Development and Communications Director

ABOUT CHILDREN’S ALLIANCE

Children’s Alliance is Washington’s statewide children’s advocacy organization. Our 42-year-old organization works to place racial justice at the heart of Washington’s laws and budget priorities so that every child can thrive. From our offices in the SoDo neighborhood in Seattle, we rally a small but mighty team of staff, a committed board and more than 7,000 members across the state to advocate passionately on issues affecting children and their families.

The Development and Communications Director plays a key role in accomplishing this ambitious goal by leading efforts to secure financial support. Through a strategic focus on donor acquisition, personalized stewardship, grant seeking, and events, they create meaningful opportunities for individuals, foundations, and corporations to invest in our mission and ensure every child in Washington can thrive.

DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

The Development and Communications Director provides strategic leadership and management of Children’s Alliance’s statewide network of supporters and our fundraising portfolio in support of our mission to advance racially equitable state and federal policy change.

The Development and Communications Director oversees a talented team, directly supervising the Communications Manager and Member Relations and Data Manager. With the support of this team, the Development and Communications Director manages all fundraising activities including prospecting, cultivating, and stewarding individual, corporate, and foundation gifts and coordinating the annual fundraising campaigns, special initiatives and events.

The Development and Communications Director leads in executing a comprehensive communication plan that promotes and supports Children’s Alliance programs and initiatives. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong strategic thinking and the ability to develop, analyze, manage, and execute marketing and communications activities. The Development and Communications Director is a key member of the Children’s Alliance Management Team, which consults on all operational decisions and informs financial and governance decisions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND CORE FUNCTIONS

Fundraising and Development (70%)

• Design and implement targeted donor acquisition strategies, including one-on-one meetings, outreach campaigns, and digital fundraising initiatives to expand our community of supporters.
• Develop and execute personalized stewardship plans for major donors, ensuring timely recognition, impact reporting, and engagement opportunities.
• Lead personalized donor engagement efforts by serving as the primary ambassador for the organization’s fundraising initiatives—building and nurturing one-on-one relationships with prospective and current donors to inspire investment and long-term support.
• Establish, track, and evaluate key metrics for fundraising and communications programs using meaningful data to continually improve practices and inform future revenue goals.
• Manage organization fundraising campaigns, including annual fundraising events, year-end campaign, organizational membership campaign, GiveBIG and other donation campaigns.
• Work in partnership with the Board of Directors, Resource Development Committee and Executive Director to grow the Board’s fundraising capacity.
• Collaborate with the senior leadership team and others to identify and cultivate prospective funders, as well as steward current funders.

Communications (10%)

• Oversee the organization’s branding efforts and ensure the alignment of messaging, design, and brand identity across all external facing platforms including: website, social media, email, and marketing collateral.
• Oversee the development of policy-focused messaging that will both inform and activate existing and potential advocates.
• Develop an annual media outreach strategy to engage reporters from across the state and increase the organization’s earned media coverage.

Organizational Leadership (10%)

• As a member of Children’s Alliance’s Leadership Team, participate in strategic discussions regarding Children’s Alliance’s direction and tactics and work with other members of the management team to ensure timely implementation, efficient communication and coordination of decisions.
• Champion a culture of philanthropy that is consistent with and enhances the organization’s antiracist values.
• Develop and manage the annual income and expense budgets for the department; approve all departmental expenditures; and contribute to the development of Children’s Alliance overall annual budget.

Supervision (10%)

• Directly supervise and support the Donor Relations and Data Manager and Communications Manager.
• With Children Alliance’s Administrative Manager, direct aspects of staff supervision and development efforts, including developing and refining job descriptions, hiring and supervision of existing staff and professional development.

Qualifications

• Minimum of five years of relevant fundraising work experience ideally in a nonprofit setting.
• Minimum of three years of experience in prospecting, cultivating and managing relationships with non-profit donors to meet fundraising goals.
• Proven ability to attract and retain donors through strategic fundraising approaches, including the use of customer relationship management (CRM) systems to track engagement and apply data insights to improve donor outreach, giving patterns, and long-term support.
• Experience supporting an Executive Director and Board of Directors in efforts to reach fundraising goals.
• Demonstrated success applying racial equity practices in your work.
• Excellent verbal and written skills, creativity, independent judgment, attention to detail, accuracy and strong editing skills.
• Possess intellectual curiosity about the effects of public policy on Washington’s families.
• Be prepared for guidance, evaluation, and high performance in a hybrid office setting.
• Be proficient in Microsoft Office and other PC applications.

No candidate is expected to possess all the qualifications listed above. In areas where aptitude and/or interest are greater than experience, candidates are encouraged to propose a plan for support.