Grants Specialist at Sanergy

Sanergy is looking for an exceptional individual to join our Business Development team as a Grants Specialist. The Business Development Specialist will support the team to competitively position the organization for funding opportunities with institutional funders. The individual will be responsible for driving the institutional fundraising strategy to secure and manage significant income from a diverse range of funders. They will lead collaborative research, engagement strategy and proposal development for institutional funders to increase the scale and impact of the organization. A confident networker, they will represent the organization at meetings, forums and events in order to initiate and strengthen strategic relationships. They will support the organization in the research and development of strategies for Result-Based Financing (RBF) and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the government. They will contribute to the organizational business development knowledge with best practices, procedures, and tools for the diversification of financing structures.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Fundraising:
  • Research, develop and execute strategies for key institutional funding opportunities, including analyzing competition, potential for scale and articulating the organization’s value-add.
  • Remain abreast of institutional funders’ trends in line with sustainable development goals, build organizational understanding of new funders and contribute information for prioritization of funding opportunities for replication and scale.
• Develop and lead scoping trips to identify new funding opportunities and strategic partnerships, including participating in strategic meetings with funders and peers relevant to institutional funding.
• Expertly speak on behalf of the organization to institutional funders and international government officials.
• Plan and manage the entire proposal development process for institutional funding opportunities, working closely with the Operational teams and Leadership team to develop high quality funding applications. This includes developing narrative, budgets, log frames and theory of change in accordance with funder guidelines.
• Support other areas of business development (ie. result-based financing, public-private partnership, philanthropic fundraising) as required in the organizational strategy. In particular, support the Leadership team in researching and developing a strategic framework for RBF.
• Provide business development expertise on water and sanitation, livelihoods and economic development, gender, and other sectors relevant to the organization’s impact.
• Grant Management:
  • Build strong, open and collaborative relationships with institutional funders.
  • Manage due diligence processes, facilitate funder audits and coordinate with Operational teams and Leadership team on external evaluations.
  • Coordinate the negotiations and compliance of agreements and contracts with institutional partners.
  • Ensure all relevant team members are fully briefed on the terms and conditions of funders agreements/contracts, including Monitoring and Evaluation requirements and key deadlines.
  • Ensure reporting requirements for all institutional funders are met and reports are completed to deadlines.
  • Recommend to the Director of External Relations changes to improve efficiency and effectiveness of proposal development processes and partnership management.
  • Produce internal reports and conduct reviews on the performance and progress of institutional fundraising against agreed financial targets and annual objectives.

 Key Qualifications

• 5-10+ years of work experience in fundraising or business development in a global development context.
• Excellent external communication and writing skills.
• Highly organized team player, with pro-active and flexible work style.
• Strong existing networks in the institutional funding community preferred. Ideal candidate would be able to leverage past relationships to develop a strong pipeline of new partnerships.
• Demonstrated understanding of and experience in international development or the social sector more broadly. Knowledge of the sanitation sector is a plus.
• Ability to travel overseas up to 30 percent of the time
• Language: English required. Fluency in Dutch, French or Swahili is a plus.
• Humility, integrity and a sense of humor.

The position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

• Preferred start date: March 1, 2021.
• Duration: Full-time job.
• Compensation: Commensurate with experience.
• Application deadline: February 28, 2021