Senior Program Development Officer, Foundations and Corporate Engagement Unit
Position/Title: Senior Program Development Officer, Foundations and Corporate Engagement Unit
Department: Resource Acquisition
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Band: E
FLSA: Exempt
Reports To: Director, FCE Unit
background:
The Foundations and Corporate Engagement (FCE) unit helps HQ and field staff to identify and develop new foundation funding relationships, and to increase the agency’s capacity to respond to funding opportunities from foundation donors. The FCE unit also leads the corporate engagement component of the agency’s Cross-Sector Engagement (CSE) strategy, and collaborates with HQ and field teams to identify, cultivate, and implement corporate partnerships that advance CRS’s mission.
The FCE unit provides the vital link between CRS and foundation donors (including both private and corporate foundations). As the institutional face of CRS to these donors, the FCE unit provides a single point of contact and professional relationship management across multiple collaboration initiatives. As the face of these donors to CRS, the FCE unit helps Country Programs, regions, and HQ teams better understand the distinct strategies and funding priorities, operating structures, and reporting and financial management requirements of foundation donors.
Job Responsibilities:
The Senior Program Development Officer plays a vital role in helping to drive CRS Resource Mobilization and Cross-Sector Engagement success. Duties include:
1. Foundation Donor Engagement (approximately 75% of overall Level-Of-Effort):
oPositioning
§ Serve as the Primary Relationship Manager (PRM) for one or more of CRS’s highest-priority foundation donors.
§ Develop, lead, and monitor a targeted positioning/funding strategy for each donor to enhance CRS’ competitive position vis-a-vis that donor, including moves management milestones, growth projections/targets, engagement action plans, and appropriate indicators of change in CRS’ perception or reputation (e.g. rankings, ratings, and other proxy measurements).
§ Ensure alignment of donor positioning and engagement approaches to CRS’ agency-wide strategic priorities, including technical and operational excellence, global brand management, and resource mobilization.
§ Coordinate cross-divisional initiatives to develop and execute marketing and communication plans for targeted donors, including key messages and delivery channels; win themes, audience-responsive graphics. Support strong linkage and leverage between institutional-level donor and localized (region, country, or sector-level) marketing plans targeting specific donors.
§ Contribute to CRS’ global-level donor intelligence knowledge base to inform CRS’s positioning, resource acquisition, advocacy and engagement efforts.Through research and sound information management, supporting staff access to useful, timely intelligence and learning on donors and the competitive foreign aid landscape.
oRelationship Management
· Facilitate appropriate donor interactions with CRS executives and appropriate Overseas Operations managers and technical staff in support of strategic relationship building with donors; facilitate communications with key internal constituents with the goal of ensuring that the interests of CRS and of the donors are both met.
· Work in collaboration with program teams to ensure high-quality reports and compliance with donor grant requirements.
oFunding Growth
· Develop and submit letters of inquiry, concept notes and proposals in coordination with HQ and regional technical advisors, country programs, and regional offices to centrally-supported foundation donors.
· Support business development through the application of donor intelligence and relationship assets to CRS’ identification of win themes, capture strategies, and project design and consortium/partnership options for new opportunities.
· Establish a collaborative cross-learning environment with other staff responsible for donor relationship management, incorporating or developing common methodologies, systems and tools to facilitate a more holistic approach to resource mobilization within the agency.
· Develop and improve processes, systems, and tools that support country program pursuit of private foundation funding; and that help country program teams better understand how private foundation fundraising is distinct from other sources of agency revenue generation (e.g. public donor fundraising).
oStewardship
· Maintain close communication with project management, finance, policy/advocacy, and technical functions to understand and document CRS’s performance on donor proposals and awards across geographies and sectors.
· Ensure outstanding stewardship of ongoing grants through regular communication with program managers, technical advisors and donor staff.
· Assist appropriate HQ units to develop and disseminate tools, resources, and capacity-strengthening support to improve CRS’ ability to pursue, win, implement, and demonstrate impact with donor resources. Ensuring a donor-centric lens in relevant in-house guidelines and training materials.
oRepresentation:
· Convene, coordinate, and support effective information sharing and learning among the CRS units and departments who maintain functional relationships with donors, to improve coherence in overall messaging and to inform CRS’ intelligence base and positioning approaches.
· Monitor and support CRS participation in inter-agency networks that influence donor policy and practice, promoting unified message and image across CRS’ disparate technical, managerial, fundraising, advocacy, and public relations initiatives.
· In partnership with other departments and divisions, seek and help create opportunities to favorably influence CRS’ visibility with targeted donor(s) in line with above donor engagement strategy, including CRS participation in and/or leadership of events and networks, targeting of specific publications or marketing materials to donor audience, and contribution to CRS’ advocacy agenda and position statements.
oLeveraging Results:
· Work to in close collaboration with Country Programs, the BD community, and RAD units to establish and maintain a process for capturing, documenting, and marketing results from projects.
