Director of Institutional Giving

About Trickle Up

Since 1979, Trickle Up has been committed to empowering women living in extreme poverty to take the first steps out of poverty, providing them with resources to build livelihoods for a better quality of life.  A pioneer in our field and known for our singular focus on serving the very poorest, Trickle Up now is at an exciting tipping point for growth as we broaden our vision for the next decade and beyond.

Our assets include a highly effective program (combining seed capital grants, training and savings support), sophisticated program monitoring and evaluation, a commitment to continuous improvement, and a dedicated staff of professionals in our four global offices.  Building on our decades of experience working with the extreme poor, we will expand our impact by developing solutions that can be shared with other NGOs, governments and funders, as well as becoming a global thought leader and advocate for the extreme poor. Our new direction presents new opportunities for attracting institutional support (as evidenced just this month by a major new grant from the Ford Foundation), and we are seeking a seasoned, creative and entrepreneurial professional to join us as Director of Institutional Giving and play a central leadership role in our expansion.

In the past five years, we have helped start or expand more than 45,000 enterprises, improving the lives of an estimated 250,000 people in three regions of the world. We have 18 staff at our New York City headquarters and a total of 22 in field offices in India, Mali, and Guatemala.  Trickle Up’s current annual budget is approximately $4.8 million, with 60% from individual donors and 40% from institutional (foundation, corporate, government) sources. Our 18-person board is actively engaged in our work and has been a linchpin in our relationships with many of our largest donors.

Major institutional funders in recent years include USAID, MasterCard Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, William J. Clinton Foundation, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Western Union, Trust Company of the West, JP Morgan Chase & Co., PIMCO, Coca-Cola Foundation, and the Emerging Markets Trade Association. In addition, Trickle Up has been a leader in a unique partnership of 11 NGOs, funders (including Ford Foundation, MasterCard Foundation, and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation), researchers and the World Bank-led Consultative Group to Assist the Poor to develop and scale a “graduation” model to create pathways for the very poorest to graduate out of extreme poverty. (www.graduation.cgap.org)

The Position

The Director of Institutional Giving is responsible for all aspects of institutional fundraising, including donor research, cultivation and stewardship, proposal writing (including proposal budgets) and grant reporting.  Reporting to the President and supervising one Development Associate, s/he is currently responsible for $1.89 million of Trickle Up’s budgeted FY12 revenue of $4.8 million ($726,000 from foundation and corporate donors, plus $1.14 million in income from USAID).  The Director of Institutional Giving leads the organization’s institutional fundraising strategy and is one of six members of the Senior Management Team.

 Responsibilities

Management

• Lead Trickle Up in the development and execution of strategy for increasing funding from foundations, corporations and government sources.
• Working closely with VP-Programs and others, help develop program concepts that would attract funding and further Trickle Up’s mission.
• Develop annual income budgets for institutional funding, as well as provide timely updates and forecasts.
• Serve on six-person Senior Management Team.
• Participate in board Development Committee and attend all board meetings.
• Supervise Development Associate, who supports institutional fundraising.

 Corporate/foundation

• Secure new donors through research and prospecting, networking, cultivation meetings, letters of inquiry, development of grant proposals and budgets, negotiation of terms, etc. 
• Increase funding from current donors through timely reporting, attentive stewardship and development of compelling renewal proposals.
• Provide timely reporting to all funders.

 Government/multilateral/bilateral

• Identify new funding opportunities through research, monitoring of RFPs, networking, meetings (direct or through Trickle Up field staff), etc.
• Lead the development of formal proposals and concept papers, working collaboratively with Trickle Up’s headquarters and field program staff, finance staff and others.
• With Trickle Up finance staff, design budget and cost proposals that are reasonable, competitive and provide adequate cost recovery.
• Working closely with program staff, negotiate terms for grants and contracts.
• Working closely with program staff, ensure that grant requirements, including timely programmatic and financial reporting, are met.

 Relationships

The Director of Institutional Giving reports to the President and supervises one Development Associate at Trickle Up headquarters.   In addition, we are now adding one new position focused on coordinating our activities in the government/multilateral/bilateral funder segment.

 S/he works closely with Trickle Up program staff, finance staff and others, at our headquarters and field offices, to develop funding opportunities, submit proposals, steward funders and maintain strong relationships with funders.

 The Director of Institutional Giving works closely with his/her five colleagues on the Senior Management Team, including the President, VP-Programs, VP-Finance & Administration, Director of Individual Giving, and Director of Communications.   S/he also participates in Board Development Committee meetings and attends all board meetings.

 The Director of Institutional Giving is expected to develop and maintain strong relationships with current and prospective donors.

 The Person

Qualifications

The Director of Institutional Giving must be an experienced professional with a commitment to the mission and values of the program: providing innovative, sustainable solutions to those living in extreme poverty.

 Our selection criteria include:

• A minimum of five years of work experience in nonprofit fundraising, including at least three years in institutional fundraising.
• The ideal candidate will bring experience and contacts in international poverty alleviation or a relevant field (e.g., human rights, public health, international affairs).
• Superior writing skills, demonstrated with samples of proposals, letters of inquiry and other examples. 
• Strong interpersonal and oral communications skills. 
• Strong skills in critical thinking and analysis, concept development, program budgeting, interpretation and presentation of monitoring and evaluation results, organization and project management, attention to detail. 
• Leadership skills, including independent initiative, staff management and coordination, meeting facilitation, flexibility, ability to drive multiple aspects of initiatives and projects from inception to implementation within a limited time frame, experience working in an organization with field or satellite offices, and ability to develop and sustain effective working relationships with people of diverse backgrounds and levels of expertise.
• Familiarity with Raisers Edge or similar fundraising database.
• BA degree, with an MA in related field a plus. 
• Complete fluency in both spoken and written English, with basic proficiency in French and/or Spanish a plus.

 Current authorization to work in the U.S. is required.  S/he must be available to travel internationally once or twice per year.

Salary and benefits

This is a full-time position. The salary is competitive with excellent benefits.

To Apply
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until filled. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to gro.puelkcirt@GI with your name in the subject line.  We will only contact those individuals we are interested in interviewing. Please, no phone calls. 

Trickle Up is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value a diverse workforce and extend equal opportunity to all applicants and employees regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable people with disabilities to perform essential job functions.