Part-time Fundraising Consultant

The Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) is seeking a consultant to work with its members to mobilise funding to achieve its strategic objectives and ensure its sustainability. Guided by the FHN’s Fundraising Committee, and with support from the FHN Lead, the consultant will apply feminist funding principles to drive the development and implementation of fundraising plans to identify, approach and work with institutional, philanthropic, and corporate donors whose objectives align with the FHN’s. The consultant will strengthen and build on the FHN’s fundraising strategies, coordinate collective decision-making processes on funding opportunities, coordinate with members and lead the drafting of concept notes and proposals, contribute to the development of the FHN’s funding policies and tools, and organise and coordinate meetings with potential donors, negotiate donor agreements, and work with the FHN Lead with donor reporting and grant management.

Key contacts within the Feminist Humanitarian Network: FHN Lead,FHN Fundraising Committee, FHN Steering Committee, FHN member organisations as required

Reports to: FHN Lead

Timeframe and duration: 18 August 2022 – 31 March 2022, approx.108 days (work on a part time basis – 3 – 4 days per week, to be negotiated with candidates. Start date negotiable with candidates, based on their availability)

Background

The first meeting of the Feminist Humanitarian Network was in November 2017. Since then, the FHN has worked collectively to build its membership, establish its own structures, policies, and practises, and to develop strategies to achieve its goal and objectives. Funding for the FHN Secretariat and the FHN’s activities was contributed by the FHN’s host organisation for the initial phase of the FHN’s establishment. The FHN now has funding from a small number of donors that covers its core costs and some of its activities. The FHN is aiming to grow its current funding to ensure the sustainability of the network in the intermediate and long term, to grow its Secretariat and scale up its activities, and to ensure access to flexible humanitarian funding for its members.

The FHN is led collectively by its members, and its strategic focus areas (Advocacy, Membership, Communications, and Fundraising) are each driven by a committee that agrees on strategies and approaches, and makes decisions with regard to each of these. The FHN’s Fundraising Committee has developed a fundraising strategy, a fundraising approach, and a suite of fundraising tools and processes to guide the FHN’s fundraising, and ensure it is consistent with the FHN’s feminist principles.

About the Feminist Humanitarian Network

The Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) is a global network of women leaders working together to transform the humanitarian system into one that is guided by feminist principles. The FHN was established by feminists working in humanitarian action that recognised the deeply patriarchal and colonial ways in which the humanitarian system works, and the need for system change to ensure the agency and amplify the voices of women in emergencies.

The FHN is a member-based network of grassroots, local, and national WROs working in the Global South; regional networks; international NGOs; and individuals. 70% of the FHN’s organisational members are WROs – INGO membership is limited to 30%.

Objectives:

1. To refine, develop, and lead the implementation of the FHN’s donor plans alongside the FHN Fundraising Committee and the FHN membership
2. To mobilise resources for the FHN’s core costs and activities in line with the FHN’s strategy and budget
3. To establish strong partnerships with aligned donors that will contribute to achieving the FHN’s sustainability

Ways of working, reporting, and accountability lines:

• The consultant will report to the Feminist Humanitarian Network Lead, who is responsible for the overall coordination of the network and its activities, and for the management of the FHN Secretariat. The FHN Lead and the consultant will meet on a regular basis and make decisions together, using feminist principles, to apply the FHN’s principles and policies to FHN fundraising work.
• The consultant will work alongside the FHN Fundraising Committee to develop and agree on donor plans, fundraising strategies, and to make decisions on fundraising opportunities. The Fundraising Committee is responsible for driving the development and implementation of the FHN Fundraising Strategy and fundraising policies, processes, and principles, and ensuring that these are developed and implemented with guidance of the wider membership. The Fundraising Committee meets regularly once every six weeks, and more regularly as needed. The consultant will attend these meetings, and support in coordinating them.
• The consultant will contribute to progress reports prepared every six weeks by the FHN Lead for the Steering Committee, and will attend Steering Committee meetings as and when needed.
• If required for fundraising purposes, the consultant will attend meetings of the other FHN strategic committees (Advocacy Committee, Communications Committee, and Membership Committee).
• The consultant will attend quarterly member meetings to support the Fundraising Committee to share updates and to consult members on key decisions.
• The Feminist Humanitarian Network is currently hosted by ActionAid International, as the FHN is not currently an independently legally registered entity. In its role as host, ActionAid International holds the accounts of and signs contracts on behalf of the FHN, and provides support with financial management, amongst other things. The consultant will engage with ActionAid International on fundraising opportunities as required and in line with the terms of the hosting arrangement.

Deliverables:

Deliverables include:

• Robust donor/funder research, guided by the FHN’s feminist fundraising principles and approach to inform the FHN’s fundraising strategy
• Review and development of the FHN fundraising strategy, ensuring it is up to date and fit for purpose
• Development of a current case for support
• Ensuring a strong pipeline is in place and relationships with donors are established and strengthened
• Targeted proposals produced that contribute significantly to achieving the fundraising amounts specified in the FHN’s aspirational budget, currently USD$2,839,391 per year (USD$11,390,557 over five years).
• Proposals for funding for discrete projects designed by the FHN’s strategic committees produced.
• Leadership of meetings with both philanthropic and institutional donors.
• Revision of the FHN’s current aspirational budget, ensuring it aligns with revisions made to the FHN strategy as part of the FHN strategy review in June 2022
• Improvements to the FHN’s funding and fundraising processes as required.
• Strategic guidance and support on funding and funding systems provided to the FHN membership and committees as required (for example, support in strategic advocacy being undertaken to address the challenges presented by compliance and due diligence processes of humanitarian actors).
• Support in grant management to the FHN Secretariat as required.

Required experience/skills:

• A strong understanding of and commitment to feminist funding principles.
• An innovative approach to fundraising and strong track record of mobilising resources for women’s rights and humanitarian work in partnership with philanthropic and institutional donors.
• Experience securing multi-million dollar funding.
• Experience working collectively, and in partnership/alliance with women-led organisations in the Global South.
• Excellent understanding and experience with philanthropic and institutional donor strategies, policies and practices and a successful track record of successfully developing and leading fundraising strategies and fundraising efforts for similar organisations/networks.
• Knowledge and existing network of donors that have a commitment to feminist principles, including governments with feminist foreign policies, and philanthropic donors with a commitment to women’s rights and flexible funding models.
• An understanding of and deep commitment to feminist leadership principles and feminist ways of working.
• An understanding of networks and networked ways of working.
• Strong diplomacy and negotiation skills.