Community Partnerships & Development Coordinator (Seattle)

Organization: Seattle City Flag

Engagement: Independent contractor

Term: 12-month

Compensation: Up to $7,000 total

Time commitment: Approximately five hours per week, scheduled flexibly

Location: Seattle-area hybrid and community-based work

Reports to: Executive Director/President

About Seattle City Flag

Seattle City Flag is a nonprofit civic-art organization working to strengthen connection, belonging, and goodwill through inclusive public art, civic symbolism, and community partnership. Our work includes the contemporary Seattle city flag, Seattle Civic Magazine, merchandise, public programming, and collaborations with cultural and community institutions.

Our organizational values are harmony, community, connection, and inclusion. We seek to build trust through mutual respect, authentic relationships, thoughtful listening, and a commitment to supporting our partners and community.

Position Summary

The Community Partnerships & Development Coordinator will build relationships and revenue opportunities with Seattle-area small businesses, community organizations, sponsors, donors, and event partners.

The coordinator will help translate Seattle City Flag’s community visibility and public goodwill into a repeatable pipeline of partnerships, sponsorships, recurring donations, earned revenue, and audience growth. This position is well suited for a proactive relationship builder who can independently move opportunities from initial outreach through follow-up and activation.

This is an independent contractor role structured around defined outcomes, flexible scheduling, and approximately five hours of work per week.

Primary ResponsibilitiesCommunity and Small-Business Partnerships

• Develop relationships with Seattle-area coffee shops, bookstores, retailers, restaurants, arts organizations, nonprofits, and neighborhood businesses.
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of prospective partners, prioritizing promising neighborhood clusters and warm introductions.
• Create practical opportunities for local organizations to participate in Seattle City Flag’s work.
• Secure partnerships involving magazine distribution, flag displays, merchandise placement, retail or consignment arrangements, co-promotions, in-kind support, sponsored community activations, and events.
• Document partnership models, materials, economics, and lessons to support future expansion.
• Represent Seattle City Flag at selected neighborhood events, business-association gatherings, and partner meetings.

Sponsorship and Fundraising

• Help develop sponsorship levels, benefits, outreach materials, and a clear case for support for Seattle-area businesses and civic-minded partners.
• Identify and cultivate prospective sponsors and donors, including leads introduced by board members, volunteers, and organizational partners.
• Conduct consistent donor and sponsor outreach, follow-up, stewardship, renewal, and upgrade communications.
• Support the growth of Seattle City Flag’s recurring-donor program.
• Test targeted fundraising campaigns and partner-supported appeals.
• Document which audiences, messages, and outreach channels produce meaningful results.
• Track sponsorship revenue, recurring donors, annualized recurring revenue, renewals, proposals, qualified opportunities, and secured funds.

Pipeline and Relationship Management

• Maintain accurate records of prospective and active partners, sponsors, and donors.
• Track outreach activity, relationship status, commitments, revenue attribution, and next actions.
• Prioritize qualified opportunities, warm introductions, consistent follow-up, reusable materials, and the outreach channels demonstrating the strongest results.
• Communicate barriers, resource needs, and requests for board support.
• Ensure relationships are managed professionally and follow-up commitments are completed.

Reporting and Coordination

• Coordinate with the Executive Director/President and Seattle City Flag’s Community Organizing, Product Growth, and Non-Profit Development leads.
• Provide a concise monthly update covering:
• Outreach and follow-up activity
• Qualified partnership and fundraising opportunities
• Partnerships activated
• Donors and sponsors secured
• Revenue and pipeline development
• Audience or email-list growth
• Barriers and organizational support needed
• Priorities for the following month
• Participate in periodic progress reviews and recommend adjustments based on results and lessons learned.

Desired Qualifications

Seattle City Flag welcomes candidates whose experience may come from nonprofit development, small-business engagement, community organizing, sales, sponsorships, fundraising, arts and culture, or other relationship-focused work.

A strong candidate will demonstrate:

• Experience in partnership development, fundraising, sponsorships, business development, sales, donor relations, community engagement, or a related area.
• Strong interpersonal communication and relationship-building skills.
• The ability to make clear partnership or funding requests and follow through consistently.
• Familiarity with Seattle’s neighborhoods, independent-business community, arts and cultural organizations, nonprofit sector, or civic networks.
• The ability to manage a pipeline and maintain organized records of outreach, commitments, and next steps.
• Sound judgment, reliability, initiative, and attention to detail.
• The ability to work independently within an agreed scope, budget, and reporting structure.
• Comfort working in a small, growing nonprofit environment with volunteer leaders and evolving systems.
• A commitment to Seattle City Flag’s mission and inclusive civic engagement.

Community-Engagement Expectations

The coordinator must demonstrate respectful, trauma-informed, and non-coercive community-engagement practices. The role requires the ability to build relationships across Seattle's diverse communities while fostering inclusive, constructive, and psychologically safe interactions.

This includes the ability to:

• Listen carefully and communicate respectfully across differences.
• Navigate disagreement, criticism, and differing viewpoints constructively.
• Support an environment where questions, discussion, and respectful challenges to ideas are welcomed.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries and exercise sound judgment in community interactions.
• Treat partners, donors, volunteers, and community members with dignity, respect, and cultural awareness.
• Contribute to physically and psychologically safe interactions.
• Build relationships without pressuring participation, support, donations, or engagement.
• Avoid conduct that could reasonably intimidate, harass, demean, coerce, or undermine the participation of others.
• Represent Seattle City Flag's mission, values, and commitment to inclusive civic engagement thoughtfully and professionally.

Engagement Structure

This position is a 12-month independent contractor engagement focused on defined community-partnership and revenue-development outcomes.

The contractor will independently determine the methods and schedule used to complete the agreed scope of work, subject to established deliverables, reporting expectations, and Seattle City Flag’s approved budget. The work is expected to average approximately five hours per week, with scheduling flexibility around outreach, partner meetings, and selected events.

The role emphasizes focused, outcome-based work rather than a guaranteed weekly shift. Total compensation will not exceed $7,000 for the 12-month. Paid twice monthly or upon completion of agreed upon scope.

Measures of Progress

The coordinator will be accountable for working toward the 12-month targets:

• 60 individual donors secured
• 3 sponsors secured
• 15 business or community partners activated

• 150-point flexible outcome score , allowing stronger results in one category to offset shortfalls in another

• 1 point per donor secured
• 15 points per sponsor secured
• 3 points per business/community partner activated

The baseline target is 150 points , and the outcome system allows different mixes of outcomes to achieve the overall goal. For example:

• 60 donors + 3 sponsors + 15 partners = 150 points
• 30 donors + 3 sponsors + 25 partners = 150 points

Progress will also be evaluated through pipeline development, consistent outreach and follow-up, meetings, proposals, stewardship, revenue generated, and the creation of repeatable partnership and fundraising processes.

Activity targets are planning guardrails rather than rigid quotas. Performance will consider both the quality and consistency of the coordinator’s work and measurable progress toward the pilot’s donor, sponsor, partnership, and revenue outcomes.