Director of Partnerships

Role Overview

• Identify and build the capacities needed to deliver ambitious fundraising growth and donor engagement for Nura, including as necessary, the hiring and management of other team members, consultants and service providers.
• Collaborate closely with the wider Meliore development team to build best-in-class shared systems for fundraising and donor engagement.
• Inspire and support the senior leadership team and key partners to develop shared fundraising excellence and meet ambitious targets.
• Identify and develop new funder prospects, and deepen relationships with existing institutional donors.
• Work with the wider Meliore development team, representing Nura as part of wider Meliore fundraising efforts, and working together to design and implement systems to support prospect identification, qualification, and cultivation by senior leaders.
• Generate tailored materials for funding prospects that showcase successes and offer funding opportunities.
• Support the Executive Director and other senior leaders in their engagements with current and prospective funding partners by organising briefings, presentation materials, and project management throughout the grant development process.
• Oversee the development and implementation of an onboarding process for new funding partners.
• Advise on relationship management and allocation of responsibilities among senior leaders.
• Establish coordination mechanisms to maintain alignment when multiple teams and leaders engage with the same prospect or funding partners.
• Ensure regular, timely, and personalised updates, reports, presentations and other stewardship materials are provided to donors on the status and impact of their grants.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve core donor reporting processes, practices and systems, including curated reporting templates, standards, and links to key data sources (finance, impact, etc), drawing on and helping to develop Meliore’s growing systems in aid of this.
• Build and maintain, in partnership with regional and thematic leads, a library of compelling collateral material (strategies, case studies, fact sheets, etc.) that can be drawn upon to support funding partner engagements.
• Collaborate closely with the Movement/Ecosystem Director to support our community of practice in their fundraising efforts as/when needed, and to identify stories, challenges and opportunities that arise from that community.
• Alongside the Executive Director and senior leadership team: help identify key grantees for fundraising support and development; and provide tailored assistance and capacity-building based on grantee needs (potentially involving external coaches, consultants or systems development, through to more light-touch mentoring, feedback and donor match-makings).
• Work with the wider Meliore development team to establish donor prospecting systems and maintain a prospect database to track donor information and the status of outreach and relationships.
• Work closely with the Nura and Meliore MEL teams to ensure accurate reporting on impact and learnings from across our work.
• Work with senior leaders to develop a streamlined process to identify funding gaps and recommend options to close them.
• Work with finance colleagues to maintain a best-in-class system to track funding pipeline and revenue outlook.
• Be part of fostering a healthy, inclusive, and empowered team culture that balances accountability with trust, safety, and innovation.
• Play a key role in encouraging collaboration and high performance across the team and wider Meliore network.
• Champion a culture of accountability and excellence across all levels of the organization.

Requirements

Our ideal candidate has a minimum of 10 years of leadership and organisational experience in philanthropy in a complex and growing enterprise. They will possess thorough knowledge of all areas of comprehensive fundraising and funder support programmes, and a track record of significant professional success in the stewardship of philanthropic grants from a wide range of donors. They must be excited about our mission and thrive in results-oriented, low-ego, highly collaborative teams.

• An experienced leader in nonprofit development/fundraising, with demonstrated expertise in building and managing fundraising infrastructure in complex, matrixed organisations, and in raising 7
• and 8-figure funds for a wider coalition or ecosystem of partners.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence to facilitate long-term, trusting relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders, partners & audiences.
• Track record of effective stewardship of philanthropic relationships across diverse donor types (geographies and institutions)
• Matrix management experience with the demonstrated ability to build and develop a fundraising team, and to work with several teams and levels of seniority across an organisation.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills, including ability to translate technical strategy documents into visually compelling donor-facing materials, and tell powerful stories via funder pitches, reports, and other modes of communication on an ongoing basis.
• Strong record of developing the fundraising skills and capacities of other partners and team members
• Excellent written and spoken English

**Values & Alignment **

• Deep commitment to climate action, social justice, democratic values, and systemic change.
• Embodies a collaborative, empowering leadership style, balancing vision with pragmatism.

Benefits

• Be part of a remote-first, international network of professionals working on climate, energy and nature and work with a bunch of dynamic, culturally diverse individuals who combine their passion to make a difference with a rigorous and results-oriented approach to work.
• 6 offline days (with no calls or meetings) per year to focus on your work
• Reduced working time on Fridays during the Dry Season (summer)
• Access to our employee assistance program to support your mental health and personal development
• Supplementary paid business closure for end-of-year holidays
• Parental leave matched to 20 weeks for countries where regulation allows less than that
• Enjoy regular opportunities to connect and collaborate with colleagues around the world
• A full-time position with an employment or consultant contract, subject to location, for 12 months, with possible renewal after one year.