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Director of Development & Resource Mobilization Nile Project San Francisco, California, United States, Egypt, Ethiopia

Title: Director of Development and Resource Mobilization

Reports to: Executive Director

Location: Flexible, requiring international travel (10 – 20%)

Compensation: To be negotiated. Remuneration will be based on performance/results. As the Project is currently being launched, remuneration will be reassessed as the financial situation changes.

To Apply: Please send a letter (maximum two pages) describing background and reason for interest in this position and your resume (CV) to info@nileproject.org.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Interested candidates are strongly encouraged to submit completed applications no later than August 15, 2012.
Please provide 3 references including a recent supervisor, a recent peer coworker, and a recent person you supervised.

About the Nile Project
The Nile Project curates and produces cross-cultural collaborations among musicians from the Nile Basin. Through these musical dia¬logues, we aim to foster cultural connections among the people living along the river to help us tackle our water-based environmental challenges. The Nile Project engages its stakeholders with a series of musical performances and recordings featuring musicians from the river’s 11 countries (Congo DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt). These musical experiences will inspire audiences in the region to learn more about both this critical ecosystem and their neighbors and international audiences to support this learning. With the help of a multidisciplinary team of specialists, the Nile Project will roll out a number of educational initiatives including school curricula and a TEDxNile conference. Partnering with Ashoka and other regional social entrepreneurs, the Nile Project will train a new generation of change makers to help bring about creative solutions to the challenges faced within the Nile Basin. Through a devoted social enterprise platform, the Nile Project will empow¬er these new entrepreneurs to implement their solutions to help us move towards a more sustainable Nile region.

Position Description
The Nile Project seeks a Director of Development and Resource Mobilization to provide the overall vision, leadership, direction, and coordination for all fundraising activities for the Nile Project with particular attention to growing the number of corporate sponsors, individual and institutional donors, at the same time deepening the engagement and satisfying the requirements of existing supporters. This position requires a person who is creative, energetic and thoughtful. Equally, the incumbent should be interested in growing a small, ambitious and dynamic organization to meet its short and long term goals with a secure, adequately sized funding base.


Position Duties and Responsibilities

Overall Development Responsibilities:
As a member of the executive team, and under the general direction and guidance of the project Executive Director, the Director of Development and Resource Mobilization will:

- Plan, carry out and continually assess the Nile Project’s financial needs in the context of securing sustainable support, both financial and in-kind, from individuals, governments, foundations and corporations in Africa, Europe and North America.
- Develop and manage a donor database system for recording, acknowledging and encouraging individual, institutional, and corporate giving across above regions
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of the philanthropic landscape, especially as it relates to individual donors, major donors, giving trends, and charitable contributions.
- Collaborate with the Director of Communication to write content and oversee production of Nile Project website, newsletters, promotional materials, and social marketing tools to increase organizational visibility, improve communications with stakeholders and enhance giving.
- Become an articulate champion of the Project, in particular for contributors/donors/partners, working closely with the Director of Communication to develop a comprehensive understanding of the Nile Project’s mission, programs, culture, values, key stakeholders, and finances.
- Represent the Nile Project at fundraising and community events as required.
- Develop a comprehensive resource mobilization plan/strategy to ensure:
- The overall approach to fund-raising (conceptual level)
- Roles and responsibilities of the Nile Project team members in achieving the fund-raising objectives (organizational level).
- The operational effectiveness of resource mobilization (functional level). More specifically at the operational effectiveness level, The Director of Development and Resource Mobilization will develop a functional Operational Plan to engage potential donors/partners/contributors. This plan will be shared with team members to ensure consistency of approach by the Project (practical level).


More specifically with respect to Resource Mobilization with the various donor/partners:

1) Institutions:
- Manage and update the development calendar for current and prospective bilateral, public and private foundation funders, ensuring timely submission of proposals and reports
- Approach funders to introduce the Nile Project and its various programs
- Attend grant workshops and events to obtain grant leads
- Oversee grant writer in writing grant proposals, reports, and other communication pieces
- Research available Monitoring and Evaluation techniques to develop and measure the project’s impact
- Provide stewardship to new and existing institutional funders

2) Individuals:
- Develop a plan for identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of individual donors including events, special publications, lunches/dinners, private receptions, project updates, and other Nile Project events.
- Create and implement annual stewardship and solicitation strategies (print and electronic) for individual donors across regions to maximize giving and participation rates.
- Develop and implement prospect research activities
- Manage donations page on web site, social media, and manage contract with secure online donations vendor
- Communicate effectively with donors through both verbal and written communication, as well as face to face solicitation and stewardship meetings
- Create and implement stewardship strategies for each current and potential individual donor

3) Corporate Donors:
- As described above, develop and implement an overall plan for the Nile Project’s corporate sponsorship programs spanning Africa, Europe and North America
- Research and Identify prospect sponsors
- Develop proposals and benefit packages in collaboration with senior management
- Approach corporations to introduce partnership possibilities

Other related Activities:

Events:
- Organize and coordinate fundraising events based on plans
- Obtain sponsorships, recruit table ambassadors for fundraising galas, and update all event materials
- Steward attendees from events into active Nile Project supporters
- Invite and host donors to Nile Project programs and activities

Online and Print Publications:
- Develop fundraising materials (one page fact sheets, annual report) for key Nile Project programs
- Provide direction to grant writer for development of fundraising materials
- Provide new data necessary for communication staff to develop new marketing material


Required Qualifications:
- Advanced education and training in a relevant field
- Minimum 2 years experience in grant development (grant writing experience considered an asset)
- Minimum 5 years of experience in fundraising
- Successful track record in raising significant individual, corporate and foundation support
- Significant experience in designing, executing, and rolling out a comprehensive fundraising plan
- Experience preparing budgets and producing reports (financial updates and projections)
- Event planning experience
- Familiarity with fundraising for music, environment, and/or education initiatives

Desirable Qualifications:
- Familiarity with Africa
- Experience traveling, working, or living in developing world desirable
- Understanding of the cultural and political complexity of East Africa
- Demonstrated aptitude for dealing with sensitive political and cultural situations
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a remote/virtual team with a wide range of work styles
- Strong organizational skills; ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects simultaneously and to work calmly under pressure of deadlines
- Excellent English verbal and written communication skills
- Fluency in Arabic, Swahili, Amharic, and/or French
- Experience with development and project management software (salesforce, raiser’s edge, etc.)
- Deep understanding of social media as fundraising tools
- Intellectual agility and demonstrated ability to think strategically
- Entrepreneurial, proactive and self-driven
- Positive, flexible, can-do attitude mandatory
- Attention to detail and ability to multi-task with precision
- Engaging personality that can cultivate strong relationships and work successfully in partnership with staff and donors
- Strong communication skills, particularly listening ability and willingness to learn from others (i.e. inquisitiveness and intellectual curiosity an asset).

Job Email id: info(at)nileproject.org