Director of Development and Communications

The Baltimore Abortion Fund (BAF), founded in 2014, is a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to individuals who live in or travel to Maryland for abortion care. BAF is part of the National Network for Abortion Funds (NNAF), which includes over 70 independently operated funds across the United States supporting the reproductive health decisions of their callers. BAF operates a confidential helpline and makes financial commitments to fill the gap between what callers can afford and the full cost of their procedures, connects callers to practical support resources, and provides information on how to access abortion care. Using an intersectional reproductive justice lens, BAF works to dismantle white supremacy by removing systemic barriers people face when accessing abortion care. BAF also actively works to reduce abortion stigma within Maryland and participates in the broader conversations shaping local and state-wide policy affecting our callers. Learn more about our impact here.

THE OPPORTUNITY

BAF seeks a responsive, collaborative leader to serve as the organization’s Director of Development and Communications. This leader serves as the Co-Director of the organization, collaborating with the Director of Resource Coordination on day-to-day oversight of BAF’s operations, staff development, and short and long-term organizational strategy and vision. This dynamic leader will cultivate and steward relationships that drive BAF’s impact and ensure long-term financial sustainability, strategizing, overseeing, and implementing BAF’s fundraising and external communications activities. Alongside the Director of Development and Communications, the Director of Resource Coordination reports to the BAF Board of Directors. BAF values shared power, collaborative decision-making, and mutual accountability among colleagues. This leader will work closely with the Director of Resource Coordination to establish and maintain organizational structures that support these values for BAF’s entire five-person staff, the Board of Directors, and BAF’s community of volunteers.

The ideal candidate will have a commitment to reproductive justice, an understanding of the trauma endured by our clients, including issues pertaining to gender, race, poverty, and class, and will be able to work effectively in a diverse and progressive office environment. They will share BAF’s core belief in the value and importance of access to a full spectrum of reproductive health options and operate with a high degree of confidentiality and respect for our callers. They will be a flexible self-starter who is willing to tackle new projects and take on additional work as necessitated by the evolving needs of our callers and team.

The Director of Development and Communications will be a strategic, hands-on leader who will maintain the structural needs of the fund and lead BAF’s infrastructure growth. In close partnership with the Board, and the BAF leadership team, the Director of Development and Communications will maximize opportunities for diverse sources of revenue that will scale with the growing Fund.

This leader will also develop and implement external communications strategies that cultivate and steward an active community of BAF donors, volunteers, partners, clients, and other key constituents. The successful candidate will be a strong relationship builder and organizational storyteller, who leverages BAF’s story of impact to build interest and stronger connection to BAF’s work in Maryland.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

The Director of Development and Communications will demonstrate success through their proficiency of these key competencies:

Mission & Values Alignment: You bring a strong commitment to abortion access and full reproductive healthcare for all and an understanding and appreciation of the barriers to reproductive health and a passion for removing those barriers.

Strong Collaborator, Storyteller, and Relationship Builder: You can galvanize support for BAF’s work with donors, partners, and community leaders, and understand the power of narrative to build a constellation of supporters interested and energized by BAF’s work and impact.

Strong Strategic Communicator: You bring communications and marketing leadership, including an understanding of communications strategies and planning processes; and an understanding of strategic marketing methodologies. You also bring strong grant writing and editing skills with demonstrated experience in obtaining federal, state, local and/or foundation grants.

Team Leadership and Managing for Results: You bring prior experience managing people, projects, and yourself to achieve results for BAF callers and that drive for organizational impact. You will motivate and inspire colleagues to action and rally others around a shared vision of excellence.

Coaching and Thought Leadership: You assign work in ways that maximize an individual’s strengths while building their leadership abilities and support colleagues in their own professional and personal development.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead the Organization! As a BAF Co-Director, you will collaborate with the other Co-Director, the Director of Resource Coordination, to lead the organization. BAF does not maintain a traditional hierarchical nonprofit staff structure headed by an Executive Director. Instead, the Director of Development and Communications and the Director of Resource Coordination independently lead and manage their teams and departmental projects, collaborating on organizational decisions, short- and long-term organizational vision and strategy, organizational systems, and oversight of day-to-day operations. Alongside the Director of Resource Coordination, you will report to and collaborate with BAF’s Board of Directors, providing information and expertise relevant to their fiduciary responsibilities.

As the leader of the Operations Team, you will provide mentorship, strategic guidance, and day-to-day management for BAF’s Operations Manager. You will make overarching decisions related to fundraising and communications strategy, collaborating with other staff members, volunteers, and the Board of Directors to implement your strategic vision. You will develop and implement systems and processes that support an ambitious development strategy, including managing the development calendar, managing grants, developing a reporting structure and cadence, developing funder communication templates, tracking donor data, and managing the funder acknowledge process.

Fund Abortion! You will design and implement fundraising strategies that raise the funds BAF needs to operate and grow sustainably while meeting the abortion funding needs of callers. You will leverage your experience and track record in driving development efforts in a rapidly growing organization. You are comfortable setting and meeting fundraising goals, generating new funding sources, and running sophisticated corporate, institutional, and individual giving campaigns. You will also design and implement communications strategies that inspire, educate, and galvanize BAF’s community of donors, volunteers, partners, clients, and other key constituents, developing and sharing written and visual content through BAF’s website, social media channels, organizational emails, brochures and flyers, branded merchandise, and direct mail.

Build Power! In this position, it will be necessary to collaborate with your team members in order to create an organization that is built on shared values. This will include being active in a shared-power system that clearly defines areas of collaboration vs. autonomy for all staff roles and incorporates relevant perspectives into decision-making. You will provide and receive ongoing mentorship and take an active role in building justice-based and equitable policies and procedures that dismantle systems, structures, and processes that are oppressive and support an organizational culture that intentionally removes barriers that prevent staff members from showing up as their preferred selves at work.

Scale Up! BAF is at an exciting inflection point as it is assembling a team of full-time staff. This means that the ideal candidate is open to a role that continues to evolve and grow and recognizes that the scale and scope of the work may change as BAF scales. Consequently, there will be special projects and initiatives that will require the leadership and support of the Director of Development and Communications. The ideal candidate would be someone who brings their own passion to this work and is willing to be flexible with organizational growth.

BENEFITS AND SALARY

The starting salary for this position is $80,000, plus robust health and leave benefits.

HOW TO APPLY

Candidates may submit their cover letter, outlining their interest and qualifications, along with their resume via NPAG’s website. Candidates are encouraged to apply even without meeting 100% of the role requirement.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing essential functions of this job. We reasonably accommodate staff members and/or applicants with disabilities.

AN EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER WITH A COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE

As an organization working in solidarity with the reproductive justice movement, BAF is committed to fostering the leadership and elevating the voices of women, young people, people of color, Native people, immigrant and refugees, low-income people, LGBQ+, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, people who have had abortions, people with disabilities, young parents, people who were formerly imprisoned, people who have received funding for abortions, and people living in the many intersections of these experiences. We encourage people from these communities to apply.