About Perigee Fund

Deeply committed to equity and compelled by the urgent need to increase mental health support for prenatal-to-age-3 families impacted by trauma, Perigee Fund is a Seattle-based national philanthropic organization that invests in systems change to ensure that during pregnancy and early childhood, more families receive healing programs, services, and resources that protect and nurture their unfolding relationships.

We work alongside advocates and family-serving systems to make a generational shift in practice and policy so that parents, babies, and toddlers thrive – particularly those that carry a history of individual or collective trauma. We resource efforts across the U.S. through a mix of grantee partnerships and open funding opportunities, and through deeper work in our home state of Washington.

We prioritize efforts in which the voices of families impacted by trauma play a central role in shaping services, defining policy, and advocating for change.

We were founded in 2018 and expect to sunset in less than 15 years. As a spend-down philanthropy working in under-resourced priority areas, Perigee Fund invests in systems change so that the impact of our work may endure long after Perigee sunsets.

Our Vision is to end intergenerational trauma through the power of early relationships.

Our Goal is to shift policies and systems to increasingly value and embed supports for caregiver and infant mental health in the places where families are during pregnancy and early childhood.

Learn about our strategic framework here.

Learn more about Perigee Fund here.

The Opportunity

Perigee seeks a Director of Communications to join its Leadership Team. While Perigee has worked with a range of communications consultants and contractors, the Director of Communications will be Perigee Fund’s first staff communications hire and will help shape and evolve the role.  

The Director of Communications will possess a deep commitment to Perigee Fund’s mission of equitable systems change, and be able to identify and implement strategic communications activities that contribute to change in the prenatal-to-age-3 mental health field. They will be excited and motivated to pursue innovative approaches and experimental thinking, and also know how to translate these ideas into a practical course of action. 

A member of the Leadership Team and reporting to the Executive Director of Perigee Fund, the Director of Communications will work in collaboration across the organization to create and execute an effective communications strategy that fits the organization today and looks toward the future. The Director of Communications will maintain and elevate Perigee Fund’s positioning, shape narrative, lead projects, provide communications support to staff and external partners, and determine messaging and communications channels. 

The Director of Communications will manage external communications, including a consistent cadence of content that is relevant, equity-focused, persuasive, and engages the Fund’s key leaders in using their voice to advance the Fund’s mission. Responsibilities include working within funder and partner coalitions that help identify and deliver on field-facing communications needs, focusing on equity in the process and the outcomes, managing resources, and ensuring a wide range of voices are featured and heard.

The ideal Director of Communications is a compelling storyteller, a voracious consumer of local and national media and a gifted communicator who is intellectually curious and has the facility to write and speak about complex social issues and sectors in a way that inspires action.

Responsibilities:

• Refine the early communications framework and develop the vision for the Fund’s communications strategy, including articulating a clear internal philosophy on the role of communications and how to use the Fund’s assets to advance the mission.
• Develop and execute an organization-wide communications strategy that effectively works across the range of programmatic priorities and incorporates family and practitioner voices.
• Partner with the Founder to write/edit communications and support thought leadership opportunities, leveraging the Founder’s voice and platform in alignment with the overarching communications strategy.
• Collaborate with the Leadership Team to establish and continuously improve effective communications and knowledge sharing throughout the organization. 
• Develop a highly collaborative partnership culture with the Program Team to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of the communications function.
• Provide communications expertise, guidance and tactical execution support to Program Team members on select initiatives and grants that represent compelling communications opportunities.
• Share counsel with coalitions and/or grantees on field-focused communications.
• Provide senior level earned and paid media strategy. Manage proactive and reactive media opportunities and keep Perigee Fund abreast of relevant news and trends.
• Deliver dynamic website strategy, narrative and content.
• Research, observe and make recommendations on areas for possible investment and grant-making in programmatic communications (e.g., sponsored reporting projects, media grants).
• Determine analytics and success metrics for all communications work and the work’s impact.
• Shape selection of external contractors and a potential staff role to support successful implementation of communications tactics organization-wide.
• Engage with Perigee Fund’s Leadership  Team to support continuous organizational development and effectiveness, including operationalizing Perigee Fund’s ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in its practices, policies, and structure.

Candidate Profile

We recognize that there is a spectrum of lived and professional experience that will set candidates up for success in this role. While no one candidate will have every experience outlined in the position description, ideal candidates will display the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:

• Passion for the mission of Perigee Fund.
• A minimum of 12 years of increasingly more responsible communications roles is required. At least five (5) years in a communications leadership role working in close collaboration with senior leaders. 
• Senior level expertise and experience in the communications field, including proven experience building or evolving a communications function in the mission-driven space. 
• Values alignment and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion including proven experience centering equity through strategic communications.
• A creative outlook and adaptability to change, be it embracing a shift in strategy or finding new approaches to existing work.
• An understanding of the philanthropic sector from experience working directly in a foundation setting or alongside as a partner or grantee is preferred.
• Strategic issue-based communications experience in the mental health, and/or prenatal-to-age-3 (pregnancy and early childhood) fields is a plus but not required. 
• Strong relationship building/relationship management skills. Proven experience working as a proactive partner to field experts, including those with limited communications experience and resources, providing communications ideas, tactics and support.
• Demonstrated practice developing, executing and measuring successful, integrated communications plans using a mix of traditional and new strategies and tools. Must be a digital communications expert. 
• The proven ability to work in a small, yet dynamic, growing and relatively flat organization is essential. This position will both lead and tactically execute.
• A flexible and personable work style.
• Excellent writing skills and the ability to write compelling short and long form content for a range of internal and external audiences including but not limited to the board members and partners, Perigee Fund colleagues, grantee audiences, policy influencers, the media and the broader philanthropic community. 

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range is $180,000 - $210,000. An 80% FTE arrangement is possible, if desired, with a commensurate salary range of $144,000-$168,000. Most qualified candidates could expect to start in the low to middle section of the range to allow for learning and growth in the role.

A comprehensive benefits package includes fully paid medical/dental/vision for the employee plus option to select dependent coverage, 15 vacation days (increasing with tenure), 10 sick days, four wellness days, a one-week end of year office closure, Federal holidays, a 5% retirement match (increasing with tenure), annual professional development resources, and generous parental leave upon the arrival of a new child.

Other Considerations

Perigee Fund is a supporting organization of Seattle Foundation, which administers many of Perigee’s back-office functions. While Perigee maintains a separate office and external identity, Perigee employees are also Seattle Foundation employees.

The position is based in Seattle. Perigee operates in a hybrid arrangement with staff working from the office with required common hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Staff may choose to work from home or the office on the other days. Perigee provides staff with a parking pass or transit pass for office days. All staff must also remain flexible about attending occasional in-person meetings with advance notice regardless of day of week.

The position will require occasional travel within Washington and out of state.