Job Title: Institutional Funding Specialist
Reports to: Manager, Institutional Funding Support Unit (IFSU)
Liaises with: International Programmes Department, Country Teams, Fundraising departments (HQ, UK and US), Finance Compliance Teams, Advocacy, Technical Advisors,
Job location: Dublin, Ireland
Travel: 25% overseas travel
Pay Band: Pay Band 5 (€49,167 to €57,843)
Contract: Approximately 12 months (specified contract for maternity cover)
Job Purpose: The Institutional Funding Specialist (IFS) will be instrumental in supporting country teams to realise their funding targets. S/he will gain specific expertise on institutional donors and work across several units across Concern’s various directorates and offices. S/He will provide dedicated support to country teams in the initial stages of project development and the pre-awards stages of grant negotiation. The focus of this support will primarily be for large multi-annual grant applications, often of a consortium nature. The IFS is also expected to contribute to building and disseminating best practice and developing new systems and knowledge to drive efficiency. The IFS has responsibility for line management of the Overseas Support Officer.
Key Responsibilities:
Support securing flows of funding for country programmes through existing and new institutional donors:
Through coordination with International Programme Directorate and Technical Units:
Liaise closely with Desk Officers to agree level of support for country teams which may be as limited as desk review to coordination of a call across countries to in-country programme design and proposal development;
Manage Expectations: Present a project that aligns with Concern’s priorities, meets the donor call, offers value for money, has the potential for scale and impact and will deliver on results;
Become familiar with and apply Concern’s processes and procedures to ensure adherence to systems and best practice requirements in developing proposals as a single implementing agency and in consortia in grants and contracts.
Liaise with the Desk Officer to ensure technical/M&E/Finance HQ reviewed appropriately and submitted.
In liaison with Desk Officers and Regional Directors, support country programmes to develop funding strategies;
Identify requirements/gaps and complementarity that could be offered by other partners;
Where required and appropriate, provide support to processes to develop consortia proposals considering the need for governance structures, Consortium Management Unit etc
Support where required, any due diligence processes with the finance/compliance lead and ensure dedicated action plan in place where weaknesses have been identified;
Support any risk assessments with the finance/compliance lead and ensure mitigation measures are included in the proposal document
Through strong proposal support debriefing, capture learning from successive applications.
Contribute to building knowledge on donor intelligence and funding trends:
Establish strong knowledge of key donors including profiling, priorities and strategy review as well as forecasting of expected grant timelines and communication across the organisation;
Engage in donor relationship building as relevant.
Thoroughly analyse, digest and summarise key donor guidelines/compliance specific to key opportunities identified;
Oversee and support the analysis of funding trends and other analysis related to funding.
Produce reports on various angles of funding as and when required.
Contribute to building Concern’s capacity to manage grants and incorporate best practice in programme implementation:
Participate on an individual and team basis to develop guides and tools
Review and participate on work streams and event that enhance learning on programme approaches
Participate in regular meetings with Grant Compliance Unit and Advocacy team and support joint initiatives
Line management of the IFSU Overseas Support Officer (OSO):
Provide direction and supervision of OSO who is responsible for the coordination of funding opportunities, maintaining donor profiles, support to Desk Officers, updating of manuals, GDPR, archiving, proposal tools amongst other tasks.
Support professional development of the OSO as relevant and in line with professional development plans.
Any other duties as assigned by your line manager.
Skills and Experience Required:
Essential:
Ability to travel at short notice;
Undergraduate in field related to humanitarian, development or international affairs;
At least 3 years’ overseas experience at management level with an international NGO;
Programme management experience;
Excellent writing skills
Experience and knowledge of institutional donors;
Excellent facilitation, brokering and negotiation skills;
Articulate with strong presentation and writing skills.
Desirable:
Consortium management experience (lead agency or partner);
Coaching and capacity building skills;
Monitoring and Evaluation skills;
Written and spoken French
Previous experience in a similar role an advantage.
This vacancy is archived.