Director, Communications

About the Organization

Who We Are

Promise is an early childhood-focused nonprofit organization driving towards a vision of an abundant and just world where all children can fulfill their innate promise. To work toward that vision, we advance change through two mutually reinforcing strategies:

1. Activate and strengthen the early childhood ecosystem by aligning funders, policy leaders, and practitioners around a shared vision and collective action.
2. Nurture and grow the impact of proximate leaders and their social ventures by increasing resources, connections, and sustainability.

What We Do

Our strategies come to life through Promise’s three programmatic buckets:

• Ecosystem: Ignites a cross-sector movement—uniting champions, capital, and collective will behind bold visions and narratives for America’s youngest children and families.
• Changemaker Communities: Drives the sustainability, social capital, and power of proximate changemakers across the early childhood field and in their communities.
• The Promise Fund: Identifies, resources, and scales proximate-led social innovations that prove the future young children and families deserve is within reach.

Our Impact

To date, we’ve supported more than 760 early childhood ventures nationwide through coaching, connections to capital, and community. We’ve catalyzed over $25M to social ventures, and among our most deeply supported organizations, 91% grew their impact, 80% increased budgets, and 72% expanded their teams. Through the Early Childhood Leaders of Color Collaborative, 500+ leaders across 40+ states are building collective power to reach millions of children—proof that when BIPOC leaders come together, they don’t just survive, they thrive.

About the Role

What You’ll Do

The Director of Communications is Promise’s voice, brand steward, and field activator. This role translates Promise’s learnings, values, and community-rooted work into public influence—shaping how funders, policymakers, partners, and the broader sector understand and invest in the early childhood field, Promise, and impactful leaders. A highly adaptive leader, this person will excel at telling stories that move both hearts and minds, influencing stakeholders to embrace new ideas and reinforcing behaviors that align with Promise’s ultimate goals.

The Director of Communications operates with significant autonomy across three core functions: supporting internal stakeholders and brand integrity (30%), elevating thought leadership (30%), and driving external visibility and field activation (40%). The role includes contractor management and cross-functional collaboration across all Promise departments. Success in this role requires strategic thinking to translate program learnings—what’s working and why—into compelling external messaging about why that impact matters.

This is a great opportunity for a strategic entrepreneurial storyteller to act as a brand steward and field activator, transforming Promise’s successful efforts into a highly distinctive brand presence and translating community-rooted work into public influence that moves funders, policymakers, and partners to act.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Thought Leadership (30%)

Media & Content Strategy

• Lead a proactive, integrated media strategy across traditional and innovative formats, including publications, video, and digital platforms, to grow Promise’s sector authority and build a distinctive yet unified voice.
• Draft compelling op-eds, essays, and bylined content that extend organizational priorities into the public discourse, moving hearts and minds to position Promise leaders as essential voices in the early childhood field.
• Monitor the news environment in real time and advise leadership on communications opportunities, timing risks, and strategic pivots.

Executive Voice & Positioning

• Partner closely with Promise’s CEO and senior team to develop and sustain distinctive external voices, including personal positioning strategy, digital presence, and high-stakes speaking engagement preparation.
• Build and actively manage the CEO’s and senior team’s digital presence across key platforms, cultivating each leader’s reputation as a credible sector thought leader in the social innovation and early childhood fields.
• Manage a high-impact slate of communications engagements, including speaking opportunities, panels, bylined writing, and media appearances, with dedicated preparation and post-engagement follow-through.

Convenings & Field Engagement

• In partnership with the Executive Office and Programs teams, coordinate conference and convening strategy, including topic development, format selection, speaker curation, and participant engagement to maximize Promise’s field visibility and relationships.

External Visibility & Field Activation (40%)

Owned Channels & Digital Campaigns

• Own and manage Promise’s full digital ecosystem—website, social media, and email newsletter—with a strategic focus on audience growth, engagement depth, and stakeholder segmentation.
• Execute targeted digital campaigns to reach funders, policymakers, partners, and the broader early childhood field with relevant, timely, and mission-aligned content.

