Development and Communications Director
Innovations for Poverty Action is expanding its team, creating a Development and Communications Director position to establish and build the organization’s communications and fundraising infrastructure, systems and best practices for building a widespread and engaged network of supporters and donors.
Mission
IPA is a nonprofit dedicated to discovering what works to help the world’s poor. We design and evaluate programs in real contexts with real people, and provide hands-on assistance to bring successful programs to scale.
About IPA
IPA applies rigorous research techniques to develop and test solutions to real-world problems faced by the poor in developing countries. Weoperate on the belief that innovative action driven by evidence of what works accelerates the eradication of global poverty, and we partner with frontline organizations to develop and test solutions to poverty through randomized evaluations. Combining technical rigor, immediate policy interest, and solid grounding in the needs of the poor, our work helps practitioners and donors better allocate their resources and improve their operations.
IPA was founded in 2002 by Yale Economics professor Dean Karlan, who currently serves as its President. Our affiliated researchers are scholars at leading universities, including Yale, MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Princeton and Dartmouth. In the last nine years, IPA has grown to over 500 local and international staff, with over 350 projects in 43 countries including the United States. IPA’s funding has grown from approximately $4 million in 2007 to $25 million in 2010, reflecting significant grants and contracts awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, amongst others. IPA has attracted financial support from a diverse group of funders indicating broad support of its mission.
Position
The Director will work with the senior management team and internal staff to assess the IPA community and develop creative, tangible and compelling communication, media outreach, and fundraising activities for existing and potential stakeholders. IPA is a highly regarded institution that has attracted high profile foundations and funding entities. While the organization has garnered the attention of large private, multilateral and bilateral donors, its rapid growth has not been coupled with a corresponding growth in internal capacity for messaging and for diversification of its funding sources.
The Director position presents an exceptional opportunity for an entrepreneurial and sophisticated professional with drive and determination to apply creative technical know-how towards building the capacity and media outreach of an organization with proven global impact. The role is uniquely positioned to assess current funding and outreach opportunities and to design and implement marketing projects that will spread the word and create strategic calls to action for stakeholders, donors and potential donors. With the intelligence and sophistication to convert complex academic research findings into lessons easily understood by the average non-academician, the Director will be drawn to IPA’s research, and inspired to create innovative fundraising and outreach campaigns.
While the Director will work broadly on development for all of IPA’s projects, specific examples of fundraising and general outreach campaigns include:
IPA Research Initiatives
IPA research initiatives are focused portfolios of research projects designed to provide actionable answers to the questions of policy makers and practitioners working in specific fields. Created to develop cutting-edge research on a variety of subjects, such as small business innovation, post-conflict recovery or microsavings, IPA now seeks to grow and expand these efforts in an attempt to increase research capacity and develop a stronger presence for the initiatives themselves. For more information on the current initiatives, please visit the following website: http://www.poverty-action.org/our-initiatives
Proven Impact Initiative
Informed by years of research and fieldwork by leading development economists, IPA’s new Proven Impact Initiative translates research results into tangible information to help donors learn more and give better. The Proven Impact Initiativewas established to direct interest and support to development interventions backed by evidence. Proven approaches are identified based on the results of rigorous evaluation and currently include a variety of solutions to improve outcomes in education, finance and entrepreneurship, health, agriculture and water and sanitation. The Director will lead all of the fundraising and PR efforts around this new initiative with the support of a Project Coordinator.
Deworm the World Initiative
Together with several global partners, IPA’s deworming program works to address the detrimental health and education impacts of worms in the developing world. Over four hundred million school-age children worldwide are infected with parasitic worms, an ailment which both damages their health and limits their access to education. Rigorously-conducted research studies find that deworming is the most cost-effective way of increasing education, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends mass deworming programs based in schools. Efforts to develop long-term funding streams for these programs make a key contribution to the goal of eradicating parasitic worms globally.
The Chlorine Dispenser System: Providing safe water with water treatment technology
Each year, 1.6 million children die from waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. Unsafe drinking water is a leading cause of diarrhea. Treating drinking water with dilute chlorine solution can cut child diarrhea by 20% to 40%. Despite extensive social marketing, adoption of point-of-use chlorine products sold in shops has remained low, and, in most countries, is below 15%. IPA has partnered with several other NGOs on a simple and effective solution of making chlorine dispensers available in developing countries. The chlorine dispenser system includes a simple, low cost point-of -collection water treatment technology that has achieved remarkable and sustained use in Kenya. The innovative dispenser is filled with dilute chlorine and placed near a water source, allowing individual users to treat their water with the correct dose of chlorine. IPA is in a unique position to market and fundraise for this proven solution to accessing clean water.
A strategic and seasoned executive, the Director will work on myriad communication, development and capacity-building projects including, but not limited to, those listed above. The position will encompass the following areas of responsibility:
Small to Medium-Sized Foundation Fundraising
Identify new funding sources including but not limited to small family foundations, and small to medium-sized foundations focused on poverty alleviation.
Make initial contact with funding entities, develop relationships as appropriate, determine match and specific ask, write proposals, and see relationship through to close.