· Contribute to, and where appropriate lead, the evaluation of fundraising initiatives undertaken by country Programs, compile lessons learned, and make recommendations for similar efforts in the future.
· Work with HQ and field staff to develop effective targeted marketing materials including flyers, presentations, etc.
· Communicate key marketing messages to donors to raise awareness of CRS’ key programming areas and the CRS brand.
· Coordinate regular donor visits with CR, HoP and/or key technical staff.
oCapacity Building:
· Mentor and formally train Program Development Officer(s) on the FCE unit.
· Work with members of the RAD Knowledge Management team to increase donor engagement, relationship management, and cross-sector engagement capacity with CRS HQ and field colleagues.
2. Corporate Engagement / Cross-Sector Engagement (approximately 25% of overall Level-Of-Effort):
oNeeds Assessment and Opportunity Identification
· Work with relevant teams identify and assess needs in CRS programming and corporate value chains that present opportunities for corporate partnerships.
· Identify potential industries and companies that have investments and resources that align with CRS programming priorities.
· Identify opportunities to leverage corporate partnerships to improve CRS’ competitive positioning for future funding, especially with private foundation and public donors.
oPartnership Development
· Serve as the FCE focal point for one of CRS’ Signature Program Areas (SPA) leadership teams, responsible for identifying, cultivating, and advancing new corporate partnerships pertinent to that SPA
· Lead the development of high-value, innovative private sector partnerships. Representing CRS and facilitating discussions with corporations, government agencies, CRS implementing partners, and peer NGOs about potential cross-sector partnerships.
· Assure proper vetting / due diligence of potential corporate partners and that corporate partner behaviors and values align to Catholic Social Teaching.
oCapacity Building
· Help Country Programs build capacity to develop partnerships that align with Country Program priorities.
· Develop tools, processes, and systems that support CSE positioning and information management.
A Senior Program Development Officer’s donor and CSE portfolio, as well as the precise blend of responsibilities noted above, may vary depending upon RAD and unit priorities. The FCE Unit Director and Senior Program Development Officer will work together to clarify specific objectives during annual FCE unit work planning.
Agency-Wide Competencies:
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
· Serves with Integrity
· Models Stewardship
· Cultivates Constructive Relationships
· Promotes Learning
Supervisory Responsibilities:None.
Key Working Relationships:
Internal:OverOps Field Staff, and HQ departments of Resource Acquisition, Program Impact, Operational Excellence, and Charitable Giving
External:Priority Institutional Donors,Contacts within targeted and prospective corporations and foundations, peer organizations, and industry networks.
Personal Skills:
· Demonstrated ability to understand donor motivations, sensitivity to institutional needs and unasked questions, and strong negotiation skills.
· Forthright, aggressive approach to proposal development process management.
· Excellent analysis and decision-making skills and the ability to find helpful ways to involve agency managers and staff in donor cultivation strategies.
· Highly developed verbal and writing skills, and the demonstrated ability to communicate diplomatically and build consensus.
· Strong understanding of agency programs and priorities, and demonstrated ability to translate internal documents into proposals and presentations for external donors.
· Curiosity, sense of humor, high energy level, and an enthusiasm for meeting and working with a wide range of individuals and outside organizations.
· Strategic and innovative thinker.
Qualifications:
· Master’s degree in Business, International Affairs, or Development (or equivalent).
· 8-10 years of experience in institutional donor relationship management and business development, with a proven track record of accomplishment in fundraising including successful acquisition of large grants. Experience working on private foundation proposals preferred.
· Experience in development and execution of funding strategies specific to donors within a global, highly-decentralized, multi-channel environment.
· Experience working with multi-national corporations to mobilize cross-sector partnerships (strongly desired).
· Understanding of Catholic Church and importance CRS’ faith perspective.
· Working knowledge of prospect tracking systems and donor databases, as well as a detailed knowledge of Excel to develop complex proposal budgets.
· Overseas work experience, ideally developing country project management experience, preferred.
· Experience in knowledge and intelligence management, strategic planning and representation.
· Excellent networking, interpersonal and organizational skills.
· Team player who can also work independently in a complex environment.
· Ability to travel domestically and overseas: estimated 25%.
· French and/or Spanish a plus.
Physical Requirements/Environment:
· Normal conditions for an office environment.
· Ability to travel domestically and overseas as needed, up to 30%
Disclaimer Clause:
This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
How to apply:
Note: All interested applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of application.
To apply, please visit:
EOE/M/F/D/V
Post a Comment