Director of Development and Communications

Trinity School•Menlo Park, CA

3d•$150,000 - $180,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Development and Communication provides strategic, operational, and relationship-centered leadership for Trinity School’s development, communications, and community engagement efforts. This role leads fundraising, donor relations, stewardship, advancement events, parent and volunteer engagement, institutional communications, marketing, branding, and storytelling. Reporting to the Head of School and working closely with the Board of Trustees, the Director leads Trinity’s development program, including annual giving, campaign support, donor cultivation, alumni and grandparent engagement, fundraising events, advancement operations, and volunteer support. The Director also coordinates Trinity’s communications and marketing efforts in partnership with the Head of School and administrative colleagues, ensuring that Trinity’s mission, program, values, and impact are communicated clearly and compellingly. As a member of the Leadership Team, the Director contributes to schoolwide planning, problem-solving, and decision-making in support of Trinity’s mission, reputation, community engagement, and long-term sustainability. The Director also serves as a key liaison to parent volunteers and TPA leadership, helping align parent engagement, event leadership, volunteer systems, and community-building efforts with Trinity’s mission and development goals.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required, or equivalent combination of education, training, and relevant experience; degree in development, marketing, communications, nonprofit management, education, or related field preferred.
Significant experience in fundraising, development, donor relations, communications, marketing, nonprofit management, or related relationship-centered work.
Experience in an independent school, elementary school, nonprofit, Episcopal, or mission-driven organization strongly preferred.
Demonstrated ability to develop and implement fundraising, donor engagement, communications, marketing, stewardship, and volunteer strategies.
Experience with annual giving, donor cultivation, campaign support, advancement operations, Board or volunteer support, and fundraising events.
Experience with donor databases, gift tracking, pledge tracking, stewardship systems, event tracking, advancement reporting, and confidential constituent records.
Excellent writing, editing, verbal communication, presentation, storytelling, and audience-specific messaging skills.
Strong relationship-building skills with donors, families, trustees, volunteers, employees, alumni families, community partners, parent leaders, and external audiences.
Strong organizational, project management, documentation, communication, and follow-through skills.
Technologically adept and able to learn and manage donor databases, communications platforms, email tools, content management systems, spreadsheets, reports, digital media, and basic analytics.
Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and respectful engagement across differences.
High level of confidentiality, judgment, flexibility, creativity, resilience, optimism, and service orientation.

Nice To Haves

degree in development, marketing, communications, nonprofit management, education, or related field preferred.
Experience in an independent school, elementary school, nonprofit, Episcopal, or mission-driven organization strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead Trinity’s development strategy in alignment with the school’s mission, strategic priorities, financial sustainability, and purposefully small preschool through Grade 5 model.
Develop, implement, and evaluate an annual development plan that includes fundraising, donor engagement, stewardship, communications, volunteer participation, and event goals.
Lead the annual giving program, including strategy, messaging, segmentation, volunteer engagement, solicitation, follow-up, reporting, and stewardship.
Partner with the Head of School and Board leadership to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors in support of annual giving, campaign priorities, special projects, and long-term institutional needs.
Identify and develop new sources of philanthropic support, including alumni families, grandparents, friends of the school, corporate partners, foundations, and other mission-aligned prospects.
Build and maintain meaningful relationships with current families, alumni families, grandparents, trustees, former trustees, employees, friends of the school, and community partners.
Design and implement stewardship practices that ensure donors are thanked promptly, recognized appropriately, and shown the impact of their giving.
Lead or coordinate major fundraising events, including the gala and other advancement events, with responsibility for fundraising strategy, volunteer coordination, donor engagement, sponsorship opportunities, event messaging, and follow-up.
Support donor cultivation by preparing materials, tracking outreach, coordinating next steps, and partnering with the Head of School and trustees on relationship-centered donor engagement.
Support long-term philanthropic opportunities, including endowment growth, through donor education, stewardship, messaging, and coordinated development planning.
Oversee advancement operations, including donor database management, gift processing, acknowledgments, pledge tracking, donor records, reporting, and confidential donor information.
Maintain accurate gift tracking and recording systems for gifts, pledges, donor restrictions, acknowledgments, campaign data, event revenue, and stewardship notes.
Partner with the Business Office to support accurate gift processing, reconciliation, fund tracking, pledge reporting, financial reporting, and responsible management of the development budget.
Use donor data, giving trends, communications analytics, and constituent feedback to inform fundraising strategy, stewardship, reporting, and continuous improvement.
Coordinate Trinity’s communications and marketing strategy in partnership with the Head of School and administrative colleagues, ensuring messaging is clear, warm, accurate, inclusive, mission-aligned, and consistent.
Steward Trinity’s institutional voice, visual identity, brand consistency, public presence, and reputation across communications for current families, prospective families, alumni families, donors, trustees, employees, and external audiences.
Oversee the strategy, content, accuracy, and effectiveness of Trinity’s publications, website, social media, email communications, and print and digital materials.
Develop messaging that showcases Trinity’s preschool through Grade 5 program, Episcopal identity, student experience, academic life, faculty excellence, community traditions, commitment to belonging, and the impact of philanthropic support.
Partner with Enrollment on outreach collateral, admission materials, prospective-family storytelling, and enrollment-facing communications.
Collaborate with the Head of Elementary, who serves as the primary administrative liaison to TPA, as well as TPA leadership and school administrators, to help ensure parent-led events and volunteer activities are well-coordinated, mission-aligned, inclusive, and manageable for staff and volunteers.
Provide guidance and support to parent volunteer leaders, event chairs, and committee leads, particularly in areas related to fundraising, advancement, alumni engagement, grandparent engagement, communications, and community-building efforts.
Recruit, support, and steward volunteers involved in fundraising, development events, communications, alumni engagement, grandparent engagement, and other advancement-related community initiatives.
Serve as a trusted partner to the Head of School and Board of Trustees by preparing donor materials, supporting donor outreach, contributing to development committee work, and accompanying donor conversations when appropriate.
Collaborate across departments to ensure development, communications, marketing, enrollment, events, and community engagement efforts are coordinated, accurate, and mission-aligned.
Manage consultants, contractors, vendors, designers, writers, photographers, videographers, printers, or support staff working in service of development and communications goals.
Communicate proactively with colleagues about fundraising timelines, parent volunteer needs, event expectations, communications deadlines, and cross-departmental dependencies.
Maintain confidentiality, sound judgment, professionalism, warmth, and follow-through in all school, donor, family, employee, and volunteer relationships.