Vice President, Communications

THE ORGANIZATION

The Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) is a leading nonprofit venture philanthropy fund dedicated to identifying the nation’s best public charter schools, investing in their expansion, and helping to increase their impact. Our “portfolio” includes 200+ charter school networks that operate 1,700+ schools and serve more than 725,000 students. We are committed to expanding the impact of schools that are closing achievement and opportunity gaps. CSGF operates with the same strategies, discipline, and focus as a venture capital firm by awarding multi-year grants and loans to talented education entrepreneurs building networks of high-quality charter schools that enroll traditionally underserved students. Our goal is to serve 1,000,000 students by 2030 and 1.4 million by 2035.

This is an exciting time to join the Charter School Growth Fund. We are launching Fund V, our most ambitious fund yet, building on our 20-year track record of success. Fund V will add 250,000 new high-quality seats while helping our portfolio become durable, bedrock institutions in their communities for decades to come. We invest in the strongest charter leaders and networks in the country, and we partner closely with them to sustain excellent outcomes as they grow. Our portfolio continues to serve student populations of roughly 90% students of color and 75% students from low-income backgrounds, and we remain committed to being proximate to the lived experiences of the students and communities we serve.

THE OPPORTUNITY

CSGF’s Policy, Communications & Advocacy team builds the public perception, political will, and sector narrative that allow high-quality public charter schools to grow. As CSGF launches Fund V, the organization  envisions a more proactive public voice: one that tells the story of our  portfolio networks, positions CSGF as a leading authority in K-12 education reform, and equips our portfolio leaders to communicate with confidence.

CSGF is seeking a Vice President, Communications to set the vision and strategy for CSGF’s internal and external communications and to serve as the organization’s lead strategist for brand, media, and narrative. Reporting to the Managing Director, Policy, Communications and Advocacy (PCA), the VP will shape and drive CSGF’s earned media strategy, build and protect the organization’s reputation with national partners and the broader education reform field, and navigate complex or sensitive communications moments with sound judgment. This is an individual-contributor VP role: the VP will manage CSGF’s communications budget and external partners (agencies, consultants, freelancers) rather than internal staff, and will build deep, trusted relationships across CSGF’s teams, portfolio network leaders, and external stakeholders to advance CSGF’s mission.

The ideal candidate is a sharp and seasoned strategic communicator who can set direction independently, move fluidly between big-picture narrative and hands-on execution, and represent CSGF with credibility to media, funders, public officials and other sector partners.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS & BRAND LEADERSHIP

• Set the vision and strategy for CSGF’s internal and external communications function, aligning it with CSGF’s mission, Fund V priorities, and organizational goals
• Shape CSGF’s brand and narrative as a leading voice in the public charter school sector  and K-12 education reform, ensuring consistent, high-quality positioning across all communications channels
• Serve as a trusted communications advisor to the Managing Director of PCA and CSGF’s senior leadership, bringing judgment and foresight to reputational opportunities and risks
• Lead the development of CSGF’s website  and social media channels and content, and other flagship public-facing materials that tell the story of the portfolio’s impact
• Lead communications community of practice for CSGF portfolio members, including the development of webinars and planning and execution of in person convenings

MEDIA RELATIONS & EARNED MEDIA

• Hold and maintain existing strong relationships with national and regional education, policy, and philanthropy reporters
• Drive a proactive earned media strategy that places CSGF’s perspective and portfolio stories in front of key audiences, including prospective portfolio members, funders, public officials and other sector influencers
• Prepare CSGF spokespeople, including senior leadership and portfolio network leaders, for interviews, testimony, and public appearances
• Navigate incoming media inquiries with sound judgment, balancing responsiveness with message discipline

MESSAGING & CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

• Develop compelling, on-message content — op-eds, talking points, speeches, digital/social content, and podcast content — that advances CSGF’s policy and sector priorities
• Create opportunities for portfolio storytelling that resonate with target audiences including funders, charter sector leaders and policymakers
• Build message frameworks, guidance, and talking points that CSGF teams and portfolio leaders can use consistently across audiences
• Guide CSGF’s social media and digital presence, ensuring it reflects a coherent, current, and credible voice

CRISIS & RAPID-RESPONSE COMMUNICATIONS

• Identify potential reputational risks before they arise and build response plans that protect CSGF and its portfolio network leaders
• Lead rapid-response communications during fast-moving news cycles or sensitive moments affecting CSGF or the charter sector broadly
• Exercise sound judgment and comfort with ambiguity when advising leadership on high-stakes or fast-moving communications decisions

