Director of Institutional Partnerships

Global Fund for Children (GFC) works to build a world where all children and youth are safe, strong, and valued.

Join us in our mission to power the potential of young people

We partner with innovative, locally-led organisations, helping them deepen their impact and build their capacity for social change. By pairing flexible funding with targeted capacity development support, we help our partners grow stronger and more responsive to challenges on the ground.

Over the last thirty years, we have invested more than $60 million in over 1000 community-based organisations around the world. Our work advances the rights of children and youth across four focus areas: education, gender equity, youth empowerment, and freedom from violence and exploitation.

As the Director of Institutional Partnerships, you will join a multinational team of caring and committed individuals who believe in investing in bold ideas to help grassroots organisations deepen their impact and advocate for children’s rights.

We value courage, excellence, learning, partnership, and inclusion, as well as kindness and passion. Our partners’ visions for change inspire all we do. Feedback and learning inspire us to do better, and we strive to be youth centered.

What is the role?

Are you a Partnerships and Fundraising professional, passionate about the potential of children and young people?

Global Fund for Children is looking for a Director of Institutional Partnerships to join our global Development Team in an exciting new role. As Director of Institutional Partnerships, you will lead the efforts to secure funding from philanthropic partners that powers the core of GFC’s programming around the world. Your main responsibilities will be to build partnerships with philanthropic supporters, steward our active relationships with donors and supporters around the world, and manage a high-performing fundraising team.

This role will require engagement with our global team, alongside senior leadership, Board members and key stakeholders, and our expansive network of community partners around the world. You’ll lead the development of strategies that build our relationships with key donors, and are aligned with our programming and fundraising priorities

You will be passionate about building authentic, collaborative donor partnerships, and have a track record of leading successful fundraising operations, being highly organized, and have the ability to manage multiple priorities and work to a deadline, to ensure we achieve our ambitious goals and objectives.

You will be part of a growing and extremely ambitious and successful Development, Marketing and Communications (DMC) team based in the UK, US, and around the world. You will play a leading part in the successful resourcing of our work and staff in more than 20 countries – including colleagues from Programs, Finance, Learning & Evaluation, and Safeguarding.

What will you be doing?

• Leadership: Lead the Institutional Partnerships team to develop and implement the departmental fundraising strategy in line with the programming priorities and philanthropic opportunities that align with GFC’s mission, in collaboration with the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships.
• Team Management: Lead and offer mentoring and thought partnership through line management of the Institutional Partnership’s team.
• Partnership Development: Lead prospect development for new private, public and corporate foundations and institutions via relationship management, outreach efforts and proposal development.
• Donor Stewardship: Manage the cohort of current institutional donors to maintain funding, secure renewals and meet donor deliverables.
• Work collaboratively across the Development team, engaging with key stakeholders from the Major Donor team, and Marketing and Communications team, to deliver strategic goals and KPIs.
• Represent the organization, both internally and externally where opportunities arise, including donor visits, public events, and partner convenings
• Keep abreast and keep the wider team updated of best practices and trends in the philanthropy sector, scoping out strategic opportunities to help us engage new prospective donors
• Contribute to the development of a strong values-based team culture across different countries, areas and streams of work

What are your experience and skills?

Our ideal Development Officer for Strategic Partnerships will have:

• Experience managing a large, dynamic, global institutional donor portfolio.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing and relationship building skills with the ability to work across teams and build strong internal and external networks
• Outstanding organizational skills, including ability to plan, prioritize and manage a varied workload to meet deadlines
• Excellent writing skills, including development of compelling communications to engage donors and prospects
• Experience managing a fundraising team and passion for supporting and developing people to achieve their potential
• Experience working in a hybrid setting across a variety of time zones, and the confidence and the ability to work with minimal supervision in a busy team.
• An understanding of the funder and wider philanthropy system in the UK, US, and/or globally
• Appreciation for working with community-based organisations towards a shared goal
• Experience coordinating with a diverse range of colleagues to develop concept notes and funding proposals

What can we offer you?

Our team dreams big.

We work together to build a world where all children and youth are safe, strong and valued.

GFC fosters a caring work environment that promotes collaboration, respect, and professional development. We set standards of excellence and quality in our work, firmly believing that children and youth deserve the best we can offer.

We believe that every person has equal rights, and we affirm the diversity that enriches our globalized world. In line with these core values, it is our policy to actively seek diverse candidates from a variety of backgrounds who are committed to Global Fund for Children’s mission.

Our values shape our vision, guide our daily decision making, and signal to the world what to expect when you encounter Global Fund for Children. We hold ourselves to these values to best serve our local partners and the children and youth they support. We attract talented people from all over the world because we believe deeply in living our values.

Salary - US-based salary range is $100,000-$130,000; global locations will be benchmarked accordingly, dependent on location, available benefits, and experience.

Flexible Working Location – The role is open to applicants working in the following time zone: All continental US time zones, UK time zones, Latin American time zones and African time zones. Given a hybrid, dispersed team, candidates should be comfortable with a home-based work environment with a flexible work schedule when needed that overlaps with morning hours EST when many cross-team meetings are held. Candidates should be authorized to work in the country where they are living. GFC will not be able to provide relocation costs.

Learning – GFC encourages professional development as a part of our culture and values. GFC provides regular opportunities for training, collaboration, and mentorship. Employees may access professional development funds to support continued learning.

Benefits - We strive to build a culture that embraces care and wellbeing. Our global employee benefits include:

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans

• Generous paid time off (annual leave, sickness leave, wellbeing days, sabbatical leave, family friendly leave)

• Flexible work arrangements - remote/hybrid/compressed work schedules

*Other benefits may apply, depending on the location of the employee

How do I apply?
In line with our values of courage, passion and inclusion, to apply for this role, please share your thoughts on the following questions along with your CV through the following link: https://global-fund-for-children.breezy.hr/p/d593285d1c20

1) What excites you most about this role and how is it directly connected to your skills and experience?
2) What experience of managing dynamic multi-million dollar fundraising teams would you bring to this role?

The deadline for applications is Friday, December 20th at midnight UTC.

We are excited to hear from you! If you have any questions about the role, please get in touch on careers(@)globalfundforchildren.org

GFC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. We particularly encourage applicants from communities that have historically been excluded from philanthropy and from under-represented groups including candidates who are LGBTQ+, from Black, African, and Afro-descendant or indigenous communities, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.