Living Goods
The Opportunity
We seek a competent and motivated Senior Manager of Foundation and Corporate Relations (F&C) to serve as a key member of our fundraising team. The F&C sub-team is our largest revenue stream and includes a mix of some of the most exciting donors in this space today. Some of these funders are listed on our website, here. You will be responsible for identifying, cultivating, and engaging a range of stakeholders to join us on our journey, with a focus on foundations and corporate donors. This role is about more than just securing financial support— we are looking for an individual who can develop opportunities to maximize our impact. This means experimenting with new fundraising strategies or mechanisms, developing key partnerships, and transforming the way we engage across our team and with our community of supporters. The position will report to the Deputy Director, Foundations and Corporates, and will also work closely with team members and program staff in Washington DC, London, the San Francisco Bay Area, and East Africa.
You will thrive in this role if….
You understand how to pick up on nuances, adjust your messaging, and craft the right story to win hearts and minds. You understand how to employ different strategies for different audiences. You have a keen eye for finding the overlap between organizational priorities and funders’ interests and know-how to align them to create mutually beneficial partnerships.
You know how to manage up, down, and sideways to coordinate winning proposals. You drive proposal processes forward by anticipating the next steps, getting the information and input you need, and keeping everyone on track to meet the deadline. Importantly, you are always looking for ways to improve the proposal writing process to be even more efficient and effective.
You thrive in an entrepreneurial environment. You’re resourceful and at ease with ambiguity and rapid change. You possess a positive, can-do attitude, and are adept at identifying creative solutions to obstacles. You can juggle many important responsibilities at once and you’re rigorous about prioritizing.
You want to learn and grow with us. You actively seek feedback and are adept at integrating it into your work. You’re excited to take on new projects and learn new skills and always have an eye out for professional development opportunities. Living Goods is a nimble organization where opportunities for growth and advancement are available to those who excel. We are looking for someone who is interested in building a career with us in the long term.
Responsibilities:
- Take ownership of a portfolio of LG’s most strategic existing and prospective corporate and foundation donors; refine, craft, and implement engagement strategies in order to secure new and increased funding to meet Living Goods’ annual funding targets.
- Lead and coordinate the creation of proposals, liaising between our finance, leadership, and country technical teams to create well-crafted, winning concept notes and funding proposals.
- Facilitate strategic decision-making on donor funding and partnership opportunities to pursue.
- Where appropriate, attend industry conferences, meetings, and briefings to build relationships with key donors.
- Ensure that LG leadership is poised to steward and enhance relationships with core funders to maintain and grow their support.
- Monitor grant opportunities and conduct pipeline forecasting and donor surveillance to track the release of opportunities.
- Liaise with the grant writer and communications team to create and update partner communications and collateral.
- Manage grant reporting requirements. Draft reports when needed and work closely with the grant writer, finance, M&E team, and BD Associate on impact and financial reporting.
- Deputize for the Deputy Director as appropriate and required to do so.
- Contribute to the overall strategy of Living Goods as a vital member of the business development team.
Essential Qualifications, Experience, & Attributes:
- 6+ years of experience, including at least 3 years in fundraising/business development.
- A desire and ability to help grow the business development department in a fast-paced global organization.
- Exceptional writing and communication skills. An ability to develop clear and convincing materials, attentive to nuance and your audience.
- Experience in or passion to learn about international development, global health, and/or social enterprise preferred.
- Significant experience in developing outreach and relationship-building strategies with donors and implementing plans to achieve them.
- Demonstrated experience managing proposal teams and processes and producing deliverables under tight deadlines and at exceptional quality, especially for 6-figure+ grants.
- Experience with budgeting and financial reporting preferred.
- Willingness to travel regionally and internationally.
- Bilingual with French as a desirable language.