Director of Development and Communications, Manna Food Center

Manna Food Center
Director of Development and Communications
Silver Spring, MD

About Manna Food Center
Manna Food Center’s singular mission is to eliminate hunger in Montgomery County, Maryland. Through food distribution, education, and advocacy, our work is focused on the  more than 63,000 county residents who experience hunger and food insecurity.
 
Manna stands as the premier food bank of Montgomery County, providing services to 32,000 individuals each year and helping distribute rescued food to soup kitchens, food pantries, and emergency shelters county-wide. Nearly every social service organization in Montgomery County relies on Manna to provide food to their clients, and we are honored to play our part in the strong social safety net.  Also, committed to sharing good food in welcoming spaces, Manna directly reaches into the community through a network of distribution sites in every quadrant of the county.  Our community engagement activities allow for those who receive our services to participate in creating innovative, just strategies that will achieve our vision of Food for All.
 
Position Summary
The Director of Development and Communications’ primary goal is to ensure we achieve our mission by building strong and sustainable funding relationships and developing greater awareness of our programs and services throughout Montgomery County. Reporting to and working in close collaboration with Manna’s CEO, leadership team, and Board Development committee, the Director will lead the strategy and implementation of a diverse and robust fundraising portfolio, including individual gifts, Board development, foundations, government grants, corporate partnerships, in-kind donations, and events. The Director also will oversee all of Manna’s external communications, including but not limited to, media relations, website development, direct mail, social media, newsletters, and print publications.
 
The ideal candidate is an entrepreneurially-minded leader with exceptional strategic thinking, relationship development, and communication skills. They will bring a proven record of successful experience in nonprofit fundraising and communications. They will be highly organized with strong attention to detail and demonstrate an ability to thrive in a highly dynamic and fast-growing organization. 
 
Key Responsibilities
 
Strategic Planning and Leadership

• Serve on the agency’s leadership team and contribute to the evolution of the agency, the cohesion of the team, and the formulation of mission-critical, collaborative responses to a dynamic environment.
• Create and implement development, and communications strategies and plans focused on ambitious annual goals and aligned with the multi-year strategic plan.
• Manage and motivate the Development & Communications team to meet fundraising, volunteering, and communication goals.

 
Development

• Diversify and increase Manna’s fundraising activities to achieve at a minimum our $3.5M annual goal by developing existing and creating new funding sources including individuals, foundations, government grants, corporate partnerships, in-kind donations, and events
• Develop and implement a Moves Management system for researching, tracking, and shepherding major donor relationships. 
• Steward major donors engaged through Manna’s recently completed and successful Food for All Capital Campaign.
• Manage the annual fund targeting current donors, lapsed donors, and prospective donors to increase the primary donor list and continue ambitious annual growth.
• Establish and/or deepen foundation relationships and corporate partnerships; oversee grant activities including review/edit proposals, ensure the maintenance of application and reporting calendar, promote funding partnerships.
• Develop and strengthen relationships with existing and new Board members to greater leverage funding and contacts.

 
Communications

• Develop and implement a comprehensive communications strategy, including a branding plan to ensure that brand consistency is maintained across all platforms and any program related sites.
• Measure and analyze metrics to inform and refine how resources are deployed 
• Develop a comprehensive and coordinated outreach experience program to recruit and maintain program participants.
• Supervise special events, particularly related to the annual Heroes Against Hunger awards reception, community food drives.
• Supervise maintaining the Manna website and the development of plans to ensure it remains timely, accurate, and state-of-the-art.
• Oversee Development staff as they develop and produce newsletters, social media strategies, and informational materials (e.g., brochures, infographics, and program collateral).

Ideal Experience and Qualifications

• Successful record of fundraising from a variety of sources, including major gifts, Board, foundations, government grants, corporate partnerships, in-kind donations, and events
• Experience executing a comprehensive communications strategy, including traditional and new media, website, and marketing
• Proven ability to think strategically and develop and implement a clearly defined, actionable, and measurable plan
• High emotional intelligence and exceptional relationship-development skills  
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to lead, manage, and mentor staff while cultivating a collaborative and inclusive team culture
• Highly organized with strong project and time management skills; ability to multi-task effectively and handle a wide variety of diverse and concurrent responsibilities with wit, candor, and humility.

 
Manna Food Center is an equal opportunity employer. We are focused on equity and believe deeply in diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin and all the other fascinating characteristics that make us unique individuals and community members. The ideal candidate for this position would have a demonstrated knowledge of the social determinants of food security and have experience working in communities of color.