Senior Director, Donor Experience and Communications

Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, biodiversity, and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities to help people and nature thrive together.

POSITION SUMMARY - The position can be remote within the US or based in CI’s Arlington, VA, or Seattle, WA office. Location is flexible. Development is a geographically dispersed team across the United States.

Combine collaboration, relationship-building, creativity, appreciation for donors, strong writing/editing skills and the savvy to leverage opportunities and put them all into one person and you have the Sr. Director, Donor Experience and Communications. This unique role requires an innovative marketing communications leader who manages a team of communicators and storytellers embedded in the global fundraising team, with sophisticated individual and foundation donors as the target audience. The Sr. Director and team partner directly with the Brand and Communications team, representing the donor audience and collaborating to tailor broader organization messages for donors and prospects.

The Senior Director, Donor Experience & Communications, will lead the efforts to bring the work Conservation International does around the world to our donors and ensure our fundraisers have the stories, materials, and messaging they need to connect donors to the impact they make possible.

The Senior Director will work directly with our leaders in science, policy, field staff, brand & communication, and strategy. Through collaboration, they will select and sequence stories through various existing communication channels and seek out new communication methods to engage donors. A deep understanding of conservation and communications and the ability to translate critical conservation efforts into donor-facing engagement opportunities is key to this role. As the lead communicator in Development, they facilitate the creation of cases for support at the project and organizational level by working directly with CI’s leadership. They will train and empower CI’s frontline fundraisers as well as other key spokespeople to articulate our case for support. They will be responsible for overseeing the development and editorial process on proposal and report writing projects that are complex and significant to our donor relationships.

The Senior Director will report to the VP of Development and Campaign Director, and manage a team that currently includes two positions, as well as external consultants and vendors, and collaborate with other in-house communicators, writers, and designers. 

The Development team is responsible for raising approximately $50M-$100M annually in funds from individuals and foundations and serves as relationship managers for donors of all levels to catalyze the resources needed for Conservation International to harness nature’s ability to mitigate climate change, to bring ocean conservation to scale globally, to expand nature-positive economies and ensure conservation is equitable, inclusive and leverages the knowledge and expertise of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead strategic communications for Development, including designing and executing a campaign communications plan

• Proactively identify compelling content, guide the narrative, and write and/or capture the best stories and deliver them using the best mediums and channels.
• Direct a calendar of donor communications across giving levels, looking for opportunities to leverage the best content with different audiences.
• Design and lead execution on a strategic communications plan for a major fundraising campaign, guide the development of philanthropic packages to encourage unrestricted and lightly restricted giving, create key communications touchpoints throughout the campaign lifecycle, and write and manage the creation of high-quality, compelling materials to attract support for the campaign.
• Serve as a coach for fundraisers and senior leaders in storytelling and crafting their elevator pitches and talking points for donor meetings and events.
• Oversee the development of significant proposals, concepts, reports, and other donor materials, with the support of dedicated writers for the Development team, as well as external writers, and collaborating with other in-house writing staff as well as designers. 

Implement a comprehensive, integrated donor stewardship and recognition program

• Ensure the systems, processes, and policies are in place to enable strong stewardship of individual donors.
• Provide leadership and support for the Development team to implement customized stewardship and recognition strategies for individual donors, including bespoke stewardship reports.
• Provide strategic guidance to the Annual Giving and Planned Giving team on donor stewardship and giving-level programs and benefits, and ensure these efforts are integrated into the larger stewardship program.
• Provide strategic guidance to the Foundation Relations team in informal stewardship of foundation donors, to supplement formal reporting and support relationship building.

Pilot new ideas to continually improve donor experience

• Explore and recommend the use of video, social media and other communications to build donor relationships.
• Work with Individual Giving to develop and support a consistent donor communications strategy, from cultivation to stewardship, including small events in key donor markets for CI.
• Lead and refresh strategy and deployment of CI’s major donor communications and stewardship vehicles, including our Annual Report, Impact Report, select CEO communications, calendar, and holiday card, and lead efforts to develop new communications vehicles.
• Provide ongoing education and mentorship for the Development team and colleagues across CI on best practices and emerging trends in donor communications and stewardship.

Build trusting and collaborative relationships across the organization

• Partner with CI Brand and Communications to develop messaging and tools and to also re-purpose existing tools to engage and inspire various donor audiences. This position and the Donor Experience and Communications team are Development’s connectors to communicators across the organization.
• Create partnerships to brainstorm ideas, gather stories, and develop materials / adapt materials for donors.
• Represent the donor audience in wider marketing and messaging discussions, and help colleagues better understand the CI donor.
• Support others to achieve their goals.

Other duties as assigned by supervisor.  

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Some travel is possible for team meetings and events.
• Guidance on flexible work arrangements will be shared during the interview process. 

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 or more years of experience in fundraising and/or marketing and communications, with a strong preference for both, with five or more years of supervisory experience.
• Advanced writing and editing skills as well as significant experience developing and implementing nonprofit communications strategies.
• Ability to work with teams involving expertise outside own functional and programmatic area and to develop ideas or solutions to complex problems that go beyond established practices.
• Skilled in storytelling and inspiring and preparing others to share programmatic and human stories.
• Superb interpersonal skills, including the ability to listen, use diplomacy and tact, and build strong relationships with donors, volunteers, and all levels of staff.
• Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, internally and externally, and to use storytelling to convey impact.
• Superior project management skills are critical for the success of this position as are the ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously, respond in a timely manner to urgent requests, meet deadlines, and collaborate across teams and functions in a global organization.
• Ability and experience managing staff and establishing job objectives, goals, and strategies for self, staff, and cross-functional fundraising teams.
• Commitment to advancing the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion and working productively and respectfully across various cultural contexts in a complex global organization.
• Ability to operate effectively and independently with limited oversight and supervision.

Preferred

• Proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite required and with Microsoft collaborative tools (Sharepoint, Teams, OneDrive) strongly preferred.
• Experience with Raiser's Edge or a similar fundraising database software package.
• Experience and/or demonstrated interest in conservation, environmental studies, global development, or related topics.

To apply for this position please submit a resume and cover letter.

See all Conservation International Career Opportunities HERE

Conservation International is an equal opportunity, affirmative action, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility-committed employer. We are proud to have a diverse, global workforce where employment decisions are based on qualifications, experience, position requirements, business needs, market conditions, merit, and other legitimate nondiscriminatory factors.

As a science-based organization, CI follows CDC recommendations for COVID-19 and other vaccines. Accordingly, for the health and safety of our employees, their families, and our community, subject to applicable local law, all Conservation International staff are expected to be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, vaccination is no longer a mandate or condition of employment and employees are not required to provide proof of vaccination. This means we will not require an individual to be vaccinated to enter a CI office, attend CI events or travel on CI-related trips. This applies for our community partners as well. This vaccine expectation applies to all team members working remotely, in a hybrid work arrangement, and on-site. Job applicants are NOT required to state their COVID-19 vaccine status in their application.