Director of Development & Communications

Company Description

Who we are: KIPP St. Louis is a part of a national network of free, open-enrollment, public charter schools offering a choice to families and children in St. Louis City. As the largest charter school system in the city, we are driven and committed to our mission, vision, and equity statement.

Mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

Vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.

KIPP St. Louis currently educates over 2,000 students and at full growth, we will educate nearly 3,600 students and hundreds of alumni. Today, our St. Louis network consists of PreK-12th grade.

What makes KIPP St. Louis unique?
We believe that our educators are proving what's possible in urban education each and every day, by inspiring students and helping them discover the joy of learning. KIPP schools support our educators to help students achieve academic excellence, building the skills and confidence they need to succeed.  

Together, we are raising the bar for every student, every day.

Job Description

Position Overview 
KIPP St. Louis has unveiled an ambitious five-year Strategic Plan 2030. The Director of Development and Communications serves as the region’s fundraising leader and chief architect of external positioning in service of this plan.

The Director is accountable for achieving the annual philanthropic revenue goal (currently $1.75M+) and for ensuring that communications directly advance revenue, enrollment stability, talent recruitment, and Board engagement.

The Director owns outcomes. The Manager owns execution.

Position type: Full-time, exempt, 12 Month    

Reporting & Collaboration​

• Direct Manager: You report to the CEO.

• Direct Reports: Manager of Development and Communications.

• Lateral Leadership: As a member of regional leadership, you partner closely with Chiefs and Vice Presidents to align fundraising and communications strategy with academic, talent, finance, and operations priorities.

• Lateral Managers: None.

• Key Collaborators: CEO, Cabinet, Finance team, Board of Directors, school leaders, KIPP Foundation, donors, and community partners.

Autonomy & Decision Making​

• The Director exercises high levels of judgment in setting fundraising strategy, managing major donor relationships, forecasting revenue, and aligning communications to regional priorities. The role escalates revenue risks and strategic trade-offs to the CEO and Board as needed.

Inputs: What will I be doing in my day to day work?

Strategic Fundraising & Revenue Leadership

• Develop and execute a multi-year philanthropic roadmap aligned to Strategic Plan 2030 priorities.

• Establish annual and multi-year fundraising goals across foundations, corporations, major gifts, and events.

• Personally manage a defined portfolio of high-capacity donors and foundation prospects.

• Develop and lead cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for major gifts.

• Lead overall grant strategy and approve major submissions.

• Ensure grant budgets align with broader financial planning.

• Conduct quarterly revenue forecasting and variance analysis.

• Provide monthly fundraising performance reports to the CEO and Board quarterly.

Board Fundraising Activation

• Design and implement a Board fundraising engagement plan.

• Conduct individual giving-and-getting conversations with Board members.

• Provide clear dashboards and fundraising tools to support Board engagement.

External Narrative & Organizational Positioning

• Set the region’s external narrative and positioning strategy.

• Ensure storytelling aligns directly with fundraising priorities.

• Align messaging across fundraising materials, impact reports, website content, and public statements.

• Serve as liaison to the KIPP Foundation for external affairs.

• Lead revision of the regional internal communications strategy to prioritize impact over volume, ensuring clarity, consistency, and strategic alignment.

• Define clear standards and templates for schools and regional teams to maintain brand integrity and reduce duplication.

• Design and implement organization donor event strategy 

• Set revenue goals and strategic objectives for signature events.

• Evaluate event ROI and strategic alignment.

• Delegate logistics and execution management to the Manager.

• Tier work into 'must hit,' 'seasonal,' and 'capacity-permitting' priorities, with fundraising outcomes taking precedence when trade-offs arise.

Outcomes: What will I be evaluated on?

• Achievement of annual philanthropic revenue goals.

• Healthy and growing major gift and foundation pipelines.

• Clear and disciplined revenue forecasting.

• Effective Board activation in fundraising.

• External positioning aligned to regional strategy and sustainability.

What skills should I already bring, i.e., what should I already have a track record around?

• Managing complex cross-functional projects with precision and follow-through

• Leading people and projects to drive results

• Clear, compelling, concise written and verbal communication

• Driving clarity in ambiguous environments

• Maintain emotional comportment in tough situations

• Exceptional communication and influencing skills; both written and verbal

• Strong strategic planning, project, and budget management skills, and

• Self-starter with the ability to effectively backwards plan, juggle multiple priorities with great attention to detail, and deliver consistent and timely results.

What should I know a lot about already, i.e., what should I have expertise in?

• Effective fundraising and cultivation strategies,

• Creating and refining rapid response messaging, and 

• Planning and hosting exemplary events and fundraisers.

KIPP uses Indicators of Excellence (IOE) to codify what great looks like in daily work.  For this role, the IOEs include:

• Ownership and Stewardship

  • Takes full accountability for achieving revenue targets and ensuring external strategy advances long-term sustainability.

• Monitoring and Quality

  • Implements disciplined forecasting, CRM tracking, and reporting systems. Ensures accuracy and rigor in all Board-facing materials.

• Coherence

  • Ensures development, communications, events, and external positioning operate as one integrated strategy aligned to the Strategic Plan.

• Data-Driven Decision Making and Equity

  • Uses fundraising, engagement, and performance data to drive decisions and allocate resources in ways that advance equitable outcomes for students and communities.

Qualifications

What you bring to the table:

Required

• Bachelor’s degree 

• 5–7+ years of leadership experience in fundraising, development or external affairs 

• Demonstrated success managing or contributing to $1M+annual fundraising goal 

• Exceptional communication, strategic planning, and project management skills.

• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing effective fundraising strategies multiple revenue streams Proven track record of developing successful partnerships with organizations, businesses, and public sector agencies.

• Strong strategic planning, project, and budget management skills.

• Experience developing external messaging, donor communications, or brand narrative 

• Strong project management and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously

Preferred

• Familiarity with CRM systems and pipeline management

• Experience in K-12 education or youth serving non profits 

Additional Information

What we bring to the table:

KIPP St. Louis is committed to pay equity and to ensuring that we do not unintentionally perpetuate historic wage gaps that persist due to individual negotiations.  As a result, salaries are not negotiated.  We are transparent about salaries in our job postings so that candidates can make an informed decision before beginning the hiring process.  The salary range is $85,000-$120,000. This role is performance bonus eligible. 

We are a fast-paced, energetic team and family with passionate people who are leading a movement and to cultivate their best working environment, we provide the following:

• $0 deductible healthcare plan option, including medical, vision, and dental. 

• Employer Paid Short-Term Disability. 

• $50,000 life insurance policy at no cost to the employee. 

• Retirement plan through PSSRSSL with an employer match up to 14% and an optional 403b as a supplement to our pension program

• Employee Recognition: When we succeed together, we celebrate together with our annual gala award ceremony, holiday party, and more!

• Public Service student loan forgiveness program qualified employer. 

• Ongoing professional development.

• Generous time off:

• Paid leave for illness, personal days, bereavement, jury duty, and military-related leave

• Paid parental leave for new families

• Paid holidays, as well as a one-week Thanksgiving break, a two-week winter break, a week-long spring break

• Wellness days provided throughout the year

Hiring Timeline and Steps

• This role will be posted from April 3 to April 8, 2026.  The anticipated start date for the role is as soon as possible, with the latest start of July 6, 2026.