International Director of Fundraising
Post Title: International Director of Fundraising
Reports to:Chief Executive
Responsible for: Senior Head of International Voluntary Giving, Head of International Partnership development, Program Led Funding Project Manager, Team Administrators
Location: London, Johannesburg or Nairobi
Annual Salary: Starting wage of £81,857 per annum
Background
ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency formed in 1972. We are a partnership between people in poor and rich countries working together to end poverty and injustice. Today we are working with over 15 million of the world’s poorest and excluded people in over 45 countries worldwide to secure their rights to a life free of poverty and injustice, and with the support of half a million donors and supporters. This role is a superb opportunity for someone who wants to help shape the future success of a major international NGO and help deliver a bold strategy that is focused on ending hunger and poverty by helping people use their own power to fight poverty and injustice.
Purpose of Role
As a key member of the International Leadership Team, the incumbent will have the ability toidentify new funding sources, products and markets and will set standards and develop and implement a global fundraising strategy that will raise Actionaid´s profile, develop new markets and attract additional funding partners. Overseeing the fundraising unit the post holder will promote a high performance culture, encourage continuous improvement and support collaborative working. Taking full budget responsibility the successful candidate will build key relationships as well as develop tools, systems and processes to build capacity of countries to deliver institutional and other funding growth.
Primary responsibilities
International voluntary giving
- Increase and manage investment in fundraising across the federation.
- Coordinate the implementation of the International Fundraising Strategy including development and performance of new funding sources, products and markets.
- Develop and monitor federation wide policies for submission to the Federation Leadership Team (FLT) and approval from the General Assembly (corporate fundraising, cross border fundraising)
- Supporting emerging fundraising programmes.
- Optimising Child Sponsorship Supporter Care (CSSC) operations and supporting countries in this area.
- Leading federation wide processes such as the link income process as part of annual planning.
- Expand strategically into new countries to advance AA’s mission based on clear criteria and transparent processes.
Capacity development
- Support and guide the creation of country/regional fundraising strategies and ensure alignment collectively with the international strategy.
- Build capacity across the Federation to raise funds, develop local resource mobilisation, diversification and manage funding relationships.
- Deliver fundraising where there is no fundraising entity but primary focus on building fundraising capacity at country level, drawing on country expertise (e.g.UK) to support those countries with capacity gaps.
- Ensure the development of tools/frameworks etc. and monitoring of implementation.
International Partner Development
- Leading the change to Program Led Funding Planning, by ensuring the development of tools, systems and processes to build capacity of countries in delivering institutional and other funding growth.
- Influencing official donors and foundations in relation to approach to focus areas.
- Ensuring quality assurance across the donor contract life cycle, especially compliance with donor requirements.
- Overall responsibility of setting standards to coordinate fundraising and contract management across the federation; including development and implementation.
People Management
- As a member of the International Leadership Team (ILT); act as a key change agent, reinforce AAI’s mission, vision and values and make informed decisions at this level.
- Lead and manage the Fundraising Unit within a clear performance management framework, promoting a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, positive communication and teamwork.
- Ensure good management practice is continued at all levels within the Fundraising Unit.
- Interpret and apply all AAI’s HR policies consistently and effectively, and ensure that all Fundraising staff is aware of and comply with these.
Strategy, Planning and Budgets
- As a member of the International Leadership Team actively participate in the development of AAI’s international strategy.
- Ensure a full understanding of AAI’s strategy and objectives, and in that context, lead the design, implementation and management of the Fundraising Unit and project plans, engaging staff, and other stakeholders in the process.
- Assess and respond as necessary to changes in the external environment ensuring these changes are reflected in the Fundraising Unit’s strategy and project plans.
- Be accountable for the budget of the entire Fundraising Unit, including the development of the budget.
- Responsible for global fundraising strategy through the “Global Fundraising Framework”.
- Overall responsibility for managing delegated budgets for resources within approved limits.
- Responsible for preparing activity based budgets and monitoring actual monthly spend against these budgets, including providing relevant accruals and explanations for variances.
- Responsible for approving all transactions (including amendments) to their budget.
- Act within the parameters set by the International Secretariat financial policies and procedures.
Other
- Support the International Board’s Funding and Finance Committee.
- Value Practice - A strong commitment to develop, promote and practice AAI’s vision, mission, values and strategy.
- Women's Leadership and Gender - Committed to Gender issues with a strong focus on women's leadership.
- Collaboration - Proactively leverage on cross functional learning, participate (where applicable) in international platforms and cross functional project initiatives within AAI.
- Accountability - “Promoting, practicing and contributing to the continuous improvement of transparency and accountability in the federation in line with the ActionAid Accountability Charter”.
- The role holder will from time to time be required to carry out any other duties that are within the scope of the job.
Additional Information
Once the Director of Fundraising has been recruited ActionAid will open up to the ActionAid International Leadership Team Directors (ILT), for applications to lead the Communications Team. The ILT Director that demonstrates the merit and ability will then be responsible for the Leadership of the Communications Team.
Essential experience and knowledge
- Significant experience of voluntary fundraising across multiple channels and including raising funds from high net worth individuals (HNWI) and foundations.
- Experience of raising money across multiple international markets (preferably including markets in the Global South).
- Proven experience of managing/leading a large diversified team, with a focus on high performance and problem solving.
- A high achieving, experienced and dynamic professional with a proven ability to develop a clear strategy for fundraising.
- Demonstrated ability to lead a significant strategic shift in an organisation’s funding strategy.
- Proven expertise across a wide spectrum of traditional and digital fundraising initiatives, supporter/donor engagement and organisational brand management along with experience of generating substantial income from corporate, major donor and individual sources.
- A proven track record of facilitative, collaborative team management to drive a culture of accountability, and ownership along with a natural ability to network and build successful lasting relationships.
- A good understanding of child sponsorship as a business model.
Desirable knowledge, skills and experience
- Experience working at an international leadership level, including working with boards.
- Fluency in another language(s) other than English would be an advantage.
Personal attributes and skills
- Excellent influencing skills.
- Articulate communicator, both written and verbal.
- An innovator with the drive to inspire a diverse global fundraising community to embrace new approaches to raising funds.
- Outstanding communications skills across various cultures.
- Commercial acumen with, strategy and planning, financial and budgeting expertise and a flair for innovation.
- Commitment to ActionAid’s vision, mission and values.
Education and Qualifications
- Marketing and/or Business Degree or other relevant qualification with significant experience working in a senior fundraising role preferably working at an international level.
- Excellent computer and IT skills, including the use of standard MS software packages (SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), as well as fundraising databases.
To Apply
To apply for the post, please send a letter of application stating the skills and approach that you would bring to the role along with your CV/resume (no photos) in English in strict confidence BY EMAIL ONLY to Zoe Oldham zoeoldham@darylupsall.com . A full applicant’s pack with more details on the role and organisation is also available at the above email address.
Ensure that they are sent as Word documents with the titles “your name cover letter” and “your name CV”. Please put "International Director of Fundraising” in the email subject line.
Deadline for applications: Sunday the 13th of December 2015, 18.00 GMT
