Creative Director

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

At the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF), we believe that an organization’s team as a ‘whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ (Aristotle). To us, this means that we are committed to being a collaborative ‘ohana that lives and puts our mission into action, respects and cares for each other, and innovates and learns together. We understand that we must rely upon all of our individual strengths as we partner to provide excellent value and achieve effective results for our generous donors, community partners, and all of Hawai‘i’s people.

Like all HCF team members and volunteers, the Creative Director exudes heart and passion for HCF’s mission: to inspire the spirit of giving and invest in people and solutions to benefit our community.

The Creative Director is a senior creative leader who shapes and stewards HCF’s visual identity across platforms. As a hands-on designer on a lean communications team, this role combines executive-level creative direction with high-caliber design execution, producing high-visibility assets and setting standards for consistency, accessibility, and brand excellence.

Working in close partnership with the Strategic Communications Director, the Creative Director helps to co-lead departmental priorities, coordinate workflow, allocate resources, and ensure alignment between communications strategies, creative execution, and organizational objectives. Together, these roles foster a collaborative, integrated communications approach that advances HCF’s mission, strengthens stakeholder engagement, and supports organizational goals.

In addition to providing design leadership, the Creative Director personally executes a significant volume of print, digital, and multimedia design work. The role serves as backup to the Multimedia Designer when that team member is unavailable or when additional production capacity is needed. The Creative Director also serves as project manager for creative projects, overseeing all aspects and phases of production through timely delivery.

Key responsibilities fall within the following areas of focus.

• Lead creative projects from concept through delivery, overseeing ideation, planning, design, production, review, implementation, timelines, workflows, budgets, and evaluation.
• Develop and present creative briefs, concepts, frameworks, and presentations aligned with organizational goals, audience needs, and stakeholder requirements.
• Manage creative processes, systems, resources, and capacity planning to support effective project delivery across departments.
• Collaborate with staff, vendors, contractors, and external creative partners to complete projects from concept to completion.
• Partner with HCF’s Information Systems Group on website, intranet, and related technology implementation and support.

• Lead HCF’s visual brand strategy and identity across print, digital, web, environmental, video, and multimedia platforms.
• Create and maintain standards, templates, guidelines, and governance practices that support brand consistency, quality, accessibility, and inclusive design.
• Develop creative strategies and visual storytelling that support fundraising, programs, initiatives, stakeholder engagement, and organizational objectives.
• Collaborate with HCF departments and leadership to translate strategies and stakeholder needs into compelling creative solutions.
• Provide creative direction, mentorship, and quality assurance for the Multimedia Designer and assigned creative contributors.
• Monitor emerging design trends, technologies, platforms, and tools to improve creative practices and digital content across media.