Associate Director, External Affairs

Democracy Fund; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 173,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Job summary

Democracy Fund is seeking an Associate Director within External Affairs to lead philanthropic partnerships and campaigns, guiding staff and coordinating with program teams. The role focuses on turning strategy into actionable funder engagement, building relationships with donors, and advancing democracy-focused initiatives.

The position reports to the Director, Impact and Integration and works with cross-functional leaders.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of experience in philanthropic field-building
• At least 4 years of demonstrated management responsibilities
• Strong knowledge of philanthropy and how funders make decisions
• Experience designing and leading complex campaigns, partnerships, or multi-stakeholder initiatives
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Responsibilities

• Lead strategies to organize, align, and activate funders around urgent needs and opportunities.
• Design philanthropic campaigns that combine goals, credible messengers, and funder engagement.
• Build and steward trusted relationships with funders, networks, and partners.
• Partner with communications to develop campaign narratives, materials, and outreach strategies.
• Coordinate cross-functional priorities across External Affairs leadership and program teams.

Skills

Philanthropy knowledge

Relationship-building

Campaign leadership

Project management

Strategic thinking

Job description

ABOUT US

Democracy Fund is a foundation working to build an inclusive, multiracial democracy that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy. Created by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar, Democracy Fund and its partner organization Democracy Fund Voice have committed almost $425 million in grants to support those working to strengthen our democracy. Democracy Fund collaborates with grantees, donors, and other partners to change America’s flawed system by strengthening and expanding the pro-democracy movement, defending against anti-democratic attacks, and advancing structural change. To learn more, visit www.democracyfund.org and www.democracyfundvoice.org.

POSITION SUMMARY

Democracy Fund champions leaders and organizations who defend democracy and challenge our political system to be more open, just, resilient, and trustworthy. We believe that experimentation, learning, and adaptation are key to the health and resilience of any system, whether it is our organization or the American political system.

As grantmakers, we focus on listening and being of service to our grantees, who are visionaries and our collaborators, and on ways we can more deeply embed diversity, equity, and inclusion as values central to the success of our work and mission.

Since we believe in the power of human connection, we follow a hybrid work model that balances remote flexibility with purposeful collaboration. Remote candidates are required to travel to the D.C. office for all mandatory all-employee retreats (2–3 times per year) and periodic team-building sessions a few times a year. All required travel expenses will be fully covered by the foundation. While we prefer applicants residing in the Washington, D.C. metro area (DMV) to facilitate regular in-person engagement, we may consider candidates residing in other locations for exceptional applications if we already have staff in those states.

ABOUT EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

External Affairs expands DemocracyFund’s influence and impact by connecting our strategy, knowledge, relationships, and public voice. We believe that strong relationships paired with powerful narratives create the conditions for action, and that neither works without the other.

The team works across areas of communications, philanthropic partnerships, campaigns, and learning to mobilize more resources for democracy, encourage funders to adopt practices that strengthen the field, and help Democracy Fund and its partners respond effectively to a changing environment.

ROLE SUMMARY

The Associate Director is a senior leader on the External Affairs team, responsible for turning External Affairs outcomes and organizational priorities into impact by leading the development, advancement, and operationalization of the partnerships-focused components of the External Affairs strategy. This includes philanthropic partnerships, campaigns, and/or other special projects. In partnership with the Senior Director and Director, this role helps set direction for the team and oversees the design and implementation of the major bodies of work, with particular responsibility for a partnerships and philanthropic organizing campaign strategy. This role operates in a fast-moving environment where time-sensitive work and changing conditions are a regular part of the portfolio.

The Associate Director manages staff focused on campaigns, special projects, and program development; works as a co-strategist with program teams to advance their influence goals; and drives External Affairs-specific priorities. The role also coordinates, manages, and collaborates on priorities originating with organizational leadership. Combining strategy, relationship building, people management, adaptability, and disciplined execution, the Associate Director helps attract more resources to democracy work and improve how philanthropy supports the field.

This position reports to the Director, Impact and Integration, External Affairs and works closely with the Senior Director of External Affairs, Democracy Fund’s President and Vice President, program leadership and staff, and other colleagues across the organization. The role also supports Democracy Fund Voice, our 501(c)(4) partner organization.

The Associate Director’s primary responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide strategic leadership for philanthropic partnerships, campaigns, and special projects that advance External Affairs outcomes and organizational priorities. External Affairs outcomes include, at a high level:
  • Donor influence and field leadership
  • Strengthened philanthropic resources and practice
  • Expanded and diversified funding base
  • Institutional and sectoral resilience
• Effectively manage and develop staff with distinct portfolios, creating clarity, coordination, and shared accountability across campaigns and program development.
• Design and lead philanthropic campaigns that mobilize resources, strengthen funding practices, and help pro-democracy organizations respond to emerging opportunities and threats.
• Serve as a co-strategist to program teams, translating program influence goals into actionable funder engagement, partnership, and campaign strategies.

• Coordinate high-priority work originating with the President, Vice President, or program leadership, clarifying ownership and driving work from concept through execution.

• Maintain momentum in a changing environment by recognizing when strategies or plans need to shift, developing creative alternatives, and helping staff and partners adapt while staying focused on the intended outcomes.

• Contribute to the three-person External Affairs leadership team by setting direction, managing tradeoffs, monitoring progress, and adapting the team’s work as conditions change.

• Represent Democracy Fund with funders, partners, and other external audiences and build trusted relationships that extend the organization’s reach and influence.

• Take on additional duties and projects as assigned.

