Development Director

About Alfanar

Meaning ‘beacon’ in Arabic, Alfanar is the Arab region’s first venture philanthropy organisation, using social investment to change dynamics in slums, villages, refugee camps and other vulnerable communities.  We identify and back ambitious social enterprises working in vulnerable communities to sustainably educate children, employ youth and economically empower women. We multiply the impact of our funding with high-engagement management support and a relentless focus on impact growth and financial sustainability.  The social enterprises Alfanar backs represent a bold and hopeful side of the Middle East often overlooked in the headlines. Over the past 15 years, we have invested in 34 social enterprises across Egypt, Lebanon and refugee communities, tangibly improving over 65,000 lives.  We began work in Jordan in 2019.  For more on Alfanar, see our annual reports on the website. Alfanar is a registered charity in the UK, with a registered branch in Egypt.  Alfanar has a sister 501(c)3 in the US and affiliate in Lebanon.  We currently have representatives in London, Cairo, Beirut and Amman.

Scope of the Job

Are you a strategic thinker and a relationship builder?  We are looking for an experienced fundraising professional in the non-profit space who can help envision and oversee the future of Alfanar’s fundraising, partnerships and outreach strategy.  Working alongside the Executive Director, senior management and Trustees, in this brand-new role, you will develop and lead on the execution of Alfanar’s global fundraising strategy, with a focus on: a) steadily growing and diversifying Alfanar’s streams of income, among institutional donors, including corporates, foundations and international aid organisations, b) ensuring greater funding certainty and stability for our venture philanthropy work and c) enhancing Alfanar’s brand by developing strategic partnerships. The Development Director will be supported by a full-time Development Coordinator and will have access to support from a full-time Administrative Coordinator.

In 2019, Alfanar approved an ambitious growth strategy, which aims to deepen the impact of our venture philanthropy work in Egypt, Lebanon and refugee communities, while growing our venture philanthropy work to new countries, scaling one of our successful social investments, and exploring impact investing.  To grow our impact along these lines, Alfanar’s income and pool of partners must grow, income sources require diversification, and our fundraising systems need full time attention and professionalisation. 

Alfanar’s Development Director will be responsible for developing and delivering a global fundraising strategy that allows us to achieve the goals of our growth strategy, ultimately enabling Alfanar to expand its reach and impact through social enterprise. This will mean developing a clearer and more effective fundraising and partnership strategy.  The position requires a candidate who can draw on Alfanar’s wealth of experience partnering with individuals, institutions and through events, and will be open to applicants based in the UK (we are open to considering candidates based in the US or the Arab region).

Responsibilities

- Fundraising Strategy: develop and execute on Alfanar’s three-year fundraising strategy, with a focus on growing voluntary income and corporate support.

- Donor Stewardship: set efficient and tailored strategies for communicating with and deepening existing donor relationships.

- Major Gifts: develop relationships with donors who can make major gifts.

- Corporate Partnerships - develop partnerships with growing number of corporates that can committed to changing the region.

- Donor Reporting: improve and manage Alfanar's donor reporting system to ensure greater engagement and more efficient reporting. Ensure financial and narrative reports to donors are timely and of high quality.

- Communications: ensure that Alfanar’s fundraising messages are in line with brand guidelines and coherent across fundraising documents and public channels

- Events: work with Executive Director, Board members and event organisers to support the planning and delivery of high-quality fundraising events that build Alfanar’s brand awareness and generate support for Alfanar’s venture philanthropy work.

- Staff Support: supporting Alfanar’s senior management and Country Directors to fundraise in their own jurisdictions, from companies, foundations, and donor agencies.

- Keep abreast of opportunities and current trends in fundraising to achieve the organisation’s fundraising targets.

- Monitor income and expenditure against allocated budget and identified targets.

- Work closely with the Executive Director on special projects, as needed.

- Manage Development Coordinator to achieve goals of new fundraising strategy.

Personal Specification

- Strong non-profit fundraising experience, preferably in major gifts or corporate fundraising.

- Proven experience in securing significant support from major individual donors and corporates

- Fundraising experience with foundations and other institutions is desirable.

- Experience in developing a growth-oriented fundraising strategy and delivering on it.

- Experience in developing strong relationships at senior levels.

- High level of comfort with face-to-face solicitations.

- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, presentation and negotiation skills.

- Passionate about sustainable social development, venture philanthropy, social enterprise and social investment in the Arab World; experience in the sectors of education, women’s economic empowerment and youth employment is desirable.

- Fluent in English; good command of Arabic highly desirable; French is also desirable.

- Optimism, flexibility and creativity in recognising and responding to opportunities, whilst working within parameters set by the organisation.

- Demonstrable evidence of working collaboratively in a small team.

- Evidence of demonstrating leadership in setting, achieving and stretching goals.

- Ability to travel internationally as required (4-8 weeks per year)

- Ability to occasionally work out of office hours as required