JOB DETAILS:
JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Funding Officer
Contract terms: Full-time (37.5 hours per week)
Open-Ended
Grade: D
Location: London, Nairobi, Kampala, Bishkek (other locations will be considered in countries where Saferworld has a presence). Hybrid working with negotiable remote/in-office balance
Reports to: Head of Funding

Background:

Saferworld is an independent, not-for-profit international organisation working to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives in countries and territories across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We work in solidarity with people affected by conflict to improve their safety and sense of security, and conduct wider research and analysis. We use this evidence and learning to improve local, national and international policies and practices that can help build lasting peace. Our priority is people – we believe in a world where everyone can lead peaceful, fulfilling lives, free from fear and insecurity.

Job purpose:

Saferworld’s funding base has grown significantly over the last few years, with the majority of funds coming from institutional donors, including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the US Government/USAID, the European Union (EU), and other European Governments, such as the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) and grants coming from few foundations/philanthropic institutions. This role will support the organisation’s work towards growing, sustaining and diversifying its funding base across different income streams (trusts and foundations, commercial income, individual and major gifts donors) through researching and identifying new funding opportunities, supporting with drafting proposals, alongside maintaining and improving systems to capture critical funding information that supports our planning and budgeting processes.

The Funding Officer plays a critical role in supporting global fundraising efforts at Saferworld through:

• Ensuring that relevant colleagues across the organisation are aware of new and upcoming funding opportunities;

• Managing, keeping information up to date, and refining effective systems to record, track and analyse organisational funding activity and performance;
• Providing support to fundraising efforts by contributing to drafting proposals including filing and collecting relevant documents, fulfilling due diligence requirements, drafting donor mappings, and supporting codesign processes, and recruitment and retaining of new individual and major gifts donors.

Responsibilities and duties:

Support to proposal writing (approx. 35%)
• Produce and keep up to date organisational data and supporting documents for inclusion in fundraising proposals;
• Assist fundraising colleagues in the preparation and submission of fundraising proposals, providing support as required to specific countries or thematic areas;

• Support in relationship building especially for trusts and foundations by researching key information, supporting logistics for meetings, contributing to drafting compelling proposals together with other colleagues;
• Compile information and documentation in response to donor due diligence requests and file
accordingly;
• Write briefing notes and other materials to support the CEO/HoF and others to lead on donor
relationships effectively;
• Ensure Saferworld’s organisational details are kept up to date on relevant (online) donor portals.

Prospect research (approx. 30%)

• Identify new funding opportunities, including from multilateral donors, governments, trusts and foundations and commercial opportunities, through high quality research, using a range of prospect research platforms and resources;
• Work with fundraising colleagues to produce research into funders and funding opportunities, which will contribute to resource mobilisation plans;

• Communicate funding opportunities internally with relevant information and deadlines;
• Keep up-to-date with funding and donor trends within the sector by reviewing relevant funding reports/analysis, attending (mainly virtual) events and sharing feedback and notes with funding colleagues.

Tracking funding activity and performance (approx. 25%)
• Establish and maintain effective systems and processes for tracking and analysing funding activity, including the organisation-wide funding database and training of colleagues in its use as required;
• Ensure the fundraising database (CiviCRM) is kept up to date and all records of fundraising applications (and their outcomes), grants, contracts and donor intelligence are accessible and accurate;

• Extract and analyse data on funding activity and performance for inclusion in management and board reporting, liaising closely with the Fundraising Leadership Team;
• In liaison with fundraising colleagues, the HoF, and the Head of Operations, support on improving ways of working with the fundraising database.

Funding administration and support (approx. 10%)
• Organise and co-ordinate agendas with the Funding Working Group (weekly) and Funding Leadership Team (monthly) and record and follow up on actions from meetings and other funding related events;
• Support the Funding Leadership Team in the collection and analysis of funding data against key performance indicators for presentation to the senior leadership and Board;

• Lead on compiling and circulating fundraising news in the internal newsletter.

Key working relationships:

This role will provide critical information on upcoming funding opportunities for Saferworld’s programme, research and advocacy staff in the UK, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The role will also liaise with the finance team, grant managers, relevant staff in country programmes as well as affiliate offices in the US and Brussels and ensure that up to date information is captured on funding activity across the organisation. From time to time, this role will also communicate with external donors. Specifically:

• Fundraising Working Group (comprising of colleagues leading on fundraising efforts across the organisation) – providing fundraising colleagues with critical information on upcoming funding opportunities relevant to Saferworld; as well as providing support as required in the successful submission of fundraising applications.
• Fundraising Leadership Team – liaising regularly in the collection and analysis of funding data against key performance indicators for presentation to the Senior Leadership and Board.
• Grant Managers, Finance Team and relevant staff in country programmes as well as in affiliate offices in the US and Brussels – ensuring that information is captured on fundraising activity across the organisation.
• Communications Team – support with regularly providing fundraising updates for internal communications, coordinate in developing materials for use with trusts and foundations, individual and major gifts donors.
• Donors, external fundraising working group – to keep up to date on what is happening in the sector. From time to time, this role will also communicate with external donors, including to ensure Saferworld keeps organisational information up to date on relevant donor portals.

Scope and accountability:

Decision making and limits of authority: N/A
Financial resources: Whilst this post does not have budget responsibility, the accurate recording of financial information is critical and
contributes to analysis of income projections, match funding requirements etc.

Other resources: • Maintaining the funding database and ensuring high standards of data input
• Training and advising colleagues on the use of the funding database
• Working with the IT team to refine the database in line with evolving data needs
People management: N/A
Legal, regulatory and compliance responsibility: • Become familiar with IATI standards and regulations and support colleagues to ensure that the organisation is IATI compliant
• Support fundraising colleagues to provide relevant data and documents in support of donor due diligence processes
• Support colleagues to ensure compliance with
GDPR

Person specification:

Knowledge, qualifications and experience:

• Experience of researching and identifying funding opportunities within the non-profit sector
(experience doing this within the international development sector is desirable)
• Experience of managing and refining databases, maintaining accurate up to date records, and extracting data for analytical purposes
• Experience of drafting/supporting fundraising bids for statutory/institutional funders in the charity sector
• Experience of drafting compelling narratives/pitches for key trusts and foundations (desirable)
• Experience of carrying out administrative duties effectively
• Good understanding and experience of the fundraising environment, the principles of fundraising and the challenges of working within the charity sector

Skills and abilities:

• Ability to work proactively, on own initiative and well under pressure
• Excellent organisational skills, accuracy and attention to detail and ability to meet tight deadlines
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, accuracy and attention to detail and ability to multitask and meet tight deadlines
• Strong MS Office skills including Excel and CRM or other databases
• Analytical ability to identify synergies between donor funding priorities and Saferworld funding needs • Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to consult and work confidently, proactively and collaboratively at all levels
• Ability to negotiate and understand priorities of colleagues, applying a problem-solving supportive approach
• Effective and flexible team player
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to condense complex information

Personal qualities:

• Commitment to and compliance with Saferworld’s safeguarding principles
• Commitment to respect and value equality and diversity, and understanding of how this applies to own area of work
• Commitment to own continuing personal and professional development
• Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Saferworld