Development Officer, Strategic Partnerships

Global Fund for Children (GFC) works to build a world where all children and youth are safe, strong, and valued.

Join us in our mission to power the potential of young people

We partner with innovative, locally-led organizations, helping them deepen their impact and build their capacity for social change. By pairing flexible funding with targeted capacity development support, we help our partners grow stronger and more responsive to challenges on the ground.

Over the last thirty years, we have invested more than $60 million in over 1000 community-based organizations around the world. Our work advances the rights of children and youth across four focus areas: education, gender equity, youth empowerment, and freedom from violence and exploitation.

As the Development Officer for Strategic Partnerships, you will join a multinational team of caring and committed individuals who believe in investing in bold ideas to help grassroots organizations deepen their impact and advocate for children’s rights.

We value courage, excellence, learning, partnership, and inclusion, as well as kindness and passion. Our partners’ visions for change inspire all we do. Feedback and learning inspire us to do better, and we strive to be youth centered.

What is the role?

Are you a Partnerships and Fundraising professional, passionate about the potential of children and young people?

Global Fund for Children is looking for a Development Officer to join our global Strategic Partnerships Team in an exciting US-based role. Your main responsibility will be to help steward our active relationships with donors and supporters around the world, manage delivery of key grant outputs, and build relationships with new philanthropic funders and foundations.

This role will require engagement with our global staff team, alongside senior leadership and key stakeholders, and our expansive network of community partners around the world. You’ll help to develop strategies that build our relationships with key donors, ensuring all our reporting output and proposal submissions are of a consistently high quality. This role will have a truly global reach with a primary focus on supporting programming and donor relationships for our work in the Americas and Asia.

You will be passionate about maintaining the quality and performance of all our outputs to donors and supporters, and have a track record of being highly organized, an ability to manage multiple priorities and an ability to work to a deadline, to ensure we achieve our ambitious goals and objectives.

You will be part of a growing and extremely ambitious and successful Development, Marketing and Communications (DMC) team based in the UK, US, and around the world. You will play an important role in the successful implementation of projects with our team based in more than 20 countries globally – including colleagues from our Programs, Finance, Learning & Evaluation, and Safeguarding teams.

What will you be doing?

• Manage a portfolio of institutional donors with a focus on mobilizing resources to support our work in the Americas and Asia.
• Build and develop new relationships with prospective institutional donors and contribute to institutional fundraising strategy in collaboration with Director of Institutional Partnerships and Vice President for Strategic Partnerships.
• Consistently create and deliver compelling reports and other donor deliverables, according to our grant agreements, including liaising with colleagues across the organization to collect data, write content, review financial information, and ensure compliance details.
• Work collaboratively across the Marketing, Communications, and Development team, engaging with key stakeholders, to deliver on strategic goals and KPIs.
• Liaise with Program and Finance colleagues to share grant requirements and donor expectations, build reports and deliver high -quality stewardship items.
• Work alongside the team to keep an accurate record of donor relationships in Salesforce, including stakeholder information, notes from meetings, reporting and submission deadlines, and correspondence with donor staff.
• Represent the organization, both internally and externally where opportunities arise, including donor visits, public events, and partner convenings.
• Keep abreast and keep the wider team updated on best practices and trends in the philanthropy sector, scoping out strategic opportunities to help us engage new prospective donors.
• Contribute to the development of a strong values-based team culture across different countries, areas and streams of work.

What are your experience and skills?

Our ideal Development Officer for Strategic Partnerships will have:

• Outstanding organizational skills and time management, including ability to plan, prioritize and manage a varied workload to meet deadlines.
• Excellent writing skills, including development of compelling communications to engage donors and prospects.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing, and relationship building skills with the ability to work across teams and build strong internal and external networks.
• Passion for supporting and developing people to achieve their potential.
• Experience working in a hybrid setting across a variety of time zones, and the confidence and the ability to work with minimal supervision in a busy team.
• Experience working with a development/fundraising team to deliver financial goals or partnership deliverables.
• An understanding of the funder and wider philanthropy system, particularly in the US, the Americas, and Asia.
• Appreciation for working with community-based organizations towards a shared goal.
• Experience coordinating with a diverse range of colleagues to develop concept notes and funding proposals.
• Knowledge of programming related to issues affecting children and young people and / or experience in the international development sector preferred.
• Knowledge of Spanish is beneficial but not required.

What can we offer you?

Our team dreams big.

We work together to build a world where all children and youth are safe, strong and valued.

GFC fosters a caring work environment that promotes collaboration, respect, and professional development. We set standards of excellence and quality in our work, firmly believing that children and youth deserve the best we can offer.

We believe that every person has equal rights, and we affirm the diversity that enriches our globalized world. In line with these core values, it is our policy to actively seek diverse candidates from a variety of backgrounds who are committed to Global Fund for Children’s mission.

Our values shape our vision, guide our daily decision making, and signal to the world what to expect when you encounter Global Fund for Children. We hold ourselves to these values to best serve our local partners and the children and youth they support. We attract talented people from all over the world because we believe deeply in living our values.

Salary – US-based salary range for this role will be $65,000 $75,000, depending on experience.

Weekly hours – 40 hours per week.

Flexible Working Location – This is a hybrid position that is based in the Washington, DC area. GFC is open to considering applications from those who can regularly visit our DC office and represent GFC at events in the DC area.

Learning – GFC encourages professional development as a part of our culture and values. GFC provides regular opportunities for training, collaboration, and mentorship. Employees may access professional development funds to support continued learning.

Benefits

We strive to build a culture that embraces care and wellbeing. Our global employee benefits include:

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans
• Generous paid time off (annual leave, sickness leave, wellbeing days, sabbatical leave, family friendly leave)

How do I apply?

In line with our values of courage, passion and inclusion, to apply for this role, please share your thoughts on the following questions along with your CV through the following link: https://global-fund-for-children.breezy.hr/p/e512e2d6f080

1. What excites you most about this role and how is it directly connected to your skills and experience? (100 words maximum)
2. What do you see as GFC’s greatest opportunities and challenges in today’s philanthropic landscape? (100 words maximum)

The deadline for applications is Friday, September 12th at 5pm ET Time.

We are excited to hear from you if you have any questions about the role, please get in touch on careers@globalfundforchildren.org

GFC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. We particularly encourage applicants from communities that have historically been excluded from philanthropy and from under-represented groups including candidates who are LGBTQ+, from Black, African, and Afro-descendant or indigenous communities, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.