CROSS-TEAM PARTNERSHIP & ECOSYSTEM BUILDING

• Build strong relationships across CSGF internal teams and portfolio members to ensure communications strategy reflects and reinforces their work
• Support portfolio network leaders in building their own communications capacity and confidence, sharing best practices and benchmarking across the sector
• Represent CSGF externally to broader stakeholders in the charter school and education reform field, building CSGF’s standing as a sought-after thought partner

BUDGET & VENDOR MANAGEMENT

• Develop and manage CSGF’s communications budget, ensuring resources are prioritized against the highest-impact opportunities
• Ability to source, manage and evaluate multiple contracts with communications agencies, consultants, and

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Skills and Requirements

• Demonstrated ability to independently set strategy and vision for communications function, with minimal oversight
• Excellent judgment and comfort making difficult, high-stakes decisions under ambiguity and time pressure
• Exceptional relationship-building and collaborative skills
• Outstanding writing, editing, and verbal communication skills across a range of formats and audiences
• Ability to move seamlessly between high-level strategy and hands-on, detail-oriented execution in a fast paced environment
• Strong project management skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities and external vendors simultaneously
• Travel up to 50% may be required to support portfolio communications work, convenings, all-team gatherings, and in-person team meetings
• Deep commitment to CSGF’s mission and passion for K-12 education and expanding excellent public school options for underserved students

Educational Background and Work Experience

• 12+ years of progressive experience in strategic communications, media relations, or public affairs
• Demonstrated success building and executing proactive earned media strategies and managing rapid-response or crisis communications
• Experience developing and managing a communications budget, including agency and vendor relationships
•  Experience in charters or the  K-12 education, advocacy, or the nonprofit/political sector strongly preferred
• Ability to work with senior leadership team members
• Bachelor’s degree required

COMPENSATION

Compensation is commensurate with experience and education. The target salary range for this role is $130,000-$160,000 annually. CSGF offers a very competitive package of benefits, including: health, life, disability, and dental insurance coverage; vacation/holidays and parental leave; and participation in CSGF’s 403(b) plan. Candidates must have permanent authorization to work in the US.

START DATE

CSGF is seeking candidates who can start as soon as possible; flexible for the ideal candidate.

WORKING AT CSGF 

We are focused on hiring and developing great people and believe that building diverse perspectives  across our team makes us more effective in expanding our impact. (This is reflected in Our Commitment Statement.) Our core values are:

Why you'll love working here:

• Join a team driven by purpose, collaboration, and a commitment to identifying and responding to the needs of the public charter schools that we support
• Access to professional development and learning opportunities

Our core values are:

Results

• We believe that student success is the ultimate measure of our performance.
• We work with urgency and intentionality for the portfolio and their schools. 
• We hold ourselves accountable to strong outcomes.
• We relentlessly prioritize our resources to drive positive, measurable, attributable impact for the charter leaders, their schools, and ultimately students.
• We believe strong results come from good decisions, and the best decisions are made when we use data - both quantitative and qualitative - and gather input from diverse perspectives, especially those most impacted by the work.  
• We celebrate our wins and learn from our losses.

Teamwork

• We value organization over team, and we value team over individual.
• We actively break down silos and collaborate across teams.
• We believe building strong, healthy relationships is critical to move our work forward.
• We seek to proactively communicate across teams to strengthen our outcomes and add value for the portfolio.

Integrity

• We believe that trust is our most important asset, and we must earn and maintain the trust of the portfolio member leaders, investors, and our team to achieve our goals.
• We are often entrusted with sensitive and confidential information about the portfolio - we do not ever violate these confidences.
• We show ownership for our successes and our failures. 
• We speak directly to the person, even when it's messy and hard, and get ahead of potential problems.
• We do the right thing, even when no one is watching.

Respect 

• We understand and acknowledge our place in the value chain – the students, teachers, principals, and other leaders at portfolio networks are doing the hardest, direct, and most impactful work in their schools each day.
• We prioritize humility and embrace getting better every day.
• We are curious and open-minded.
• We are aware of our own biases and how they might affect our judgment, and we take ownership to mitigate their impact.

Entrepreneurship

• We take calculated risks, looking for new ways to add value and improve how we work.
• We are problem solvers in all aspects of our work.
• We actively connect people and ideas in strategic ways to foster new ideas and learning. 
• We acknowledge not all investments will succeed and embrace failure as it facilitates deeper learning for our organization and the portfolio.

E-VERIFY STATEMENT

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you. Including terminating employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the I-9 form.

Charter School Growth Fund provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees.