Assistant Director, Institutional Giving

Assistant Director, Institutional Giving 

POSITION OVERVIEW 

The Assistant Director (AD), Institutional Giving is primarily responsible for assisting Pure Earth to increase and broaden its institutional funding base in line with Pure Earth’s strategic priorities. The AD identifies, researches, and helps to secure major grants from government, foundations and other institutional entities and provides guidance and support to Pure Earth’s country offices to secure grants from local institutions. This position takes a leading role in proposal management and supports funder report writing.

Reporting to the VP, Development, this role requires strong proposal and budget development, grant writing, creative prospecting, and project management skills. The ideal candidate has a strong background in global institutional fundraising, i.e., experience responding to applications, including RFPs, RFAs, bids and unsolicited proposals, with government and multilateral development entities (e.g., USAID, European Union, UN agencies), and the ability to work independently as well as in a team. The AD needs to be team player, detail-oriented, organized, proactive, and has a genuine and demonstrable interest in environmental health, pollution, and/or social justice.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy, Research, and Pipeline Development (30%)

·       Implement Pure Earth’s institutional funding strategy and support the continual refinement of program priorities and needs, in alignment with Pure Earth’s organizational strategy.

·       Identify, research, and help cultivate relationships with existing and new public and private sector funding prospects.

·       Monitor grant opportunities via US Government, European and Global institutions and other procurement websites, build and manage a robust pipeline, and conduct donor surveillance to track the release of opportunities.

·       Analyze funding opportunities for alignment with strategy, capacity to respond, and impact on programs, and facilitate the go/no go process. 

·       Develop donor briefs and other strategy documents to support internal decision-making.

·       Coordinate the bi-weekly, interdepartmental Opportunities Development Meeting, at which new funding opportunities and programmatic needs are discussed, and donor updates are shared.

Proposal Management and Writing (45%)

·       Work closely with programs, operations, finance staff, and partners to lead development of well-designed, technical sound concept notes and proposals for USG and global agencies, foundations, and other bilateral or multilateral funders. 

·       Prepare and apply guidance documents, tools, and templates (e.g., proposal calendar) to support proposal development.

·       Create and manage collaborative workspaces on Asana, Google Docs, and Dropbox.

·       Ensure tracking system for Institutional donors is up-to-date 

·       Write proposal sections, prepare supporting documentation, draft budgets (including multiyear, multicurrency and activities or objective based budgets), coordinate input from team members, and edit and integrate content into coherent, compelling proposal narratives.

·       Review proposals to ensure alignment between technical and cost proposals, overall responsiveness, and that final proposal meets all solicitation standards.

·       Provide guidance and technical support to country offices with country-based proposals.

Grants Management and Reporting (15%)

• Review contractual agreements, and help negotiate and review funder requirements prior to finalizing agreements.
• Support program and finance teams to ensure adherence to reporting timelines and compliance of projects with funder reporting requirements and assist with report development and submission as appropriate.
• Ensure grant documentation, including proposals, grant agreements and amendments, and reports, is complete and up to date. 

Other (10%)

·       Miscellaneous departmental activities that may arise

·       Maintain accurate records for Institutional donors and prospects within the database including key contacts, communications, opportunities and deadlines to support grants management and business development

·       Generate quarterly pipeline reports for the Board.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience

·       Undergraduate degree in relevant discipline is required; graduate degree preferred.

• 7+ years’ relevant experience in environment, public health, and/or international development with at least 4 years’ experience developing successful grant proposals.

Skills and Abilities

• Successful track record of managing relationships with and raising restricted funds from institutional funders, preferably including USG, other bilaterals and foundations,
• Experience with Excel for budgeting 
• Must possess a high level of attention to detail and the ability to see projects through from creation to completion, to prioritize, and work on multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to work under pressure, many times with competing priorities and deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to work successfully across teams and borders to deliver results.

·       Solid organizational, problem-solving, research, and analytical skills a must.

·       Strong writer: ability to adapt technical language and jargon into clear, easy-to-ready text and articulate funding needs persuasively.

·       Motivated self-starter: the ability to work independently, flexibly, and productively in a fast-paced environment and to manage a multi-faceted workload.

·       Ability to think and act strategically including the ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing. 

·       Flexibility to participate in meetings during off-hours on occasion to accommodate colleagues based in the field residing in different time zones.

·       Enthusiasm, sense of humor and a positive attitude.

• Ability and willingness to travel internationally, as needed.

Desired

• Experience living and working in the geographic areas in which Pure Earth works a plus.
• Knowledge of Salesforce and multi-lingual (esp. French, Spanish, Arabic) capabilities a plus.