Partnerships Director

Post Title:Partnerships Director

Reports to:Executive Director

Location:Flexible but candidates must have the right to work in their chosen location.

Annual Salary:Salary £75,000+ depending on experience

About Womanity

The Womanity Foundation believes in a world where all women and men enjoy equal rights and opportunities. We work towards a more inclusive society, accelerating gender equality through innovative investments. Womanity are celebrating 15 years of bold and innovative projects for gender equality. Since 2005, Womanity has invested $11,871,370 USD in women’s empowerment, reaching 27.6 million people.

Womanity test new ideas, adapt and develop pioneering programmes and catalyze innovative solutions, creating the best chance for sustainable, long-term impact.  The foundation scales innovations that support women’s progress by building capacity and reach and build disruptive media solutions that challenge gender norms.

Womanity´ s award winning programmes include:

• Girls Can Code: this programme works with schools in Afghanistan to provide 16-19-year-old girls with basic computer literacy.

• The Womanity Awards support the adaptation of impactful models addressing violence against women across regions.  We select partner organizations that come together to replicate and adapt a successful model from one country to another. The Womanity Award acts as a catalyst and accelerates the dissemination of learnings, best practices and impactful programmes addressing Violence Against Women.
• Our Women Change Makers programme identifies women focused social ventures and, through institutional development, helps strengthen the organizations to increase their reach and impact.
• Ten years ago, we founded Radio Nisaa, the first female-led Middle East radio station putting women’s voices and issues on the public agenda.
• We Mean Media was created to strengthen our commitment to accelerating social change and creating positive impact. It is an Arabic digital media multi-platform dedicated to creating and distributing engaging content that challenges gender stereotypes and promotes a more inclusive society. We Mean Media recently launched Smi’touha Minni (‘You Heard it from Me’), a YouTube based satire show that debunks gender stereotypes and deconstructs common traditional narratives about gender.

Purpose of Role

Womanity is seeking to build on their success and to maximise the organisation’s sustainable income from private sources. To this purpose Womanity are recruiting a senior level Partnerships Director to work both strategically and operationally to shape, maintain and lead the implementation of their partnerships strategy globally to deliver deeper impact.

This is a new role and the Partnerships Director, in collaboration with the Executive Director and President of the Foundation, will have direct accountability and responsibility for the development, leadership and delivery of the fundraising and development strategy to grow annual income to CHF 2 million over five years.

The Partnerships Director will further develop and form new relationships from national and international foundations globally to secure funds to support the work of Womanity. The post-holder will understand, lead, and develop funding applications, ensuring that Womanity has the proper approach, processes, and tools to enable the securing and ongoing management of such opportunities. Additionally, the Partnerships Director will serve as an external representative for the organisation in relation to partnership development activities and support the Executive Director and President in their interactions with key funders.

Responsibilities

The Partnerships Director will have primary responsibility for developing and implementing the partnerships strategy at an international level with the following objectives:

• Explore fundraising opportunities across and between global, regional, national levels with an open mandate to drive innovative approaches to fundraising activities, with a strong focus on trusts, foundations, and major donors.  
• Leverage the position of Womanity to secure resources from national and international funders, building and maintaining relationships with a portfolio of relevant national and international funders, navigating the complex funding environment.
• Represent Womanity externally with confidence and gravitas in respect of its programme generally, and fundraising strategy, specifically.
• Support and coordinate interaction with regional and headquarters colleagues, to deliver partnership activities as effectively as possible.
• Work seamlessly and collaboratively across all levels of the organisation to ensure alignment between programmes and fundraising to further deepen impact for Womanity´ s work.

Experience

• At least ten years of proven and relevant experience at a senior level in fundraising ideally within an international context.
• Experience of developing and implementing long-term fundraising strategies, coordinating inputs from a range of stakeholders, and adapting these strategies to take account of changes and/or stakeholder needs.
• Extensive experience in developing relationships and delivering fundraising proposals and reports to funders from a range of spheres, in particular, trust and foundations.
• Extensive experience of engaging, nurturing and maintaining relationships across all levels of stakeholders. 
• Knowledge and practical experience of the international fundraising sector, with existing contacts and networks highly desirable.
• Experience of working with funders as an external spokesperson of organisations.

• Demonstrated cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of values, views and approaches to issues relevant to Womanity programmes by stakeholders around the world.
• Demonstrated experience in financial management, including developing forecasts, budgets, and monitoring expenditure.
• Proven ability to write compelling, creative, succinct, and clear proposals and reports.

Skills Required

• Relevant university degree, diploma or equivalent. 

• Fluency in English is required and French and Arabic would be an advantage.
• Excellent computer and IT skills, including the use of standard MS software packages as well as fundraising databases.

Personal Attributes

• Collaborative approach to working coupled with curiousity and passion for the work of Womanity.
• Stature, gravitas and confidence to gain the credibility and respect of the President, Board members and staff at all levels internally, as well as external partners and stakeholders.
• Highly networked and tenacious in creating opportunities with prospective partners.
• Versatility to combine self-management and self-support when working alone with productive team membership and leadership.
• Entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm for Womanity’s unique programmatic approach.
• International focus and cultural sensitivity in working in multiple contexts and across time zones.