Designer

DonorsChoose makes it easy for anyone to help a teacher in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education.

Since 2000, more than 5 million people and partners have contributed $1 billion to support 2 million teacher requests for classroom resources and experiences. Projects range from art supplies to build the set for a school musical, to books and puzzles that affirm students’ identities, to bird seed for an at-home science project. We proudly serve all US public schools, public charter schools, and Head Start centers, and we combat systemic inequity by driving a majority of donations to schools that have been historically underfunded due to economic and racial inequity.

DonorsChoose has been recognized as a best place to work by GOOD Magazine and the Nonprofit Times, while Fast Company named DonorsChoose one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World—the first time a charity has made this list. Our dedicated team works from across the United States bring classroom dreams to life.

Team Overview

Come join our passionate and mission driven in-house brand team! DonorsChoose is looking for an experienced designer who can bring our brand  to life across all our digital touch-points. Help advance our mission to make it easy for anyone to help a teacher in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education while leading the creation of beautiful design solutions in service to our audiences of teachers and donors.

About the Role

As a designer you will develop our brand in compelling and beautiful new ways that use storytelling to connect with our audiences. Working collaboratively with the marketing team you’ll be responsible for developing and managing design solutions across multiple digital channels such as social media, email, and video. As a hands-on creative leader you'll foster a highly collaborative environment, develop and elevate our brand and  assure our creative solutions are impactful for our audiences.

Responsibilities

• Set the visual tone and direction of the work across all marketing channels
• Ensure excellent design work with a  high level of quality, execution and consistency
•  Present work to peers and leadership, selling your ideas with excellent presentation and writing skills
• Develop resources, guidelines and templates that empower the organization to create beautiful and thoughtful materials that are consistent with our brand
• Collaborate and ideate with multidisciplinary teams including marketing managers, content leads and  product designers for a wide range of design needs
• Lead work reviews with the design team to gather feedback and iterate resulting in better design solutions
• Understand our audience needs and keep design and strategy user-centered
• Manage freelancer and vendor relationships

Qualifications

This position may be a fit for you if you have: 

• You have 4+ years design experience at an organization or agency
• Ability to think strategically and focus on the details of a brand experience
• Expert sense of typography, color, layout that lead to fresh visual solutions that inspire
• Experience planning and executing video and photoshoots
• Working with business and marketing stakeholders, receiving feedback, and adapting work
• Ability to manage project timelines, priorities, and requirements
• You are a passionate creative collaborator with an eye for detail who can both accept/implement feedback, and provide constructive feedback to others.
• You have a personal commitment to public education and education equity, and you enjoy working with equally driven creatives.

Bonus skills

• Experience working in the educational space
• Illustration
• Photography
• Animation and motion design

Compensation and Benefits

Our compensation philosophy ensures that we are both externally competitive with tech-forward nonprofits of a similar size and internally fair in our pay practices. The following ranges represent the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

• The hiring salary range for this role is $66,000 - $77,000.
• We have a hiring salary range of $73,000 - $85,000 for specific higher cost of labor locations, which include NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Once employees are hired, everyone at DonorsChoose is eligible to receive annual performance-based raises as they grow in their role. We are open to a variety of experiences, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced or more senior than this job description as posted. If you don’t check every box listed here, or you know you’d bring additional experience to the table, we hope you’ll submit your application. 

Compensation for this role is competitive with equivalent roles at other nonprofits of our size. In addition, we offer full-time staff 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays, a rich employer-paid individual and family health plan, a matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary), annual professional development stipend, and casual and flexible work environment. To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our careers page.

Hybrid Workplace and Other Details

In this role, you’ll have the option to work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office, or to work fully remotely from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, ME, MA, MD, MI, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI, TX, VA, WA, or WI. 

Candidates who are not in the NYC area should expect to travel to our NYC office on an as-needed basis, about 4-6 times per year. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization and proper safety precautions will be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

DonorsChoose is a fully vaccinated workplace and all new employees, regardless of their work location, will be asked to share proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 within two weeks of their hire date or request an exemption from this policy due to a disability or sincerely held religious belief or practice. This policy does not apply to employees in states with state restrictions on vaccine mandates.

DonorsChoose participates in E-Verify. We will provide the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and answer the application questions online. Since we’re trying to get to know you through our hiring process, we ask that you please refrain from using AI writing tools to craft your response to our application questions. A cover letter is optional and may be addressed to Liza Pagano, Design Director.

A Final Note

The DonorsChoose team works toward a nation where students in every community have the resources needed for an excellent education. To do this we hire and support a diverse team of the best and the brightest talent available.

We are an organization increasingly representative of the varied races and ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations, religious and political beliefs, and abilities that comprise our nation. DonorsChoose focuses on attracting, retaining, and advancing diverse talent because it makes us more effective, high-performing, creative, and resilient.  

If you are passionate about our mission, highly skilled in your field, and looking for a place where you can bring all of yourself to work, we want you.