Director of Communications and Development

About the Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI)

The Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI), is dedicated to combating gender inequality and ending violence against Indigenous women and girls in rural communities through education, access to legal services, and gender-based violence prevention. Active in more than 150 communities in the departments of Chimaltenango and Solola, WJI employs a community-based, legal empowerment model that combines rights education with direct service delivery and systems strengthening. By improving women’s knowledge of their rights, increasing their access to the justice system, and shifting harmful social norms and attitudes, WJI helps women protect themselves from violence, child marriage, and discrimination.

Job Description

Working closely with the Executive Director and as a member of the leadership team the Director of Development and Communications will lead WJI’s resource development communications, and external engagement strategies. The Director will help shape organizational strategy, strengthen WJI’s visibility and build the resources and relationships needed to advance WJI’s mission and long term goals.

The Director will lead the Communications and Development department, setting strategic priorities, managing team members, and ensuring collaboration across departments. They will oversee all aspects of fundraising and communications strategies, including including institutional and individual giving, donor engagement and stewardship, campaigns, grant development and reporting, events, and organizational communications.

The Director will cultivate and steward strong relationships with existing and prospective donors, partners, and other stakeholders. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Director also supports Board engagement, equipping Board members to serve as ambassadors, advocates, and fundraisers for the organization. The Director works closely with program, impact and learning, and operations teams to ensure that fundraising and communications compellingly reflect WJI’s impact for external audiences

As a member of WJI’s senior leadership team, the Director will play a pivotal role in positioning the organization for sustainable expansion and its next phase of growth. This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic and collaborative leader who is eager to contribute not only to fundraising and communications, but to the broader direction and evolution of a growing organization. The ideal candidate will be energized by the opportunity to help shape the future of an innovative organization working at the forefront of social justice, women’s rights, and the prevention of violence against women and girls.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Help position WJI for its next phase of strategic growth by identifying opportunities, anticipating challenges, and strengthening the organization’s external profile, resources, and relationships.
• Supervise development and communications team, establishing clear priorities, goals, systems, and processes that support high-quality work and organizational effectiveness.

Development and Fundraising

• Lead the development and implementation of a comprehensive resource development strategy aligned with WJI’s strategic priorities and long-term financial needs.
• Oversee the full fundraising cycle across foundations, corporations, and individual donors—from prospect identification and cultivation through proposal development, stewardship, reporting, and renewal.
• Lead major fundraising initiatives, events, and campaigns, including WJI’s Strategic Growth Campaign, and develop strategies to diversify and strengthen the organization’s revenue base.
• Monitor fundraising performance, assess progress against goals, and regularly report results, opportunities, and challenges to the Executive Director and Board.

Communications

• Lead WJI’s organizational communications strategy and ensure consistent, compelling messaging across digital, print, donor, programmatic, and public-facing communications.
• Oversee the development of key communications products, including the website, social media, newsletters, annual reports, presentations, program materials, and other external communications.
• Work with program and impact teams to translate WJI’s work, evidence, and impact into compelling narratives that strengthen fundraising, advocacy, and public understanding of WJI’s mission.

Team Leadership

• Foster collaborative and supportive coordination with program, impact and learning, and operations teams.
• Oversee department systems and infrastructure, including donor data management, reporting processes, communications calendars, and performance tracking.

Qualifications

• Written and spoken fluency in English and proficiency in Spanish
• A minimum of five years’ demonstrated progressive experience in fundraising, development, communications, or a related field
• 2+ years’ experience working in communications or marketing
• Demonstrated experience managing a small team, including priority-setting, delegation, performance evaluations, and capacity-building. Ability to stay organized, work systematically, and pay close attention to detail
• Proven success securing 5 and 6 figure, multi-year grants from institutional funders
• Experience working with a non profit Board of Directors, ideally supporting board engagement and fundraising efforts.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Both a self motivator and team player, ability to work well in multi-cultural collaborative settings, and also take initiative on independent work.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel) and Google Drive
• Proficiency using Salesforce as an CRM database
• Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, WordPress, and/or MailChimp preferred
• Experience living or working in Latin America and understanding of the Central American and/or Guatemalan context, preferred
• Personal values that align with WJI’s mission and vision
• B.A. in International Relations, International Development, Gender Studies, Communications, or related field, Master’s Degree strongly preferred

Fluent English

Advanced Spanish (Written and Verbal)