Position summary:

Working as part of an international team of fundraising professionals, the Manager, Institutional Relations, South America is responsible for fundraising with institutional donors (multilateral and bilateral agencies, corporate and private foundations) for Rainforest Alliance priorities in the region. The Manager will also support the fundraising activities with other revenue sources, including Individual Philanthropy and corporate investment. You will coordinate with regional teams to manage the fundraising portfolio, leading and/or facilitating donor prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, and reporting. Locally based in one of three priority countries (Peru, Colombia, Brazil), this role is part of both the South America regional team and the global Institutional Relations team, and will report to the Senior Director, South America with a second reporting line to a Senior Manager, Institutional Relations. This role will also coordinate closely with the Manager, Institutional Relations, Mesoamerica region to align funding strategies for Latin America, and work in partnership with the Global Institutional Relations (IR) team.

 

You will proactively lead institutional fundraising in South America, including ensuring a match between global and regional priorities and funding strategies, building and monitoring a funding pipeline, facilitating or leading engagement with donors and partners, creating persuasive messages and materials for communications, and leading or supporting the development and submission of draft proposals, full proposals and project reports. Maintaining a strategic portfolio of institutional donors and donor prospects, you will develop and regularly update a region-wide engagement plan, ensuring timely follow-up actions, and helping to further strengthen relationships with key institutional donor and partner contacts in the region. You will work closely with technical teams and programs managers to develop compelling proposals, build creative funding partnerships, and support reporting and donor stewardship. You will engage staff from across the organization, such as corporate engagement, thematic experts and sector leads, as well as compliance and finance staff in the development of proposals in accordance with Rainforest Alliance protocols. You will be expected to directly cultivate current and potential new funder relationships and pursue solutions to leverage additional investment.

 

Responsibilities:

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate.
• Write, and edit proposals, concept notes, impactful project ideas, and reports for field projects and programs, working closely with regional staff, global IR, finance and compliance and technical teams.
• Develop and implement regional fundraising strategy and annual plans to secure bilateral and multilateral funding, as well as corporate, foundation revenue and support Individual Philanthropy efforts, with fundraising targets identified for the short and long term.
• Develop and maintain a portfolio of key local and regional contacts for priority donors and other institutional partners to strengthen RA’s position and capture intelligence relevant to funding priorities.
• Serve as a key point of contact between the Global IR team and technical staff based in South America, collaborating closely with both on a day-to-day basis.
• Ensure that fundraising data for the South America Program is up to date and accurate within donor database.
• Work collaboratively with other regional managers and directors to develop a unified, strategic positioning and roll it out with key donors and other strategic partners in the region.
• Represent RA externally with a funder audience through in-person meetings, presentations, phone calls, and written communications.
• Support development of high-quality reports for selected institutional donors, ensuring consistency with donor requirements and coordination with global grants management team.
• Develop deep collaborative bonds with colleagues across functional areas, particularly field teams with whom proposals and reports will be produced jointly and under tight timelines.
• Support grants management for projects implemented in South America.
• Create and lead key performance metrics to build awareness of and communicate priorities and performance on fundraising in the South America region and beyond.
• Create and disseminate donor collateral and other materials that clarify to internal and external audience’s RA’s impact, immediate funding needs, and overall approach in South America.
• Develop engagement plans and action items for key donors in the region.
• Support the design and dissemination of key material to better position the organization in the region to engage donors and key audience.
• Support regional strategy development, as well as new RA programs and initiatives development as needed.
• Work in collaboration with all regional managers and directors and closely with Country Directors for alignment and a successful approach to donors,
• Support the South America Regional Director on institutional development activities as requested; and
• Other tasks as assigned.

 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required on Administration, International Relations, International Affairs, Environmental Engineer, Economics, Political Science or other related areas; Master’s Degree preferred;
• Minimum of 7 years’ institutional development experience with at least 3 in a large, global organization.
• Must have excellent English oral and written skills and be able to create content for different audiences; fluency both in Spanish and Portuguese preferred.
• Must be detail oriented, resourceful, and able to work independently and under tight deadlines.
• Significant experience working with bilateral/multilateral donors, the private sector, and foundations, including building relationships with new donors.
• A track record successfully leading seven-figure institutional funding proposals; Clear ability to understand and articulate complex programmatic material in a detailed manner both internally and externally, and to audiences with different levels of background in these areas; Excellent interpersonal and relationship building skills.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbally; Experience working as part of a cross-functional global team;
• Ability to negotiate, advise, persuade, engage, and support resolution of complex and sensitive issues with internal and external stakeholders at different levels and of different cultural backgrounds;
• Experience working with budgets and financial reports;
• Ability to work regularly and collaboratively with colleagues who are based in a different geography;
• Knowledge of South America context, particularly of The Amazon with a network of bilateral, multilateral, private sector, and foundation donors preferred;
• Ability to design materials to position RA with key donors, engage donors and represent RA in meetings.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, as well as be an effective and collaborative team member.
• Experience and knowledge of conservation, environment, social responsibility, sustainability or sustainable development matters required;
• Strong research and computer skills required (at least Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint); and
• Ability to travel up to 25% of time.

Job LEVEL: 3A

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Deadline: October 11, 2023

Notes: Only candidates authorized to work in the Colombia will be considered.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: recruitment@ra.org