Director of Strategic Communications, Transformational Giving

Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health • Palo Alto, CA

4d • $150,000 - $165,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

A highly productive individual contributor, the Director of Strategic Communications, Transformational Giving, will use strong persuasive writing skills and messaging expertise to develop and manage various fundraising communications for the Transformational Giving (TG) Team. This position will report to the Senior Director of Strategic Communications and partner closely with the Senior Vice President of Transformational Giving, another Director of Strategic Communications, the Creative Content and Design Specialist (currently hiring), and the entire TG team. The position will be responsible for leading high-priority communications initiatives to drive transformational gifts supporting pediatric research and clinical care.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 8 years related experience demonstrating progressively increasing responsibilities.
• Ability to lead big picture communications strategies that advance institutional priorities in a complex and matrixed environment.
• Education or professional experience in writing for medicine, biology, or scientific research.
• Experience translating scientific/medical (or otherwise highly complicated/technical) concepts into compelling, lay language, synthesizing material from multiple sources to produce materials for discerning, high-stakes audiences.
• Experience creating donor-facing communications that can scale in scientific sophistication and complexity based on audience knowledge.
• Strong experience directing designers or communications agencies.
• Previous experience working in a nonprofit or higher education environment.
• Strong sense of design, including experience with branding and digital design, or visual design and technological aptitude, and eagerness to learn.

Nice To Haves

• Exceptional writer and communicator.
• Exemplary communications skills with proven ability to present, write, edit, and organize thoughts in a clear, concise, and well-organized manner for print, online, and other media.
• Strong collaborative skills.
• Personal and interpersonal skills with the proven ability to collaborate, motivate, engage, and work closely with senior leaders and internal and external stakeholders.
• Adaptable and flexible.
• Demonstrated openness and receptiveness to new ideas.
• Possess a high tolerance for ambiguity and shifting priorities in a complex and matrixed work environment.
• Sound judgment.
• Proven ability to make independent decisions, problem solve and operate diplomatically while balancing and meeting multiple organizational needs.
• Strong organizational skills and a systems-oriented mindset.
• Proven ability to meet deadlines, manage multiple priorities, maintain attention to detail, and function effectively in a complex, fast-paced environment.
• Mission-first mindset.
• A commitment to the mission of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health—to elevate the priority of children's health and increase the quality and accessibility of children's health care through leadership and direct investment.

Responsibilities

• Support overall strategy and vision for TG communications, based on both Foundation priorities and specific donor interests.
• Support TG-related content for Foundation-wide communications projects, such as bespoke donor collateral (stewardship reports/proposals), emails, event/donor meeting briefings, photo/video shoots, Packard Children’s News content, blog posts, etc.
• Share TG communication materials across the Foundation to ensure useful content is generated for TG-specific purposes (proposal language, patient family interviews, etc.) and can be leveraged by other teams, as relevant and appropriate.
• Lead projects with freelance writers, consultants, designers, and other outside vendors.
• Recommend new approaches, procedures, and processes to improve and enhance communications for the TG team and generally across the Foundation.
• Support communications strategy and content for Board meetings and task forces led by the TG team as needed.
• Support communication strategy and content for key events led by the TG team.
• At the direction of and in partnership with the Senior Vice President, Transformational Giving, and other Foundation leaders, creates proposals, case statements, and other donor-facing materials.
• Lead the development of creative custom collateral tailored to individual donors’ preferences and motivations, making recommendations about potential communications platforms (including websites, video, PDF, etc.).
• Partner with the Senior Vice President, Transformational Giving, to produce overviews of scalable gift opportunities for transformative ideas at the hospital and School of Medicine that have the highest potential for philanthropy.
• Share information with communications colleagues and ensure that other teams are aware of and have access to collateral and resources (faculty quotes, statistics, patient family interviews, etc.) related to transformational ideas; leverage documents created by other teams (reports/proposals) for communication with Transformational Giving donors.
• Draft briefings and talking points for meetings involving leadership and/or faculty members.
• Draft personalized acknowledgement letters/emails, written from the point of view of leadership, faculty, and gift officers, as related to transformational gifts cultivation/solicitation.
• Track reports and other projects to ensure deadlines are anticipated and worked toward in a strategic way.
• Recommend new approaches, procedures, communication platforms, and processes to effect continual improvements in efficiency and quality of products.
• Serve as a resource and mentor to communications colleagues on partner teams.
• Collaborate effectively with colleagues across various teams.

Benefits

• Generous leave, including PTO, holidays, Summer Fridays, and a sabbatical (after 7 years of employment)
• Annual bonus opportunity
• Retirement plan + employer match
• Premium Medical and Dental coverage
• FSA + dependent care FSA
• Employer-paid life insurance
• Legal services plan
• Commuter Benefits, including CalTrain “Go Pass” Program
• 4-week paid maternity and paternity leave for new parents
• Stipend for home office and mobile phone
• If remote, frequent opportunities to visit our beautiful HQ in Palo Alto

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior