Development & Communications Manager

Since 1963, InvestED has removed the small financial barriers that keep low-income Washington middle and high school students from getting to school, engaging in school, and graduating — school supplies, sports equipment, instrument fees, activity costs. No paperwork, no delay: our trust-based model puts the decision in the hands of the school, not a review committee. We partner with 668 schools across Washington's nine Educational Service Districts, reaching approximately 55,000 students a year — against an addressable population of 250,000–300,000 WA students living at or near poverty. We're now building the infrastructure, team, and donor base to close that gap. Position Summary We're hiring the person who makes InvestED's external-facing development engine run — institutional and grant funding, school-based fundraising, community giving, event and sponsorship coordination, public visibility — with the discipline to keep gift records accurate and audit-ready underneath all of it. This is a role for someone who can build a grant calendar, manage a video production schedule, and reconcile a donor database in the same week without dropping a thread, and who does it inside a small, tight-knit team where initiative matters as much as follow-through. You'll have real ownership from day one, working directly with our Executive Director and Associate Director of Development to shape how this function scales as InvestED grows. This is a 40-hour, hybrid role (approximately 2 days/week in our Renton office), with occasional evening or weekend work around events, and periodic travel within Washington State. Salary range: $75-85K annually. Key Responsibilities Community Giving & One-to-Many Communications Manage InvestED's multi-channel (email, mail, social) communications calendar — appeals, newsletters, stewardship sends, and campaign-specific emails (Back to School, Annual Appeal, End of Year, GiveBIG, Giving Tuesday) Compile and draft newsletter content, coordinating with program and development staff for stories, updates, and impact data Execute InvestED's social media presence and content calendar in partnership with the Associate Director of Development Support production and distribution of donor- and community-facing content (video, print, digital) Identify and pursue community visibility opportunities that build InvestED's public profile and pipeline Grants & Institutional Funding Manage a full-cycle grant pipeline: prospect research, LOIs, proposals, reporting, and renewal — tracked and current in LGL Independently own and submit smaller-dollar and community-affiliated grant applications (e.g., Rotaries, Elks, Windermere offices, other multi-chapter organizations) Partner with the Executive Director to draft applications for major institutional funders (e.g., Raikes, Gates, Murdock, BECU) — supporting research, drafting, and reporting on strategic accounts where the ED holds the primary relationship Build and maintain funder relationship records and stewardship touchpoints for institutional accounts in partnership with the Associate Director of Development and ED Draft timely, accurate grant reports paired with real program outcomes and student-impact stories, sourced only from verified data Program Communications and Fundraising Serve as InvestED's primary point of contact for school coordinators, maintaining a regular communication cadence Maintain and improve coordinator-facing fundraising (SEED Program) materials — training, templates, promotional assets Drive a consistent outreach cadence to grow school participation and per-school fundraising result; track and report SEED performance by school on a quarterly basis Data, Process & Gift Management Manage and execute daily administration and transaction processes to ensure all donations are accurately recorded in LGL on a timely basis, ensuring each gift is correctly coded to campaign, fund, and donor segment; Provide feedback and insight on the areas that the Assoc. Director oversees: data integrity, architecture, segmentation, reporting, and the one-directional sync to the email platform. Generate and send timely, accurate donor welcome, acknowledgment letters and tax receipts across all gift types Manage and execute an efficient school fund disbursement process (general funds and SEED-raised funds), in partnership with InvestED's bookkeeping vendor, on a monthly cadence, confirming each disbursement's completion in the SPACE Portal Coordinate with InvestED's bookkeeping vendor each month to reconcile donations against LGL and hand off verified SEED and general-fund disbursement amounts for the vendor to process, ensuring LGL records match bank activity and support accurate monthly financial reporting Process monthly school funding reports as required by grantors Identify and use AI tools to streamline repetitive tasks while ensuring all donor- and funder-facing output is reviewed for accuracy and meets InvestED's verified-data and brand standards. Event & Sponsorship Coordination Provide day-to-day logistics and coordination support for InvestED's regional fundraising events (Spokane, Tri-Cities, Seattle, Golf), working from the strategy and sponsorship priorities set by the Associate Director of Development Manage sponsorship fulfillment and recognition — tracking commitments, coordinating benefit delivery (logo placement, event signage, program acknowledgment), and ensuring sponsors receive a consistently polished, well-managed experience Support sponsor prospect research and outreach coordination in partnership with the Associate Director of Development, particularly for community-level and mid-tier sponsorship opportunities Coordinate event timelines, vendor logistics, and day-of support in partnership with event hosts and Board members Qualifications 3–5+ years in nonprofit development Experience supporting or executing multi-channel annual giving campaigns — appeal cycles, segmented asks, and campaign-specific messaging Demonstrated ability to manage a multi-deadline pipeline independently and accurately Exceptional writing skills and ability to flex between funder-facing narrative, donor email/newsletter copy, coordinator-facing training material, public-facing social content Experience managing an email or communications calendar (Monday.com for project management, Constant Contact for execution - or similar platforms - experience a plus) Working experience in Canva (or similar design tool) and demonstrated experience managing brand-aligned social media content Experience providing event and/or sponsorship coordination support — logistics, vendor coordination, benefit fulfillment — a plus Comfortable representing an organization in person — school visits, speaking engagements, community events, personal donor fundraising asks Experience with a donor/CRM database (LGL experience a plus, not required) Experience with Claude, or similar AI tool, a plus, but not required. Comfortable with gift processing and data entry, with strong attention to detail and accuracy Alignment with InvestED's trust-based, no-paperwork model and belief in removing barriers for students — not a "fix the student" framing, but a "remove the obstacle" one Education or youth-related nonprofit experience a plus, but not required Reporting & Team Structure This role reports to the Associate Director of Development, who oversees InvestED's development function, and works in close coordination with the Executive Director on institutional funder strategy and the Board on visibility initiatives. #J-18808-Ljbffr