Professional foundations provide CARE with significant revenue that fuels many of our most innovative programs.
From smaller foundations contributing catalytic funding for cutting-edge efforts to large donors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that share CAREs aspiration to leverage learning to achieve results at scale, foundation partnerships and the resources they generate are integral to CAREs mission to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice.
As the driver for resource mobilization with foundations to support these critical efforts, the Director of Development (DOD) will have an abiding personal commitment to and deep understanding of these issues, as well as the fundraising experience to develop, drive and deliver on a robust resource mobilization strategy for CARE.
As a critical member of the Foundation Partnerships team, the DOD will cultivate and manage a diverse portfolio of foundation donors, with an emphasis on engaging partners to support CAREs work in education and economic empowerment.
We believe that education and the right to work are the most powerful tools in overcoming extreme poverty.
Our programs increase access to quality education for marginalized children, particularly adolescent girls living in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
The DOD will cultivate and steward foundation prospects and donors from across CARE’s vast portfolio of work globally.
The DOD will have excellent verbal and written communication skills, as well as a proactive and strategic approach to fundraising.
This position requires substantial contact and strong collaboration with CARE teams in the U.S.
and around the world, as well as the ability to navigate complex internal processes and procedures that ensure effective compliance with financial management policies.
The DOD will also be a key partner to team leadership and senior members in driving relevant research efforts around foundation trends and opportunities, leveraging proven skills in analysis and understanding of the international development funding landscape.
Managing a foundations portfolio requires a fundamental and growing knowledge of CAREs programming and learning methodologies as well as a strategic external approach to generate and foster new connections for the organization.
The DOD will demonstrate a proven ability to tap into new funding markets for the organization, leveraging experience with and understanding of the global and domestic donor landscape.
This position also requires political savvy to navigate CARE and influence the decisions of program or technical colleagues, country offices and other units, in addition to utilizing and equipping CARE executive leadership for strategic interactions with foundations.
Responsibilities: Donor cultivation and revenue growth: Generate new leads for assigned portfolio the of donors with emphasis on education and economic empowerment funders.
Building on emerging and existing opportunities, the DOD will proactively develop and implement strategic outreach to deliver revenue growth for CARE.
Concept and proposal development: Manage proposal development process for assigned foundations or new prospects resulting from outreach, working in close coordination with program teams and country office colleagues to generate quality products.
Research analysis and support: Conduct formative research and analysis.
Update and create research profiles for CARE’s current foundation donors and prospects, evaluating trends and opportunities within foundation philanthropy.
Donor stewardship: Oversee stewardship of a portfolio of strategic grants to CARE, including key education funders in the Persian Gulf region.
Internal communications: Maintain strong relationships with relevant program colleagues and country offices and remain abreast of new program approaches and developments, results, and publications.
The DOD will also fulfill unique and exceptional tasks as assigned by team and fundraising leadership.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Public Relations, International Development or a related field At least seven years progressive experience in any combination of fundraising, program implementation or management, resource mobilization or field work Foundation fundraising, proposal development or resource mobilization experience at a large non-profit Expertise in education and economic empowerment programming preferred Strong knowledge of programs focused on adolescent girls, gender-based violence or child marriage Ability to represent CARE with external audiences and develop strategic opportunities for the organization and its leadership Excellent writing, presentation and organization skills Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills Capacity to facilitate internal decisions across multiple stakeholders as required to produce content for proposals Ability to meet deadlines, manage multiple responsibilities and priorities and achieve results under pressure Experience working as part of a remote team Evidence of strong analytic skills and strategy development Advanced editing skills Experience working with budgets Computer literacy, including with Word, Excel, and other Microsoft Office applications, as well as Teams and Zoom Willingness to travel 10% (when appropriate)