Development Officer

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is seeking a dynamic professional who can help drive our fundraising globally to a new level. We are looking for a proven fundraising specialist and strategic thinker who will work collaboratively with our global team which includes Development team members in the US, UK and Germany, and colleagues in 20 locations around the world.

Based in: London or Berlin

Reports to: Deputy Director/Development Director (based in New York)

Salary: £29-35,000 per year (commensurate with experience) + 5% pension contribution

Closing date for applications: 10 October 2021 – 17.00GMT

Interviews (if selected): 20-22 October 2021

THE ORGANIZATION

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is an international human rights organization working to ensure respect for human rights are at the core of companies’ business models; empower communities and workers, to secure their rights; and advance accountability for corporate human rights abuse. Our Global Team, based in more than 20 countries around the world, work with a rich network of activists, unions, human rights groups, and investors. Our website and publications are available in nine languages. We work across all sectors and issues related to business and human rights, with strategic focus on the rights of workers in global supply chains, the rights of communities seeking responsible natural resource use and a just transition to zero carbon, and the rights of people to accountable digital technologies. The Development Officer will be an integral part of the Global Team.

The Resource Centre has helped define the growing field of business & human rights. It has put companies in all regions on notice that their human rights conduct is being watched. It has drawn attention to corporate abuses in all countries and provided increased recognition to those companies taking positive steps to promote human rights. The Centre is widely respected for being fair, objective, and constructive in its approach to make change happen.

THE POSITION

As a Development Officer, your focus will be to help the Resource Centre increase its annual budget (currently at just about $5 m/£4m) by expanding its base of foundation, individual and government donors. The Development Officer will report to the New York-based Deputy Director/Director of Development and work closely with the Europe Development Manager and another Development Officer (currently being recruited) based in New York. This position will be based in London or Berlin.

The Resource Centre has a strong track record in foundation fundraising – current donors in the global portfolio include Laudes Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, Porticus Foundation, Humanity United and many others. It receives funding from the governments of Germany and Switzerland and the European Commission and has extensive contacts with other European governments and multilateral institutions. To date most of the organization’s income has been from foundations and governments, but it has a small but growing pool of individual donors. To maintain our independence, we do not take funds from companies or their foundations.

The successful candidate will have strong skills and experience in institutional (trusts/foundations and government) fundraising, proposal and report writing and grants management, as over 95% of the organization’s income comes from these sources. The Development Officer will be expected to contribute to developing the organization’s international fundraising strategy in consultation with the Executive Director, Development Director and Development team and board members; help to secure increased funding from existing and new foundation and government funders; work collaboratively to improve fundraising systems (e.g. research and tracking of prospective funders, grants, contacts and reporting); support the development of fundraising capacity in the regions; and play a key role in establishing a strategy for sustainable growth. Individual fundraising experience is also desirable but not required.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Fundraising strategy and organizational development:

• Participate in the development of the international fundraising strategy, organizational development policy, and thematic and regional programme strategies.
• Report regularly to the Development Director to inform the Management Team and Board.
• Prepare budgets and forecasts related to all fundraising activities. Should be comfortable with setting annual fundraising goals and have systems in place to benchmark and track progress.
• In collaboration with Development team colleagues, help to develop the fundraising and grant management capacities of Global Team members and partners by delivering training and support.

Grant and relationship management:

• Develop proposals and reports to funders in collaboration with relevant program and regional teams. Ensure all inquiries from your portfolio of donors are fulfilled in a timely and efficient manner. Lead on fundraising for one of our regional programs, dependent upon language skills.
• Create systems for effective grants management including narrative and financial funding reports in coordination with relevant members of Global Team and support their skills-training.
• Develop project budgets and forecasts and support Global Team members in tracking financial performance of their grant budgets.
• Contribute to the development of the donor update in collaboration with the Development Team and ensure it reaches all funders, aiming to take a leading role in the future.
• Ensure appropriate communications with funders and record this in donor database. Prepare relevant team members including Executive Director for meetings with funders.

Research:

• Conduct research to identify new sources of institutional (foundations / trusts / governments) giving on an ongoing basis and feed in new prospects to the donor pipeline.
• Provide research reports on individual and institutional donor prospects.
• Stay aware of trends in giving, changes in human rights funding, key donors in the field.

Individual donor and online fundraising support:

• Develop new initiatives to help grow individual giving.
• Process acknowledgements for individual gifts.
• With the Development Team and others, plan and implement the annual appeal and the other elements of an ongoing annual fundraising effort, including online fundraising and social media.
• Work with the Development Team and senior leadership to refine our online fundraising strategy for the Resource Centre.

Team coordination and systems management:

• Work collaboratively to ensure timely submission of reports and proposals to all funders.
• Manage CiviCRM database as administrator, ensuring it is current, accurate, and used to increase efficiency.
• Strengthen infrastructure and systems, including for grants management, donor communications, internal communications and learning, and financial tracking. Work collaboratively with operations team to streamline finance processes.
• Assist with preparation for donor/prospect meetings, including developing meeting packets, prep for participants, scheduling, booking travel, and other logistics.
• Support the development of the organisation’s annual report in close collaboration with the communications team. Work with communications, program and operations teams to ensure all organizational documents used regularly for fundraising are relevant. Suggest and create new materials.
• Assist in developing and maintaining a shared system of information management for program and organizational data used in funding reports.
• Supervise development interns as appropriate.

CREDENTIALS

Qualifications:

Required:

• The right to work in the UK or Germany (must have this before applying)
• 3-5 years of fundraising experience, preferably in a charity or similar organization
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and succinctly in English, especially in writing compelling and persuasive grant proposals and reports to donors
• Effective financial management especially related to fundraising and project budgets
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to maintain collaborative relationships with people from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, across several time zones
• Initiative and motivation: Able to use own initiative and work independently within agreed frameworks; motivated by achieving results and completing tasks and being accountable.
• Organization and prioritization: Strong organizational and prioritization, and time-management skills, including attention to detail, enabling efficient and effective work.
• Appreciation of the values and mission of the organization and a proven ability to represent the organization to donors and prospects
• Demonstrable entrepreneurial spirit and ability to identify and capitalize on opportunities
• Ability to maintain high standards of ethics, integrity, and professionalism, and to handle sensitive and proprietary financial information
• University degree, or equivalent/relevant qualification
• Computer proficiency in Windows Operating systems, MS Office, knowledge of and demonstrated efficiency with donor management databases

The following would be useful, but not necessary:

• Familiarity and experience with international affairs and human rights
• Knowledge of languages other than English

TERMS AND COMPENSATION

• This is a full-time position
• 24 vacation days per year
• Opportunity to play a central role in an enthusiastic and international team

How to apply: To apply please click on Apply on Website button. You will be redirected to our recruitment page where you will download, fill in, and upload the application. Please note that we cannot accept CVs.