Oversee the gathering and submission of all required follow up materials.
Individual Donor Fundraising
Identify high net worth individuals appropriate for larger asks and customize their experience with IPA such that specific giving opportunities may be designed and implemented.
Identify and segment individual donors in IPA’s networks.
Develop marketing plans with calls to action for attending events, sponsoring projects, or supporting IPA’s general operating funds.
Create an annual giving campaign complete with comprehensible descriptions of research findings, key outputs and outcomes and opportunities for getting involved.
Communications Campaigns and Strategic Planning
Analyze IPA’s existing external communications and design and implement collateral capable of messaging IPA’s research and outcomes to key stakeholders in an engaging and exciting way.
Organize media contacts and develop relationships with journalists, bloggers, and other high profile individuals such as celebrities who are interested in supporting smart anti-poverty efforts.
Identify new opportunities for external communications capitalizing on key timely data findings, market trends and potential strategic alignments.
Research and leverage the best new media tools for external communications utilizing social media and social networks. Engage stakeholders around IPA’s work with a keen focus on opportunities for fundraising and participation.
Qualifications
This position requires a sophisticated forward thinking professional with the ability to manage the big picture and details, often simultaneously. S/he will be devoted to the mission of IPA and be capable of thinking broadly and strategically about the organization’s opportunity for communications and development. In addition, s/he will have many of the following characteristics and qualifications:
Exemplary oral and written communication skills including the capacity to translate complex academic data and information into compelling sound bites graspable by the average non-scientist.
Proven fundraising expertise including experience successfully setting up and implementing fundraising infrastructure.
The capacity to own and manage relationships with key influencers, to think proactively about engagement on an appropriate scale for individuals and groups of stakeholders, and the ability to employ tactics for deep partnerships.
A passionate commitment to global poverty alleviation and to the contribution IPA can make toward its alleviation. A fundamental belief in the mission is essential.
Five to ten years of development and communications experience is required with a track record of designing and implementing communications and development collateral, plans and programs. Fluency with research data as a tool for creating economic change is preferred, and preference will be given to candidates fluent with the challenges germane to global non-profits. A Bachelor of Arts is required, Masters degree preferred.
Familiarity with US academic institutions is preferred; including experience interfacing with professors and Ph.D. level researchers or equivalent content experts is preferred.
An up-beat demeanor along with a sense of humor, a positive can-do attitude, and the humility to regularly incorporate the feedback of others into the work processes.
A draw to the power of cultural diversity is required.
To Apply
Please submit your resume along with a cover letter outlining your interest in this specific position to: developmentdirector@poverty-action.org with your first and last names in the subject line. Please include your salary history and how you learned of this position in your cover letter.
Innovations for Poverty Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Mission
IPA is a nonprofit dedicated to discovering what works to help the world’s poor. We design and evaluate programs in real contexts with real people, and provide hands-on assistance to bring successful programs to scale.
About IPA
IPA applies rigorous research techniques to develop and test solutions to real-world problems faced by the poor in developing countries. Weoperate on the belief that innovative action driven by evidence of what works accelerates the eradication of global poverty, and we partner with frontline organizations to develop and test solutions to poverty through randomized evaluations. Combining technical rigor, immediate policy interest, and solid grounding in the needs of the poor, our work helps practitioners and donors better allocate their resources and improve their operations.
IPA was founded in 2002 by Yale Economics professor Dean Karlan, who currently serves as its President. Our affiliated researchers are scholars at leading universities, including Yale, MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Princeton and Dartmouth. In the last nine years, IPA has grown to over 500 local and international staff, with over 350 projects in 43 countries including the United States. IPA’s funding has grown from approximately $4 million in 2007 to $25 million in 2010, reflecting significant grants and contracts awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, amongst others. IPA has attracted financial support from a diverse group of funders indicating broad support of its mission.
Position
The Director will work with the senior management team and internal staff to assess the IPA community and develop creative, tangible and compelling communication, media outreach, and fundraising activities for existing and potential stakeholders. IPA is a highly regarded institution that has attracted high profile foundations and funding entities. While the organization has garnered the attention of large private, multilateral and bilateral donors, its rapid growth has not been coupled with a corresponding growth in internal capacity for messaging and for diversification of its funding sources.
The Director position presents an exceptional opportunity for an entrepreneurial and sophisticated professional with drive and determination to apply creative technical know-how towards building the capacity and media outreach of an organization with proven global impact. The role is uniquely positioned to assess current funding and outreach opportunities and to design and implement marketing projects that will spread the word and create strategic calls to action for stakeholders, donors and potential donors. With the intelligence and sophistication to convert complex academic research findings into lessons easily understood by the average non-academician, the Director will be drawn to IPA’s research, and inspired to create innovative fundraising and outreach campaigns.
