Director, Community and Client Events

Foundant + smartsimple

10d

About The Position

The Director, Community and Client Events leads Foundant’s client community strategy, creating opportunities for clients to connect, learn, share expertise, and build relationships that strengthen their work and the broader sector. The role brings clients and sector leaders together through flagship events, peer learning, smaller convenings, advisory groups, and digital communities. The Director builds and activates a client advocate network, connects community activities across the client experience, and shapes Foundant’s presence in the sector through strategies and standards for conferences, sponsorships, partnerships, and industry gatherings. The role also leads client communication planning and coordinates cross-functional teams around a shared strategy and calendar. Community impact is measured and strengthened using client insights and data to guide priorities, investment, and continuous improvement. The position may include other duties as assigned. Success is measured through community health, client value, advocacy, and business impact. The role calls for strategic thinking, collaborative leadership, relationship-building, decision-making grounded in client insight and data, performance measurement, and change management. Foundant describes its work as focused on innovation and positive impact, including projects that empower not-for-profits, community foundations, and corporations. The company offers competitive salary and benefits, tuition and lifestyle reimbursements, mindfulness and fitness initiatives, flexible PTO, professional development, internal mobility, autonomy, and employee recognition. Foundant is an equal opportunity employer and provides accommodations throughout the interview and employment process upon request.

Requirements

Significant experience in philanthropy, nonprofits, associations, community building, or the broader social good sector, with a strong understanding of the people and issues shaping the field.
A track record of building communities, networks, events, or engagement strategies that create measurable value.
Strong relationship-building and facilitation skills, with the ability to engage practitioners, partners, clients, and senior leaders.
Strategic thinking and the ability to turn ideas into experiences, programs, and results.
A collaborative leadership style and the ability to influence across teams and organizations.
Curiosity and strong listening skills, grounded in a belief in the value of people learning from one another.
Comfort using client insight and data to measure impact and guide decisions.

Responsibilities

Lead the client community strategy to foster connection, learning, expertise-sharing, and relationships.
Bring clients and sector leaders together through flagship events, peer learning, smaller convenings, advisory groups, and digital communities.
Build and activate the client advocate network, enabling clients to mentor, share stories, provide references and referrals, advise Foundant, and contribute to product development.
Connect events, education, digital communities, communications, and in-product experiences into a cohesive client journey.
Set community strategy and standards for Foundant’s presence at conferences, sponsorships, partnerships, and other industry gatherings.
Lead client communication planning and align cross-functional teams around a coordinated strategy and calendar.
Measure and strengthen community impact using client insights and data to guide priorities, investment, and continuous improvement.
Perform other duties as assigned.