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND INTEGRATION

• Partner with the Senior Director and Director to set External Affairs priorities, translate strategy into annual and near-term plans, and make clear choices about sequencing, capacity, and tradeoffs.
• Contribute to team and organizational planning, learning, budgeting, and risk assessment; surface implications and decisions to senior leaders in a timely way.
• Bring an integrated perspective across External Affairs (partnerships and communications); Strategy, Impact, and Learning (SIL); and program strategies so that relationships, messages, and activities reinforce one another.
• Track developments in democracy, philanthropy, and the organization’s operating environment and recommend where External Affairs should deepen, adapt, accelerate, or stop work.
• Oversee a portfolio of partnerships, campaigns, and special projects, ensuring each effort has clear goals, decision rights, workplans, communication practices, measures of progress, opportunities for learning and impact assessment, and connection to broader External Affairs outcomes.
• As part of the three-person EA leadership body, this role shares decision-making authority over team direction, priorities, and tradeoffs, not just coordination or execution.

PHILANTHROPIC PARTNERSHIPS AND CAMPAIGNS (primarily External Affairs-focused)

• Develop and lead strategies to organize, align, and activate funders around urgent needs, longer-term opportunities, and shared approaches to strengthening democracy.
• Design philanthropic campaigns that combine compelling goals, credible messengers, useful information, funder engagement, and clear opportunities for action.
• Build and steward trusted relationships with funders, philanthropic networks, advisors, and other partners who can expand resources and improve practice in the pro-democracy field.
• Partner with communications-focused colleagues to develop campaign narratives, materials, events, and outreach strategies tailored to philanthropic audiences.
• Partner with learning and impact colleagues to evaluate partnership and campaign results, capture lessons, and use evidence and feedback to strengthen future efforts.

PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITIES (primarily organizationally-focused)

• Serve as a primary strategic partner to program leadership on influence goals, helping define the audiences, relationships, messages, and actions needed to advance them.
• Represent External Affairs in internal planning and strategy discussions and communicate decisions, dependencies, and risks back to the team.
• Facilitate cross-functional working groups and decision-making processes when a priority requires contributions from multiple teams or leaders.
• Connect program teams to relevant External Affairs capabilities and ensure requests are assessed and prioritized against team capacity and organizational goals.
• Coordinate, manage, or advise on high-priority initiatives requested by the President, Vice President, or program leadership, establishing scope, roles, timelines, and decision points.
• Translate program knowledge and emerging needs into clear opportunities for funder education, coordination, and action without positioning Democracy Fund as the sole broker or gatekeeper.
• Build alignment and influence across teams and stakeholders with different areas of expertise, authority, incentives, and perspectives, using sound judgment and relationship-building to move complex work forward.

TEAM MEMBER AND LEADER

• Manage, coach, and develop staff responsible for campaigns/special projects and program development, setting clear goals and expectations and providing timely guidance, feedback, and performance evaluation.
• Create shared direction across differentiated roles, helping staff understand how their portfolios connect and where collaboration or coordinated sequencing is required.
• Create clarity and shared accountability across differentiated roles, delegating meaningful ownership while remaining accountable for quality, progress, stakeholder management, and results.
• Build a team culture grounded in trust, candor, learning, inclusion, collaboration, and follow-through.
• Support staff in navigating ambiguity, competing demands, complex relationships, and changing external conditions.
• Contribute to effective External Affairs leadership, team meetings, retreats, workflows, and communication practices.
• Embody positive, accountable, high-impact organizational citizenship as a leader, manager, and contributor to the External Affairs strategy and organizational mission and vision.

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS REQUIREMENTS

• A strong commitment and proven high-impact experience related to strengthening American democracy and to Democracy Fund’s mission and values, including racial equity and justice.
• A high level of integrity that embodies and reflects Democracy Fund values.
• 8-10 years of experience working in roles that engage in philanthropic field-building, with a preference for pro-democracy work or experience working across issue areas, sectors, or fields and the ability to identify opportunities to connect funders and ideas across traditional boundaries.
• At least 4 years of demonstrated management responsibilities with a demonstrated ability to set expectations, coach and develop staff, give useful feedback, manage performance, and build an effective and inclusive team.
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading complex campaigns, partnerships, or multi-stakeholder initiatives from strategy through implementation and learning.
• Strong knowledge of philanthropy and how funders make decisions, collaborate, learn, and respond to emerging needs; demonstrated experience organizing funders or philanthropic stakeholders toward collective action; and an established network of philanthropic relationships.
• Experience working within an intermediary, funder collaborative, donor network, philanthropy-serving organization, or similar setting is highly valued.
• An established network among funders, within or outside the traditional democracy/philanthropy ecosystem, including areas such as health, climate, or other fields is preferred.
• Excellent relationship-building skills and the judgment to work effectively with senior leaders, funders, programmatic experts, grantees, consultants, and colleagues across different roles and perspectives are required.
• Strong project and portfolio management skills, including the ability to manage multiple concurrent priorities, clarify ownership, maintain momentum, and improve systems and workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity and change, including reassessing plans, making timely course corrections, and developing practical, creative solutions when circumstances shift.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize nuanced information, facilitate productive discussions, and present recommendations to senior audiences.
• Sound judgment, organizational awareness, discretion, and comfort operating in situations with ambiguity, urgency, or reputational sensitivity.
• A collaborative leadership style, paired with initiative, creativity, accountability, and a willingness to make decisions and drive work forward.

SALARY

The projected hiring salary range for this position is starting at $172,527 per year.

• Democracy Fund provides a comprehensive, generous benefits package that includes traditional and unique offerings: medical; dental; vision; and wellness; paid time off, which includes paid family and medical leave; and workplace flexibility.

Democracy Fund is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability, age, veteran status, or any other legally protected class under federal, state, or local law.