While the Director will work broadly on development for all of IPA’s projects, specific examples of fundraising and general outreach campaigns include:
IPA Research Initiatives
IPA research initiatives are focused portfolios of research projects designed to provide actionable answers to the questions of policy makers and practitioners working in specific fields. Created to develop cutting-edge research on a variety of subjects, such as small business innovation, post-conflict recovery or microsavings, IPA now seeks to grow and expand these efforts in an attempt to increase research capacity and develop a stronger presence for the initiatives themselves. For more information on the current initiatives, please visit the following website: http://www.poverty-action.org/our-initiatives
Proven Impact Initiative
Informed by years of research and fieldwork by leading development economists, IPA’s new Proven Impact Initiative translates research results into tangible information to help donors learn more and give better. The Proven Impact Initiativewas established to direct interest and support to development interventions backed by evidence. Proven approaches are identified based on the results of rigorous evaluation and currently include a variety of solutions to improve outcomes in education, finance and entrepreneurship, health, agriculture and water and sanitation. The Director will lead all of the fundraising and PR efforts around this new initiative with the support of a Project Coordinator.
Deworm the World Initiative
Together with several global partners, IPA’s deworming program works to address the detrimental health and education impacts of worms in the developing world. Over four hundred million school-age children worldwide are infected with parasitic worms, an ailment which both damages their health and limits their access to education. Rigorously-conducted research studies find that deworming is the most cost-effective way of increasing education, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends mass deworming programs based in schools. Efforts to develop long-term funding streams for these programs make a key contribution to the goal of eradicating parasitic worms globally.
The Chlorine Dispenser System: Providing safe water with water treatment technology
Each year, 1.6 million children die from waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. Unsafe drinking water is a leading cause of diarrhea. Treating drinking water with dilute chlorine solution can cut child diarrhea by 20% to 40%. Despite extensive social marketing, adoption of point-of-use chlorine products sold in shops has remained low, and, in most countries, is below 15%. IPA has partnered with several other NGOs on a simple and effective solution of making chlorine dispensers available in developing countries. The chlorine dispenser system includes a simple, low cost point-of -collection water treatment technology that has achieved remarkable and sustained use in Kenya. The innovative dispenser is filled with dilute chlorine and placed near a water source, allowing individual users to treat their water with the correct dose of chlorine. IPA is in a unique position to market and fundraise for this proven solution to accessing clean water.
A strategic and seasoned executive, the Director will work on myriad communication, development and capacity-building projects including, but not limited to, those listed above. The position will encompass the following areas of responsibility:
Small to Medium-Sized Foundation Fundraising
Identify new funding sources including but not limited to small family foundations, and small to medium-sized foundations focused on poverty alleviation.
Make initial contact with funding entities, develop relationships as appropriate, determine match and specific ask, write proposals, and see relationship through to close.
Oversee the gathering and submission of all required follow up materials.
Individual Donor Fundraising
Identify high net worth individuals appropriate for larger asks and customize their experience with IPA such that specific giving opportunities may be designed and implemented.
Identify and segment individual donors in IPA’s networks.
Develop marketing plans with calls to action for attending events, sponsoring projects, or supporting IPA’s general operating funds.
Create an annual giving campaign complete with comprehensible descriptions of research findings, key outputs and outcomes and opportunities for getting involved.
Communications Campaigns and Strategic Planning
Analyze IPA’s existing external communications and design and implement collateral capable of messaging IPA’s research and outcomes to key stakeholders in an engaging and exciting way.
Organize media contacts and develop relationships with journalists, bloggers, and other high profile individuals such as celebrities who are interested in supporting smart anti-poverty efforts.
Identify new opportunities for external communications capitalizing on key timely data findings, market trends and potential strategic alignments.
Research and leverage the best new media tools for external communications utilizing social media and social networks. Engage stakeholders around IPA’s work with a keen focus on opportunities for fundraising and participation.
Qualifications
This position requires a sophisticated forward thinking professional with the ability to manage the big picture and details, often simultaneously. S/he will be devoted to the mission of IPA and be capable of thinking broadly and strategically about the organization’s opportunity for communications and development. In addition, s/he will have many of the following characteristics and qualifications:
Exemplary oral and written communication skills including the capacity to translate complex academic data and information into compelling sound bites graspable by the average non-scientist.
Proven fundraising expertise including experience successfully setting up and implementing fundraising infrastructure.
The capacity to own and manage relationships with key influencers, to think proactively about engagement on an appropriate scale for individuals and groups of stakeholders, and the ability to employ tactics for deep partnerships.
A passionate commitment to global poverty alleviation and to the contribution IPA can make toward its alleviation. A fundamental belief in the mission is essential.
Five to ten years of development and communications experience is required with a track record of designing and implementing communications and development collateral, plans and programs. Fluency with research data as a tool for creating economic change is preferred, and preference will be given to candidates fluent with the challenges germane to global non-profits. A Bachelor of Arts is required, Masters degree preferred.
Familiarity with US academic institutions is preferred; including experience interfacing with professors and Ph.D. level researchers or equivalent content experts is preferred.
An up-beat demeanor along with a sense of humor, a positive can-do attitude, and the humility to regularly incorporate the feedback of others into the work processes.
A draw to the power of cultural diversity is required.
To Apply
Please submit your resume along with a cover letter outlining your interest in this specific position to: developmentdirector@poverty-action.org with your first and last names in the subject line. Please include your salary history and how you learned of this position in your cover letter.
Innovations for Poverty Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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