KickStart International Director of Fundraising - Africa Job in Nairobi Kenya

Position Specification

Position: Director of Fundraising - Africa

Based in Nairobi, Kenya

About The Organization:

KickStart - International (KickStart) is an innovative, 501c3 non-profit, social enterprise with a mission to help millions of people in Africa escape poverty by promoting sustainable employment creation and economic growth.

KickStart believes that impoverished people in the developing world need precisely what any other poor person needs: a way to earn more money.

KickStart works by designing very low cost tools and equipment, and mass marketing them to very poor, but entrepreneurial African men and women, who buy them and use them to establish profitable small-scale family businesses.

KickStart’s best-selling products are manually operated irrigation pumps which are marketed under the brand name “MoneyMaker”. KickStart develops a private-sector supply chain to distribute and sell the equipment, and a large-scale marketing/ extension program to widely promote the equipment to poor farmers.

Finally, KickStart carefully measures its impacts to determine if the families who buy the equipment really do make enough money to get out of poverty. To date over 110,000 families have lifted themselves out of poverty with these tools. In summary, KickStart has developed and proven a cost-effective, replicable and sustainable model with the potential to take many millions of families around the world out of poverty.

KickStart has won many international prizes/accolades and was recently featured as a “Top Project” on Jumo.org and recognized by Fast Company magazine and the Monitor Group.

KickStart was also named “One of the Top 15 Charities for Investors” by Nuwire and has earned the highest possible rating on Charity Navigator. Additionally, the MoneyMaker pump was called one of the “Ten Inventions that Will Change the World” by Newsweek.

For more information, please visit www.kickstart.org

About The Position:

KickStart is seeking an experienced professional to expand and manage its institutional (corporate and foundation), government and multilateral fundraising programs for its Africa Office in Nairobi Kenya.

KickStart is in the midst of a major expansion with a goal of increasing its annual impacts by approximately 4x over the next 5 years.

The Director of Fundraising-Africa will be responsible for generating new revenue from corporations, foundations, government and multilateral funding agencies, and for developing and managing related external relationships and partnerships.

This person will manage a staff of two, and work closely with the Directors of Institutional Development (NY) and Government Relations (Washington, DC), and report directly to the CEO (San Francisco, CA)

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Organizational and Strategic Planning

Generate and execute KickStart’s institutional and governmental fundraising strategy and objectives in Africa, designing a detailed fundraising plan and ensuring key performance indicators are met Work closely with KickStart’s development, management and program teams in the US and Africa to manage institutional and government funding proposals from start to finish, including conceptualizing programs, developing budgets, writing proposals and reports, managing implementation and reporting on resultsLead KickStart’s careful tracking of and response to requests for proposals (RFPs) from institutions, government and multilateral agenciesResearch and apply for new funding opportunities from institutional funders, US government agencies (e.g., USAID missions, bilateral donors, and multilateral agencies (e.g., World Bank/International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank)Identify and secure opportunities for KickStart to provide its services (e.g., MoneyMaker irrigation pumps, supply chain development, training, etc.) to projects worldwide, as lead and/or subcontractorWrite and submit proposals, grant applications and reportsRepresent KickStart at Africa based meetings and public forums related to its mission and programs (e.g., development aid, job creation, technology, agriculture, food security)Initiate and maintain strong, ongoing partnerships with relevant community, including governmental consultants, other non-governmental and non-profit organizations , and for-profit corporations to collaborate on government funding proposalsBuild strong public-private partnerships and actively cultivate and manage relationships with program staff at bilateral, USAID and multilateral funding agenciesCandidate Qualifications:

Candidates should possess the following:

Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred Knowledge of international development and/or international agriculture and rural development10+ years of experience and proven success working within and/or seeking funds from institutional funders, bilateral donors, US government and multilateral funding agencies 1+ year experience living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa or in a developing country in another part of the world Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal (e.g.: public speaking, presentations, correspondence, proposals and reports), including compelling, clear, succinct and jargon-free writing abilities Work effectively with cross-functional teamsA drive to cultivate and close new and existing revenue opportunities Sophistication and poise, with the intellectual depth and maturity to work with executives, staff, government officials and other leadersDetail orientation, with an ability to operate in a highly organized fashionDemonstrated competency working with and developing budgets using ExcelCharisma, able to articulate KickStart’s mission and programs to inspire across multiple formats (e.g., in-person meetings, phone and video conference) Flexibility and creativity, exhibiting determination while maintaining respect for others’ concerns Emotional maturity and a good sense of humor Ability to work independently and remotely, sometimes on weekends, early in the morning or late in the evening to collaborate with colleagues in Africa and the United StatesCommitment to KickStart’s mission, purpose and values, and to its methodology, history, culture, programs and constituenciesForeign language skills (French, Portuguese, Swahili) a plus, but not requiredWillingness to live and work in Nairobi, KenyaWillingness to travel (estimated at 25%), including internationallyLocation: Nairobi, Kenya

Compensation: Competitive compensation commensurate with experience

Qualified individuals, please apply to: info@kickstart.org

All applicants are asked to type in “Director of Fundraising-Africa” in the subject line of your e-mail.

All candidates MUST include both a cover letter and resume to be considered for this position.

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