Director, Engagement

EVERY MOTHER COUNTS

Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy and childbirth—that’s more than 800 preventable deaths every day around the world. For each death, 30 women experience a life-threatening complication or life-long disability. Most global maternal deaths can be prevented by ensuring that everyone has timely access to quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care.

Motivated by the belief that maternal health is a human right, Every Mother Counts (EMC) works to advance evidence-based strategies to address the global maternal health crisis and improve maternal health outcomes and the experience of care for all. EMC supports community-centered care and workforce development by raising awareness, investing in community-led solutions, and advocating for critical systems change.

Founded by Christy Turlington Burns in 2010, the organization was born to inform, engage, and mobilize new audiences to take action and raise funds that support maternal health programs around the world. Today, EMC has an $8.6M operating budget and invests in organizations rooted in the communities where they are based as EMC firmly believes that local teams are critical to identify and develop effective, appropriate solutions to improve maternal health. The organization supports community-based partner organizations in underserved and historically marginalized communities that are delivering high-impact, cost effective, person-centered initiatives. Most critical to EMC’s mission is their prioritization of the needs of mothers. The organization strives to ensure that each person is informed of their birthing options, has a voice in their own care, and has access to quality care.

Since its inception, EMC has invested more than $42M to make pregnancy and childbirth safe, respectful, and equitable for everyone, everywhere through grants and public education that support models of care across 9 countries including the United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Tanzania, and Bangladesh, and awareness raising worldwide. As maternal death rates have been steadily on the rise in the United States, despite spending more money per capita on maternal health than any country in the world, EMC doubled its grantmaking in the U.S. since 2020.

In addition to investments in community-led models of care, EMC is committed to diversifying the healthcare workforce, and advocating for systems change. Through collaboration with key policymakers, practitioners, and community members, the team identifies priority maternal health issues. EMC’s program and policy efforts are complemented by our compelling storytelling, which is at the core of the organization’s founding.

• No Woman, No Cry (
• Giving Birth in America series (
• Con Madre (

For additional information on the organization and its impact, please click the following link: 2022 Impact Report .

THE ROLE

The Director, Engagement plans, manages and executes the strategy, budget, and related activities to maximize the impact of Every Mother Counts at the community level by developing and sustaining strong relationships between EMC and its community of individual donors – including volunteer advisory groups and running and fitness participants – through our core events and campaigns.

Reporting to the VP, Philanthropy, the Director, Engagement ensures seamless delivery of EMC’s core fundraising events and activities in partnership with other members of the Development and Communications departments. The Director will also ensure all events and communications with members of EMC’s community are aligned with organizational goals and advance its mission.

In 2025, EMC will celebrate its 15th Anniversary. With that, the organization has an exciting opportunity to create unique campaign and engagement opportunities that will commemorate this milestone. EMC is looking for an exceptional leader who wants to join the team and deepen organizational impact across communities.

Fundraising & Cultivation Events

• Partner with the VP, Philanthropy to plan, produce and execute cultivation and fundraising events, including EMC “flagship events” (MPower, LoveEMC) and EMC Learning Tours for major donors.
• Lead on all aspects of event planning, management and logistics, including venue selection; talent and entertainment; program and event design; invitations; registration, RSVPs, ticketing and seating; contract review; budgeting; event marketing and communications; and post-event follow up. Serve as primary liaison with event planners, talent firms and venues.
• Identify audience segments to invite to upcoming events maximizing their exposure to EMC’s mission.
• Work with the VP, Philanthropy to create the strategy for leveraging events to build EMC’s donor pipeline and develop cultivation plans for new prospective donors and supporters.
• Partner with the Founder and VP to plan, develop, and execute annual major donor Learning Tours.
• Collaborate with the program and impact team to optimize donor engagement and learning experience with EMC’s mission and grantee partners.

Donor Management and Communications

• Work closely with the VP, Philanthropy to strengthen and grow the major gifts program by developing effective structures, stewardship, and retention strategies for individual donors.
• Coordinate with members of the development and communications teams to manage a calendar of touchpoints and ensure we are reaching donor segments with appropriate messages across various fundraising channels, including annual appeals, Impact Reports, campaigns, and sponsorships.
• Partner with the Founder and VP to refine the strategy and management of EMC Founder’s Circle and serve as point of contact for members to drive forward their engagement and fundraising activities.
• Coordinate and schedule meetings with current donors and prospects to keep them informed of EMC’s work and prepare targeted briefing materials for the Founder and VP (backgrounders, research profiles, and marketing collateral) as needed for major donor meetings.
• Drive the donor acknowledgement strategy and – with support from the Development Associate, and in collaboration with the Founder and VP – execute timely donor acknowledgement notes (and/or calls) with the purpose of creating meaningful touchpoints with individual donors.
• Oversee donor correspondence, donor recognition, and annual report listings.
• Provide support in reporting to the Board, staff, and key leadership groups on development and engagement activity and highlights.

Running and Fitness

• In partnership with the VP, Philanthropy and the Program Manager, Running & Fitness (PMRF), support the strategic growth and refinement of EMC’s running and fitness program.
• Oversee the strategy and management of EMC running Ambassadors and serve as the main point of contact for members to drive forward their engagement and fundraising activities; develop cultivation plans for deeper engagement with EMC.
• Work with PMRF to manage charity partnerships with our core races, relationships with Team EMC captains, and communications with our running community and their supporters.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with other members of the Running and Fitness community to increase the profile of Team EMC.
• Establish working processes and structures and plan how Team EMC members will intersect with the program at key moments in the calendar year.
• Create and present KPI’s & post-race reports to leadership and leverage post-race surveys to inform the growth and improvement of the program.
• Establish criteria, terms, and strategies for effectively maximizing races and the running & fitness community, including how we leverage and engage runners and Ambassadors as volunteers and future donors.
• Personalize and weave topical maternal health/reproductive health narratives for all R&F communications.

Development Operations

• Oversee Development Associate in ensuring accurate and efficient systems inclusive of data entry and management, gift processing and acknowledgement, donor platforms, and overall usage of the Salesforce database.
• Supervise and support the professional development of the Development Associate.
• Work with Development Associate to maintain clean and up-to-date donor and donation records including contact information, affiliations, new gifts, and pledges.

QUALIFICATIONS

The successful candidate will bring equity focused values alignment, intellectual curiosity, and a strong work ethic. Additional ideal qualifications include:

• 7+ years of experience in a development role, primarily leading and executing fundraising events.
• Intuitive, action-oriented team member with strong project and time management skills.
• Experience in a growth-stage environment; willingness to "roll up sleeves" to create and implement new systems, processes, and tools.
• Ability to quickly come up to speed on EMC’s programs, value proposition, and capabilities.
• Track record of collaboration across an organization’s various departments.
• Experience in mentoring or coaching team members.
• Strong interest in contributing to an organizational culture that values personal connection and face-to-face interaction.
• Display excellent and versatile oral and written communications skills including the ability to summarize detailed information.
• Passion for and demonstrated commitment to maternal and reproductive health; alignment with EMC ethos and culture.

COMPENSATION

Annual base pay range: $120-130K.

Every Mother Counts has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what the organization may pay for the position at the time of posting.

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Korn Ferry shall provide equal employment opportunity to all qualified candidates, and will refer candidates without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected basis.