Associate Director of Advancement Communications

Position Title:

Associate Director of Advancement Communications

Office:

Institutional Advancement Reports to: Director of Institutional Advancement Background International House (I-House) is an interdisciplinary residency program in New York City for graduate students and young professionals from around the world. Founded in 1924, I-House was built on the simple yet radical notion that living in a diverse community instills a lifelong dedication to cross-cultural understanding. Through an intentional admissions process, and both informal and targeted programming aimed at building core competencies in social and cultural intelligence, I-House is leading the way in creating a more secure, peaceful, and collaborative coexistence across the globe. The Office of Institutional Advancement builds alumni connections and philanthropic support to strengthen the I-House experience, expand financial aid, preserve and improve our historic building, and ensure that I-House continues to serve future generations of residents. Position Summary International House seeks an excellent writer, editor, and digital communicator, with demonstrated experience in fundraising communications to serve as Associate Director of Advancement Communications. Reporting to the Director of Institutional Advancement, this position will create compelling communications that strengthen alumni engagement, support fundraising, and steward donors across I-House's global community. The Associate Director's primary focus will be communications that drive engagement and philanthropic support, especially Annual Fund direct mail and email solicitations, alumni newsletters, event communications, and donor stewardship materials. The role requires excellent writing and editing skills, hands-on command of Mailchimp or a comparable platform, and the ability to create polished basic designs in Canva or similar tools. The ideal candidate will be creative, organized, and experienced in producing clear, persuasive, attractive, and donor-centered communications that inspire alumni and friends to give, renew, upgrade, attend events, and stay connected to I-House. Essential Functions Fundraising Campaigns and Solicitation Strategy

• Develop and manage the annual calendar for direct mail and email solicitation campaigns, including Annual Fund appeals, I-House Giving Day, year-end giving, renewal campaigns, and other fundraising priorities.
• Write and design solicitation materials, build and send emails in Mailchimp, and develop subject lines, preview text, calls to action, and conduct regular testing.
• Create segmented fundraising and stewardship communications for LYBUNTs and SYBUNTs, loyal donors, leadership donors, recent alumni, international alumni, and other key audiences as needed.
• Use donor data, giving history, campaign results, and audience insights to help shape solicitation strategy, messaging, timing, and calls to action.
• Write fundraising copy that is warm, direct, donor-centered, and persuasive, while remaining true to I-House's voice, culture, and mission.
• Track and report campaign performance, including open rates, click rates, response rates, giving results, and other relevant metrics, and recommend adjustments to improve future communications. Alumni and Event Communications
• Manage and produce regular alumni communications, including the alumni newsletter, event invitations, and alumni engagement updates.
• Support Advancement-related social media content as needed, including alumni stories, donor impact, event promotion, and stewardship content, in coordination with the Director of Alumni Relations and the Associate Vice President of Communications. Stewardship, Donor, and Prospect Materials
• Create stewardship reports, donor updates, and resident profiles that clearly demonstrate the impact of philanthropic support.
• Produce tailored materials for major donors and prospects, including proposals, one-pagers, follow-up materials, and endowment reports.
• Support grant proposals, progress reports, and related materials for foundation funders.
• Help maintain a library of resident stories, program descriptions, giving opportunities, and other language that can be adapted by frontline fundraisers. Content Development, Design, and Production
• Identify and produce strong stories from residents, alumni, donors, and programs for use in fundraising, stewardship, alumni engagement, and institutional storytelling.
• Ensure emails, newsletters, solicitations, invitations, and other materials are visually appealing, accurate, accessible, and appropriate for I-House audiences.
• Design digital and print materials using Canva or similar tools.
• Coordinate with printers, mail houses, occasional freelancers, and internal colleagues to produce and design direct mail pieces, email campaigns, invitations, stewardship reports, one-pagers, and other Advancement materials.
• Ensure Advancement materials align with I-House brand guidelines, voice, and visual identity.
• Support updates to Advancement-related website content as needed, in coordination with the Associate Vice President of Communications. Qualifications, Abilities, and Skills
• Bachelor's degree in communications, English, journalism, or a related field.
• At least five years of professional writing, editing, communications, advancement, fundraising, nonprofit, or related experience
• Demonstrated experience writing fundraising communications, especially direct mail appeals and email solicitations.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and proofreading skills.
• Experience developing stewardship reports, or donor impact communications.
• Experience with stewardship reports, major donor proposals, customized collateral materials for donors, and grant writing.
• Tech savvy, with strong command of Microsoft Office Suite and Mailchimp or a comparable email marketing platform, including email building, design, audience segmentation, testing, scheduling, and reporting.
• Ability to create polished, on-brand materials in Canva or a similar platform.
• Detail-oriented, responsive, committed to accuracy, and flexible, with the ability to manage multiple projects at once and meet deadlines.
• Sound judgment and discretion when working with donor, alumni, and institutional information.
• Familiarity with donor databases or CRM systems, especially Raiser's Edge NXT or Blackbaud platforms, preferred.
• Demonstrated team player with the ability to collaborate with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.
• Ability to work occasional evening and weekend hours.

Salary Range $90,000 - $100,000 commensurate with experience. How to Apply Please submit a cover letter and resume via e-mail to careers@ihouse-nyc.org with "Associate Director of Advancement Communications" in the subject line. International House provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, International House complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. International House expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.