About The Melville Charitable Trust
The Melville Charitable Trust (the Trust) is committed to addressing the root causes of homelessness, housing instability, and income inequality with a focus on the communities most impacted—Black, Indigenous, and Latino/a/x people with extremely low incomes.
The Trust’s work sits at the intersection of housing justice, homelessness, and economic justice, and centers equity, systems change, and narrative power.
The Opportunity
The Trust is seeking a senior-level, values-driven communications leader to advance its role as a catalytic grantmaker, thought partner, and national voice in the housing justice field.
Reporting to the Executive Vice President, the Director of Communications and Narrative Strategy leads the Trust’s communications and narrative work in service of its mission. This role will work with partners in the field to build and communicate a cohesive public narrative about the need for housing justice and economic justice which are at the root of homelessness and housing instability—one that challenges dominant myths, centers lived experience, and elevates proven, equitable solutions.
Candidate Profile
We recognize that there is a spectrum of lived and professional experience that can set candidates up for success in this role. While no one candidate will have every experience outlined in the position profile, ideal candidates will display the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:
Passion for the Mission
The successful candidate values elevating voices and perspectives that have historically been marginalized and is motivated by the opportunity to help build collective action and lasting solutions. They bring a deep passion for addressing systemic inequities that contribute to where and how people live. This leader will serve as a credible ambassador for the Trust’s mission by connecting day-to-day communications efforts to broader goals of equity, opportunity, and economic security for all. The Director will bring demonstrated leadership in racial equity and commitment to social justice. They will have the ability to link historical patterns and narratives to current inequities that reflect the symptoms of the intersectionality of multiple systems not working for extremely low-income people – particularly Black, Indigenous & Latino/a/x populations.
Narrative Change Agent
A skilled storyteller, they demonstrate the ability to shape, influence, and advance compelling narratives that shift perceptions, deepen understanding, and inspire action among diverse constituents. In addition, this leader will also understand how stories, language, data, and lived experiences can be leveraged to challenge invalid assumptions and build support in alignment with the Trust’s organizational priorities. The Director will effectively translate complex issues into clear, persuasive, and impact-oriented communications that foster engagement, trust, and meaningful change.
Strategic and Creative Thinker
The next Director will be a strategic connector of ideas and will develop forward-looking communications strategies that align with the mission, vision, and objectives of the Trust. They will bring a well-established network of trusted contacts in the racial equity and social justice field. The Director will also bring experience working with or managing external agencies (e.g., PR firms, creative agencies, or external agencies of record), with a strong ability to translate strategy into briefs and guide execution. They will also be energized by bringing creativity, curiosity, and fresh perspectives and approaches to complex challenges.
Technical Communications Skills
Grounded in evidence-based practice, the Director will bring an understanding of social change communications for a nonprofit, philanthropy, government agency, and/or other policy advocacy organization. They have demonstrated success leading communications strategies, coalition building and advocacy campaigns, effectively and efficiently engaging new and emerging audiences, setting communications objectives, and delivering consistent messages, activities, and materials across a wide range of channels. Flexible and adaptive, the Director will possess superb professional writing skills and create compelling, timely content for opinion articles, web content, social media, and storytelling.
Project Management
The Director brings a proven ability to manage multiple priorities and workflows, adapt to changing needs, and balance strategic vision with tactical execution. They will bring diplomacy and respect, when navigating deadlines, maintaining clear communication with colleagues and external partners to ensure alignment on objectives, messaging, timelines, and deliverables. They will ensure progress is tracked in a consistent and timely manner.
Innovation and Technology
A forward-looking leader, they balance experimentation with strategic discipline, ensuring that innovations are mission and brand-aligned, audience-appropriate, and amplify core storytelling and narrative work. They will be self-directed, entrepreneurial, and comfortable building and integrating new initiatives and systems. The Director will embrace the use of analytics, automation, AI-enabled tools, data, digital tools, and social platforms to enhance the Trust’s content, influence, and impact.
Relationship Building and Collaborative Partnership
This trusted leader authentically cultivates meaningful relationships and credibility across diverse constituencies, including across philanthropy, advocacy organizations, policy leaders, community partners, media, and individuals with lived experience to strengthen shared understanding and amplify collective impact. The Director will demonstrate the ability to effectively collaborate and engage others with humility and respect while building coalitions, facing opposition, and navigating complex environments and power dynamics. They will strengthen the Trust’s reputation through responsive and inclusive engagement in addition to including the perspectives of others to achieve equitable outcomes. The Director will actively listen and lead through influence - inspiring action and support.
In addition, strong candidates will offer:
- Minimum of 10 years of experience leading or executing strategic communications and narrative work for regional, national, or international nonprofit, philanthropic, government, or mission-driven organizations.
- Demonstrated success in developing and implementing narrative change, advocacy, organizing, or community engagement strategies.
- Deep experience in earned media, narrative change, and thought leadership.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a strong portfolio of public-facing work.
- Comfort operating at both strategic and operational levels.
- Proficiency with digital communications tools such as WordPress, Mailchimp, Canva, and Adobe Creative Suite.
- Familiarity with housing justice, homelessness, economic justice, or related fields strongly preferred.
Compensation & Benefits
The base salary for this role is $150,000 - $175,000 with a generous benefits package. This position may be performed remotely from anywhere within the United States (with strong preference for eastern and central time zones) with travel required for organizational meetings, conferences, events, and other business needs.
The Melville Charitable Trust is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Trust will not discriminate against any applicant based upon a person’s race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, status with regard to public assistance, age, sexual or affectional orientation, gender identity, familial status, ancestry, local human rights commission activity, citizenship, genetic information, protected veteran or military status, or any other categories protected by law.