Director of Fund Development and Communications in Seatac, Washington at African Community Housing and Developmen

Supervises: Fundraising and communications staff

Position Summary

The Director of Fund Development and Communications serves as the senior leader responsible for ACHD’s fundraising and external communications strategy, with primary accountability for achieving annual organizational fundraising goals. This role combines strategic leadership, direct revenue generation, donor and institutional relationship management, campaign execution, and communications oversight to advance ACHD’s mission, growth, and long-term sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

Fund Development

• Hold primary leadership accountability for achieving annual organizational fundraising revenue goals, as established through the annual planning and budgeting process.
• Develop and execute comprehensive annual and multi-year fundraising strategies designed to achieve organizational revenue targets across major gifts, institutional giving, corporate sponsorships, government and private grants, annual campaigns, special initiatives, and capital campaigns.
• Personally cultivate, solicit, close, and steward a portfolio of major donors, institutional funders, corporate partners, and strategic philanthropic prospects, with direct individual revenue production expectations.
• Lead fundraising strategy and execution for capital campaigns and special fundraising initiatives, ensuring sufficient philanthropic support for organizational priorities, including real estate development and strategic growth initiatives.
• Build, maintain, and actively manage a qualified fundraising pipeline with measurable prospect movement, ensuring sufficient opportunity volume to meet short- and long-term revenue goals.
• Partner directly with the Chief Executive Officer, Vice President, Board members, and key stakeholders to identify, cultivate, solicit, and close major and transformational gifts.
• Oversee grant development strategy, including proposal development, funder cultivation, submission oversight, and stewardship, in collaboration with internal staff, consultants, and executive leadership.
• Establish clear fundraising performance metrics, forecasting practices, and accountability systems to monitor pipeline health, revenue progress, donor engagement, and campaign effectiveness.
• Ensure accurate and disciplined use of CRM and fundraising data systems for donor tracking, moves management, reporting, forecasting, and revenue analysis.
• Identify emerging funding opportunities, philanthropic trends, and strategic partnerships that expand organizational revenue and long-term fundraising capacity.
• Develop compelling fundraising cases for support, donor messaging, and investment narratives aligned with organizational mission, impact, and strategic priorities.

Communications

• Provide strategic oversight to ACHD’s communications to ensure alignment with mission and fundraising efforts.
• Ensure consistent messaging across platforms (print, digital, social media, donor communications, public relations).
• Represent ACHD externally to funders, community stakeholders, and media, as needed.
• Integrate program data and impact metrics into storytelling to enhance donor engagement, public awareness, and case-making.

Leadership & Team Management

· Supervise, coach, develop, and hold fundraising and communications staff accountable for performance expectations, goals, and deliverables.

• Foster a team culture rooted in collaboration, accountability, equity, and mutual learning.

Operations & Compliance

• Develop and manage the department budget.
• Ensure compliance with IRS and nonprofit fundraising regulations.
• Oversee accurate donor and grant tracking, ensuring timely and accurate acknowledgments and reports.

Qualifications

Required

• Minimum of 7–10 years of progressively responsible nonprofit fundraising leadership experience, with demonstrated success in building and executing comprehensive fundraising strategies.
• Proven track record of achieving significant annual fundraising revenue goals, including personal success securing major gifts, institutional funding, corporate sponsorships, and philanthropic partnerships.
• Demonstrated experience personally cultivating, soliciting, closing, and stewarding major donor and institutional funding relationships.
• Experience leading or supporting capital campaigns, strategic fundraising initiatives, and multi-channel revenue development efforts.
• Strong experience building, managing, and forecasting qualified donor pipelines, including disciplined use of CRM systems, moves management, and fundraising performance metrics.
• At least 5 years of leadership and supervisory experience, including staff development, performance management, accountability systems, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Experience partnering effectively with executive leadership, board members, and external stakeholders in fundraising strategy, donor cultivation, and gift solicitation.
• Demonstrated ability to develop compelling cases for support, donor communications, and strategic fundraising messaging.
• Strong understanding of nonprofit fundraising regulations, donor stewardship practices, gift compliance, and ethical fundraising standards.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, negotiation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Strong organizational leadership, budgeting, strategic planning, and project management skills.
• Experience working effectively in fast-paced, mission-driven environments serving diverse, multicultural communities.
• Proficiency with donor databases, CRM platforms, wealth screening tools (such as iWave), Microsoft Office Suite, and fundraising reporting tools.

Preferred

• Familiarity with the Seattle/King County philanthropic landscape, corporate giving environment, and institutional funding ecosystem.
• Experience in housing, community development, human services, economic development, education, or similarly complex nonprofit sectors.
• Experience fundraising in support of real estate development, capital projects, community-based initiatives, or multi-million-dollar growth efforts.
• Experience working within culturally specific, community-rooted, or equity-centered nonprofit organizations.
• Bilingual or multilingual communication abilities.
• Lived experience aligned with the communities ACHD serves.

Leadership and Equity Expectations

As a leadership position at ACHD, the Director is expected to:

• Model and promote equity-centered leadership that values diverse perspectives.
• Cultivate a workplace environment where learning is reciprocal and mistakes are viewed as opportunities for growth.
• Demonstrate accountability not only to organizational outcomes but also to staff and community wellbeing.
• Participate in ongoing equity training and organizational learning.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

This position requires prolonged periods of sitting and working at a computer. Occasional travel for meetings and events is required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.