor, equipment rentals, staffing plans, and maintaining production schedules and event timelines. You will also manage budgets, review vendor bids, negotiate pricing, and handle financial reconciliations to ensure event expenditures align with organizational policies. The role requires close collaboration with various internal teams like Programs, Marketing and Communications, and Emergent Technology, as well as external stakeholders such as vendors, sponsors, donors, and volunteers.

Moreover, the position entails organizing other special events including donor gatherings, program celebrations, community events, and Board functions, ensuring they are aligned with the organization’s mission and standards. Post-event evaluations and debrief sessions will be co-hosted with key team members to analyze event outcomes and improve future efforts. The coordinator must maintain accurate event records and support guest list management, sponsorship tracking, and donor engagement activities using CRM tools like Raiser’s Edge.

This role requires someone with prior experience in event planning, preferably for non-profits, faith-based, or community organizations. The ideal candidate should possess excellent organizational skills, the ability to manage multiple projects under competing deadlines, strong communication skills, professionalism, and personal polish. Comfort working with executives, stakeholders, and community partners is strongly preferred. The candidate should have intermediate computer skills in Microsoft Office and experience with communication and scheduling software such as Outlook, Zoom, and Teams. Knowledge of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot is a plus.

The Special Events Coordinator position is a part-time contract role with flexible scheduling typically requiring 20 to 30 hours weekly, primarily Monday through Friday, with occasional evening events. Compensation is $20 per hour, paid bi-weekly upon invoice submission. A valid Texas Driver’s License, current vehicle insurance, and reliable personal transportation are required due to occasional driving around the Greater Houston area. This role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of young children and contribute to transforming early childhood education through a collaborative and mission-driven environment.