Assistant Director, Donor Relations

MAIN FOCUS:

Reporting to the Senior Associate Director, Donor Relations, you will develop compelling donor communications and support gift officers through persuasive, well‑crafted messaging for proposals, stewardship reports, and other materials that build and further relationships with the Foundation’s donors.

Hybrid Position – the candidate will work an average of eight (8) days per month in our Palo Alto, CA office; the successful candidate will be based in the Bay Area.

As the Assistant Director, Donor Relations, you will partner with gift officers and faculty to translate clinical and research priorities into clear, donor‑ready proposals, vision documents, stewardship reports, and other donor communications.

The compensation range for this role is $105,000‑$115,000 annually.

• Partnering with gift officers in shaping the communication strategy for donors.
• Consistently developing and producing inspiring, custom communication pieces to build relationships with donors. This includes interviewing faculty and translating their research into a compelling vision, as well as writing proposals, one‑pagers, stewardship impact reports, and other materials.
• Managing the production of various communication projects at the same time.
• Coordinating reviews by internal and external partners and incorporating feedback.
• Independently tracking and managing project timelines while adhering to deadlines.
• Serving as a trusted source of information about maternal and child health care programs, and pediatric research at Stanford.
• Collaborating across internal and external teams of communicators to share resources and ensure consistency of messaging.
• While this position is primarily focused on communications and writing, an ability to work with designers and help guide the development of compelling visuals is preferred.
• Ensuring all communications are consistent with the Lucile Packard Foundation and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health brand and platform.
• Recommending new approaches, procedures, and processes to effect continual improvements in efficiencies across the Foundation.
• Performing other related duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 5 years’ related experience demonstrating progressively increasing responsibilities.
• Interest in and basic knowledge of science and medicine.
• Experience translating scientific and medical concepts into lay language and synthesizing material from multiple sources to produce materials for diverse audiences.
• Experience managing multiple tasks simultaneously, coordinating the roles of various project contributors, setting priorities, and prioritizing deadlines with a minimum of supervision.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.

• A bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, or writing.
• Education or professional experience in writing about medicine, biology, or scientific research.
• Experience writing for fundraising, public relations, or marketing in a nonprofit environment.
• Prior experience with Raiser's Edge or other nonprofit database software.
• Prior experience using project management software/tools such as
• Prior experience or willingness to leverage AI‑based tools for producing proposals, reports, and other communications.

You are an exceptional writer and communicator. You can translate complex, technical, and medical concepts into clear, accurate, and compelling narratives that inform, persuade, and inspire action across audiences and channels, bringing creativity, analytical rigor, adaptability of voice, and meticulous attention to detail to every piece.

You are highly organized with strong project management discipline. You effectively juggle multiple priorities and deadlines, coordinate contributors, and thrive in fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environments, working both independently and collaboratively to deliver high quality results.

You are a highly collaborative partner. You build trusted relationships and work seamlessly with gift officers, designers, senior leaders, faculty, physicians, and external partners,…