Senior Fundraising Specialist - New Market Expansion

Role title: Senior Fundraising Specialist - New Market Expansion

Organisation: ActionAid

Location: Flexible location

Reports to: International Expansion Coordinator

Salary: Competitive salary

Background:

ActionAid is an international organisation, working with over 25 million people in more than 40 countries for a world free from poverty and injustice. ActionAid International has been investing in the international expansion for years as part of its strategy. In order to potentiate its investment capacity and allow the international growth, it has delegated part of its expansion work to some member countries. ActionAid Italy has been running fundraising investments in India, Indonesia and Switzerland since 2013. In the new strategic cycle 2018-2028, ActionAid Italy will continue supporting the fundraising development in these countries, while also launching 2 new markets and collaborating with the Global Secretariat for the global expansion effort.  For this reason, a specialized team has been created to support current/recent start-up operations (India and Indonesia), help plan and execute this new international expansion plan and guiding the set-up and development of successful fundraising operations in the new markets.

Purpose of this position:

ActionAid is currently seeking for a Senior Fundraising Specialist to support current fundraising operations in India, Indonesia and Switzerland and support the evaluation, decision and start-up of new markets to help increase ActionAid´s global growth.   

The Fundraising Specialist will be in the unique and exciting position to evaluate new markets and help build new fundraising programmes, while supporting current operations.  We are looking for a person who is passionate with a high level of energy, motivation and oriented to achieve results.

Under the leadership of ActionAid Italy, ActionAid ventured in Indonesia 2 years ago and the new organization is well established and emerging in the country; in India, a special investment was started 2 years ago to enable the new launch and development of the in-country fundraising programme. In order to capitalize on these experiences, ideally, ActionAid is looking to expand into 2 other countries, whose one is likely to be an Asian market. The Fundraising Specialist will work with a New Markets Business Analyst and the Head of International Expansion, to support and improve the performance the existing fundraising investments, as well as to define the best countries to expand, to draw and implement the fundraising set-up in the identified new countries and to accompany the new markets in their income growth. 

Key Responsibilities:

• New Markets Assessment and Development
  • Support the scoping and assessment phase in 3-4 new markets and support the Head of International Expansion in the identification of the next 2 market entries.
  • In the scoping and set-up phase, manages the relationships with competitors and suppliers in the targeted markets in order to contribute to the development of sound business and investment projections; contributes to the market intelligence gathering; researched for and conducts negotiations with suppliers; forms and trains the national team.
  • Builds and drives the implementation of the first (multi-channel) fundraising campaigns, ensures that a compelling and diversified fundraising mix is adopted, instructs/guides the development of the payment processing and donor management systems, ensures/drives the set-up of all the components of a successful individual giving programme.

• Ensure fundraising guidance to current and newly established fundraising operations
  • Guide the national fundraising teams in India and Indonesia and in the new markets on best fundraising strategies to improve their local fundraising operations with a strong focus on individual giving channels. 
  • Support in the design of new fundraising products and campaigns on different acquisition channels (F2F, Online fundraising, lead generation campaigns, telemarketing and in general all direct marketing).
  • Drives the development of new fundraising mix and strategies with a data-driven approach driving income growth in the targeted markets.
  • Proactively engages with suppliers and support the national teams in negotiating contracts.
  • Enables the experience capitalization and learning for the organization and facilitates learning exchanges among the markets.
  • Ensures that any adopted fundraising approach is sound and compelling to the concerned market, while fully integrated to the national strategic, programmatic and financial priorities.
  • Instils a storytelling approach to all the organizational departments and supports them in the development of a coordinated method of work for storytelling and fundraising.

• Planning, budgeting, performance analysis and business Intelligence
  • Based on the existing investment projections, guides the annual planning and budgeting processes, co-ordinates with the Business Analyst and the national teams to ensure regular performance monitoring and accordingly suggest sound fundraising solutions in collaboration with the Head of International Expansion.

Collaborates with the Business Analyst and proactively contributes to the development of a sensitive business intelligence culture throughout the teams and the national management.

• Team development and empowerment  
  • Trains, guides and enables the national teams and ensures the required processes and systems function well for successful fundraising.
  • Ensures local fundraising teams have the required skills and systems to be able to grow their fundraising operations.

Required Skills and Experience:

• At least 8 years’ relevant experience, of which three years must be in a senior fundraising management role.  Hands on leader with extensive experience leading indirect reporting teams. Consulting and advisory experience are assets.
• Proven track records/ successful fundraising experience in diverse fundraising markets and/or environments.
• Experience in fundraising from a diversity of regular giving acquisition methods including online fundraising, face to face, DRTV and other direct marketing techniques for regular giving acquisition. Successful experience on designing lead generation campaigns and managing lead conversion (through telemarketing, e-mailing, etcetera) will be an asset.

• Strong experience in starting-up new ventures/ fundraising operations and working in multicultural environments.
• Propensity and ability to request, read and understand data analyses and rely on business intelligence for fundraising or marketing decision-making.
• Knowledge of the new trends in terms of acquisition channels, payment methods, communications media, social media, etcetera.
• Experience in Asian markets or other emerging markets.
• Experience of effective communication at all levels and strong coaching skills.
• Outstanding interpersonal and self-motivational skills.
• Strong motivation to handle new challenges and achieve results.
• Excellent organizational and planning skills.

Languages

The working language of the post is English