Fundraising and Partnerships Director

Post Title:  Fundraising and Partnerships Director

Reports to: Director General

Direct Reports: Fundraising Team

Type: Full time post

Location:  Dubai / Abu Dhabi

Annual Salary:  Competitive for the sector

Background

Emirates Nature is a UAE environmental non-governmental organization, established under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s representative in the Western Region and Chairman of Environmental Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD).

Emirates Nature works in association with WWF, one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations. Emirates Nature-WWF has been active in the UAE since 2001 and has successfully initiated and implemented several conservation and education projects and initiatives in the region. Emirates Nature-WWF works federally and in the region with offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and is governed by a local board of directors.

About the role

The Fundraising and Partnership Director’s main responsibility is to drive an efficient and functional fundraising operation to support Emirates Nature-WWF’s conservation efforts. The successful candidate will be responsible for revenue growth for the organization and maximizing income from existing and new engagement programmes including corporate partnership programmes, sustainable giving programmes and an individual membership programme.  The candidate will develop and maintain strategic partnerships and put in place a solid partnership plan.

The incumbent will be part of the senior management team and expected to provide input for the organization’s strategic planning and stakeholder’s engagement and management. He/she will be working with his/her team and colleagues to achieve the unit’s financial target and responsible for managing several strategic portfolios of donors as well as managing the unit’s budget and income forecast.

The successful candidate is expected to lead and develop the team towards meeting their individual and collective financial goals by providing strong leadership, on-going guidance, strategic support and coaching. The candidate is required to represent and promote the organization in several events and meetings in the UAE and abroad.

Reporting and Authority

The Fundraising and Partnership Director will be reporting directly to the Director General (DG) and will have regular communication with other unit directors including the Conservation Director, Operations Director and the Communication Director.  The candidate will have authority to implement fundraising plans and implement decisions, related to activities, such as marketing and outreach.

Primary responsibilities

The Fundraising and Partnership Director is responsible for leading and developing all fundraising strategies and policies within the United Arab Emirates to maximize income through partnerships within the private and governmental sector, as well as through public support.

Fundraising

• Leads, develops and continuously adapts an effective fundraising strategy that successfully raises an agreed annual budget.
• Working collaboratively across the organisation, to explore opportunities and develop highly creative and targeted pitches, proposals and presentations.
• Generating and cultivating leads across the organisation from the corporate and public sector to create new partnerships.
• Identifies potential new sources of income, such as grants, foundations, sponsorships, partnerships. 
• She/he should also pursue fundraising opportunities that offer high long-term funding potential and prioritize those that offer the most unrestricted funds.
• Scoping and rolling out a supporter/membership programme in the UAE.
• Oversees, assesses and enhances current fundraising platforms.
• Cultivates and nurtures relationships with current and potential donors.
• Managing, motivating and developing the Development Team to ensure income is consistent and sustainable.
• Implements fundraising best practice through developing strong relationships with key Fundraising Leaders in other offices in the WWF network.
• Develop reporting procedures and systems that provide income analysis, ROI rates, documentation of fundraising proposals, effective management of contracts and fulfilment of obligations towards sponsors and funders.

Partner Relationship Development and Management

• Reviewing, revision and implementation of Emirates Nature - WWF partnership strategy.
• Establish and leverage new partnerships for fund raising opportunities.
• Identify potential opportunities to strategic fundraising partnerships to enable new channels associated with major donors and individual fundraising.
• Build critical supporter/partner relationships and implement supporter/partner service policies and standards consistently to sustain and enhance supporter/partner satisfaction and retention.
• Monitor and enhance partner relationships.

Unit Performance

• Ensure unit plans/objectives and targets are met or exceeded to contribute to the planned units’ results.
• Put in place stringent Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework to monitor progress and evaluate changes that need to be made effectively.
• Turn data into impact by setting up and ensure the effective use of our CRM system (Salesforce) to analyse and optimize our efforts, keep track of partnerships and opportunities.
• Manage the fundraising team and be responsible for their performance, development, and adherence to organizational values.

Planning

• Develops annual action plan and budget on time.
• Adapting good practice fundraising principles and practices to the local environment. The Fundraising and Partnership Director develops, defines, and seek agreement and cascade down the objectives, plans, and targets for fundraising programs for detailed development of budget, programme plans, and support.
• Develops and implement programme and project conservation funding strategies and implementation plans through the fundraising team.
• Co-creates project and annual work plans with the conservation and communication teams in line with given deadlines.

Strategic Input

• Provide and advise the organization on global and local market trends and the fundraising programme’s responses as an active input to fundraising and strategy development.
• Keeping in mind the Emirates Nature mission, ensure to stay relevant in today’s fast changing world and environment. 

Interface Management

• Identify, influence, obtain, and manage internal support services to support the achievement of organizational objectives.

Resource Management

• Make the right judgment based on financial and resource availability.
• Leverages on less costly resources such as volunteers, pro bono services and other support.
• Leads, manages, motivates, and build capacity to develop a team of effective fundraisers to ensure desired level of productivity and competency towards fundraising programmes.
• Develop and implement systems to organize and keep track of fundraising opportunities. 
• Support team in building fundraising pipeline and ensure adaptability to yield high level results that support sponsor needs but do not jeopardize organizational values.

Risk Management

• Identify, evaluate, and mitigate all risks involved with partnerships and fundraising.

Compliance and Control

• Ensure compliance with UAE law and the relevant policies, procedures, and regulations to protect the organization’s interests in line with WWF guidelines and local practices.
• Embrace Emirates Nature – WWF’s values in all aspects.

Candidate requirements

• More than 10 years’ experience in fundraising, sales and marketing, of which a least 5 years of leadership experience in bringing in funds and in people management.
• Experience in setting-up an effective CRM system.
• Experience and a good understanding of operating in different cultural environment.
• Leadership and people development.
• Post graduate degree in marketing, business administration, and/or corporate relations management.

Skills Required

• Proven track record of successful implementation of fundraising initiative.
• Extensive knowledge of corporate in the UAE, working in the UAE.
• Arabic language skills a plus.
• Knowledge of legal framework of UAE and fluent in English.
• Ideal candidate would have an established network of contacts in the UAE.
• Specialist and technical expertise.
• Achievement Orientation and Organisational policies.
• Ability to test and monitor new ideas and fundraising initiatives.
• Multi-tasking ability and ability to prioritise.

Personal Motivation and Commitment

• Confident and versatility.
• Capable to work and stay calm under pressure.
• Strong interpersonal skills, able to interact with and influence senior team and relevant. team in different functional areas in a positive and impactful manner.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills.
• Passion and Commitment for Conservation and Sustainable Development.

Additional Information

Emirates Nature-WWF is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome diversity in the workplace and offer a flexible and diverse place of employment.  Emirates Nature-WWF staff participate wholeheartedly in general activities and events that require the full support and participation of all staff members, whether the focus of any particular event or activity has any bearing on the job description and assigned project objectives and activities.