Research Translation & Narrative Change

• Translate Learning & Evaluation findings into compelling public narratives that challenge conventional thinking and reinforce aligned behaviors, resulting in moving funders and policymakers toward bolder investment.
• Amplify the voices and stories of proximate changemakers, building platforms that center community knowledge and lived experiences—not just organizational messaging.
• Shape and hold organizational messages across Promise’s core areas of work, including early-stage capital, proximate leadership, social innovation, restoration as infrastructure, social impact investing, and economic mobility.

Partnerships & Field Presence

• Cultivate and manage partnerships with peer organizations to create joint storytelling opportunities, cross-platform visibility, and aligned messaging frameworks that expand Promise’s field influence.
• Tailor strategies and language to distinct target audiences, from community-based leaders to national funders, ensuring every communication channel is purposeful, adaptive to the current environment, and audience-specific.

Internal Support & Brand Integrity (30%)

Brand & Messaging Consistency

• Own Promise’s visual identity system and enforce brand consistency across all internal teams and external-facing materials, ensuring the organization speaks with a single, coherent voice at every touchpoint.
• Establish and steward organizational language by standardizing key terms, definitions, and messages in close collaboration with Programs, Development, and Learning & Evaluation.
• Build and maintain a self-serve brand toolkit that enables every team member to operate as a skilled ambassador of the Promise brand.
• Create and maintain an integrated communications calendar that keeps all departments aligned on timing, messaging, and audience across a complex portfolio of work.

Organizational Collateral & Editorial Support

• Lead the development of core organizational collateral, including one-pagers, fact sheets, and the annual impact report, ensuring these materials are compelling, accurate, and sector-appropriate.
• Provide editorial oversight and writing support for existing newsletters, funder reports, and grant narratives, translating complex research and evaluation findings into accessible, actionable narratives.
• Serve as a thought partner and writing resource to the development function, including donor communications and event materials.

Cross-Team Coordination & Capacity Building

• Coordinate communications around program launches, milestones, and key moments to ensure strategic timing and maximum impact.
• Build team communications capacity through tools, training, and templates that make good communication practice sustainable and scalable.
• This role may include additional responsibilities as organizational needs evolve. Role, scope, and responsibilities may be updated over time.

Who You’ll Work With

• You will report to the Chief Operating Officer.
• You will supervise the Manager, Communications.

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in communications, public affairs, or a closely related function, with ownership of communications strategy in a complex, mission-driven organization, including 5 years of leadership experience.
• Strong storyteller with a demonstrated track record of moving hearts and minds by translating complex data, evaluation findings, and community-rooted work into public narratives that actively influence stakeholder behavior and align audiences with organizational goals.
• Exceptional writer and editor across formats (op-eds, reports, donor materials, social content, speeches, and brand copy) with the ability to make technical or research-heavy content accessible and compelling.
• Demonstrated experience in brand management and brand stewardship, including visual identity systems, messaging frameworks, and cross-team consistency.
• Substantial experience partnering directly with a CEO or Executive Director to elevate thought leadership, build a distinctive organizational voice, develop an innovative media strategy, and prepare for high-stakes speaking engagements.
• Strong media relations skills, including media pitching, relationship management, and opportunistic engagement with the news environment.
• Experience managing owned digital channels (website, social media, and email newsletters) with a strategic orientation toward audience growth and engagement.
• Ability to manage contractors, vendors, and external partners with clear expectations and reliable delivery.
• Collaborative, cross-functional diplomat capable of establishing clear organizational messaging boundaries while building tools, templates, and capacity to empower program and development teams as brand ambassadors.
• Deep familiarity with the social sector, with fluency in topics such as proximate leadership, early-stage capital, social innovation, economic mobility, and community voice.
• Collaborative, cross-functional working style with the ability to embed communications support within program and development teams.
• Rapid learner who stays current on emerging communications tools, platforms, and tactics and deploys them strategically.

Additional Details

Location and Work Environment

This role is fully remote and will include approximately 10% travel annually.

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $160K–$190K.

Apply here