Fundraising and Grants Manager: Policy, Advocacy and Research at Saferworld

Ref: PACFGM

Job purpose

The Fundraising and Grants Manager will support teams in mobilising funding for policy, advocacy and research programmes seeking to influence international, regional and national peace and security policy and practice. Working closely with colleagues in a range of teams and partner organisations the post-holder will lead on: coordinating and facilitating policy and research development processes (including taking the lead in drafting theories of change, logical models, narrative proposals and budgets). They will be responsible for developing and supporting the implementation of long-term funding plans according to policy, advocacy and research strategies; supporting new donor engagements and sustaining relationships with current donors, and writing high quality funding applications. They will be responsible for growing and overseeing foundations/statutory/institutional funding and supporting the broader implementation of fundraising strategies of our affiliate office in Brussels, the China Programme and various policy/advocacy/research programmes.

Key areas of responsibility

Proactive donor research and engagement

• Identify, map and prioritise funding opportunities for Saferworld’s global policy, advocacy and research work (including via institutional donors, academic/research councils, trusts/foundations and other funding sources)
• Support colleagues to engage with and cultivate donor relationships
• Oversee a portfolio of donors and keep a track of their strategic and funding priorities and opportunities for engagement

Proposal development

• Support and lead proposal design processes, including coordination with colleagues from policy and advocacy teams, country programmes and partners as appropriate
• Mobilise and coordinate inputs from programme, finance and technical colleagues in to the production of high-quality proposals and supporting documents (results frameworks, budgets, MEL frameworks, risk matrices) in accordance with donor guidelines
• Where appropriate ensure the proposal writing process follows Saferworld’s organisational values and principles in terms of partners’ involvement and leadership in proposal development, participatory budgeting and resource sharing with partners, preparing teaming agreements, and informing them about donor requirements and their/our obligations
• Ensure strong gender and conflict analysis in programme design and proposal writing
• Review, provide feedback and edit content for inclusion in funding proposals
• Provide relevant donor information to support budget development and review budgets to ensure they respond to internal policies and donor requirements

Grant management

• Oversee management of grants for the policy, advocacy and communications division and ensure compliance with donor conditions
• Ensure processes are in place to ensure donor compliance
• Co-ordinate grant management meetings
• Work with budget holders and finance colleagues to monitor income and expenditure on individual grants, including calling down of funds from donors

Donor reporting

• Review donor reports and ensure timely submission
• Support donor stewardship, including raising and negotiating issues with donors related to live grants, for example project or budget revisions, grant extensions

Information management

• Ensure that information on key donors, grants and contracts is kept up to date and accessible on Saferworld’s systems and databases
• Summarise and ensure relevant colleagues are informed of contractual donor requirements
• Participate in cross-team processes to monitor and co-ordinate funding applications and share donor intelligence

Team tasks

• Support policy, advocacy and research team colleagues during peak workloads
• Keep up to date and share information on trends and priorities of a portfolio of donors and the international funding environment generally
• Participate in external networking and bring donor intelligence back in to the team
• Monitor and input in to organisational key fundraising performance indicators
• Act as a focal point for Saferworld policy, advocacy and research funding, and in consultation with colleagues in the funding team, maintain a strategy for engagement

Cross-organisational representation

• Participate in external networking and represent Saferworld at relevant donor conferences, seminars and/or other fundraising events in relation to our work
• Engage with the wider NGO and fundraising community, particularly in relation to funding for policy, advocacy and research in peacebuilding.

Key working relationships

• Director of Policy and Communications & Head of Policy – working together on programme design, proposal development and the development of resources mobilisation plans to enable the implementation of policy, advocacy and research strategies
• Colleagues in the UK advocacy team, China Programme and Saferworld Europe – working together to develop funding strategies for these programmes as an initial priority
• Colleagues in the Knowledge and Learning Hub – coordinating with the team to ensure high quality research methods and MEL approaches within proposals
• Colleagues in the Fundraising Team – regularly coordinating to ensure policy, advocacy and research resource mobilisation plans are connected to global outreach and donor cultivation plans, ensure approaches to donors are co-ordinated with other parts of the organisation and leverage donor research support
• Colleagues in the Finance Team – working collaboratively to develop programme budgets, ensuring effective cost recovery and budget sharing with partners.

Person specification

Knowledge and experience

• Demonstrable experience of raising funds for policy, advocacy and research programmes relating to international development and peacebuilding that bring about sustainable policy and practice change
• Demonstrable experience of writing successful statutory, institutional, trust and foundation funding proposals – including developing theories of change, MEL frameworks, and writing complex budgets
• Proven experience of financial management, including programme budgeting and financial reporting
• Demonstrable experience of leading project design workshops including developing and distance managing processes to write successful proposals while building and managing relationships, including remotely, with international partners, country offices and/or local organisations
• Demonstrable experience in building and maintaining relationships with trust, foundations, institutional donors, and understanding of donor requirements, particularly trusts and foundations, the European Union and other European government donors
• Demonstrable experience of working with teams and partners in ways that reflect the principles of power-sharing and accompaniment
• Some experience in mainstreaming gender and gender sensitivity in programme design and proposal development
• Strong understanding of key political, development and humanitarian trends and debates at the international/multilateral level and in focus countries for Saferworld, particularly linked to conflict prevention, peacebuilding, development, governance, and security and justice (desirable).
• Strong understanding of or experience working on one or more of Saferworld’s focus themes including: international foreign and security policy; military intervention and stabilisation; gender, peace and security; conflict sensitivity; political transitions and community-led peacebuilding.

Skills/abilities

• Excellent written and spoken English; knowledge of a relevant second language is desirable
• Ability to work flexibly, independently and on own initiative
• Experience in developing funding strategies, and translating strategy into practice
• Ability to negotiate and understand priorities of colleagues, applying a problem-solving supportive approach
• Excellent communication skills, with clear strategies for working remotely with colleagues and partners, including experience of communicating effectively across cultures and with diverse audiences, both verbally and in writing
• Ability to work to tight deadlines, multiple priorities, and prioritise and manage workload
• Excellent participatory workshop facilitation skills

Personal qualities

• Self-motivated and persistent in the face of complex challenges
• Able to manage multiple and complex priorities at once and prioritise work to deliver on objectives effectively
• Personable, empathetic and able to develop excellent working relationships and collaborate with staff around the world
• Commitment to and compliance with Saferworld’s safeguarding principles
• Commitment to gender equality, respect and value equality and diversity, and understanding of how this applies to own area of work
• Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Saferworld