Donor Relations Lead

Location: Home-based / London/ Amsterdam (Occasional presence in the London office required).

Remuneration: £60,000 - £70,000 depending on experience.

Contract: Permanent – Full-Time

Reports to: Head of Donor Relations

About Us

Founded in 2018, the Stichting Foundation for International Law for the Environment (FILE) is a major philanthropic initiative working to tackle the climate and nature crisis by scaling up legal action globally.

Driven by the urgent need to facilitate a global transition to a zero-carbon, regenerative society, FILE funds world-leading global partners to deliver pioneering legal and shareholder actions with the aim of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. Our grant portfolio includes workstreams that cut across global systems, including Just Energy Transition; Food, Forests & Biodiversity; Finance, Investment and Trade, and Governance, Rights & Justice. 

Our mission is to change the systems that are responsible for the climate and nature crises by ensuring those in power stop locking us into a high-carbon, destructive economy. We are committed to ensuring legal action can facilitate the transition to a post-carbon, regenerative society that upholds human rights and achieves climate justice. 

FILE supports the development of a strong, diverse, and empowered ecosystem of partners, enabling the co-development of strategy to collectively make a meaningful impact on climate change and the protection of nature. We seek to grow the field and facilitate the enabling conditions that lead to successful outcomes. This means as well as supporting legal partners, we support access to key research, knowledge sharing, strategic communications and campaign alignment and learning.

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to take a senior role in FILE’s high-performing fundraising team and secure support from some of the world’s leading foundations working in climate.

FILE is seeking an ambitious and experienced Donor Relations Lead to lead relationships with significant funders and play a critical role in shaping and advancing FILE’s ambitious fundraising strategy. The Donor Relations Lead will take the lead across a portfolio of existing donors and seek new funding opportunities from major philanthropic foundations.

The Donor Relations Lead will work closely with the Head of Donor Relations and FILE leadership to shape fundraising and donor stewardship strategies and drive fundraising success. They will be comfortable operating at the most senior level externally to devise and deliver excellent donor experiences, and adept at navigating complex internal environments.

This is a newly created and high-profile position, building out FILE’s successful fundraising team. In a highly collaborative and dynamic environment, there is real potential for the right candidate to shape and grow the role to become a fundraising leader at FILE. The Donor Relations Lead will have the opportunity to work with major global philanthropies and to take a key role in supporting the future direction of a highly ambitious organisation. We are looking for a candidate who is passionate about the power of philanthropy and excited to make an impact in a fast-paced high-growth environment.

Key Responsibilities

Donor relationship management and stewardship

The Donor Relations Lead will lead on several significant funder relationships, co-ordinating internally with FILE Leadership, the Head of Donor Relations and strategic experts to devise and deliver excellent stewardship and donor experiences. This will include:

·      Setting donor strategy and creating and managing bespoke donor stewardship plans and communications

·      Leading externally in face-to-face and virtual meetings, events and engagements and managing complex donor relationships across multiple stakeholders and workstreams

·      Leading on key relationship touchpoints including performance and strategy reviews

·      Liaising across internal cross-functional teams to plan and co-ordinate donor engagement at multiple levels

·      Leading on proposals, donor impact reports, budgets and other key outputs

Cultivating new funder relationships

Securing new support is a critical organisational priority and the candidate will have the opportunity to forge new relationships with major funders.

Alongside FILE leadership and the Head of Donor Relations, they will be responsible for identifying and progressing new pipeline opportunities and become the fundraising lead for specific thematic areas and initiatives. This will include:

·      Devising and delivering bespoke cultivation strategies for key donor prospects

·      Devising new funding propositions and strategies for high-priority areas and new strategic initiatives

·      Working with FILE leadership and strategy leads to delivering engaging cultivation, including through meetings, calls and written materials

·      Actively progressing opportunities through the fundraising pipeline and leading on proposal development for target opportunities

Providing strategic support to the Head of Donor Relations and leading cross-organisational projects and initiatives

The Donor Relations Lead will provide strategic counsel to the Head of Donor Relations to develop and implement the wider fundraising strategy and take the lead on strategic initiatives such as:

·      Designing and implementing an approach to communications planning and delivery, including through the creation and management of key communications content

·      Designing, scoping and initiating new donor engagement products and experiences for most senior stakeholders

·      Shaping donor engagement priorities and communications for FILE leadership

Key Competencies and person specification

·      The ideal candidate will be a senior relationship and stakeholder manager with demonstrable experience working in philanthropy, high-value funding or other senior relationship management roles.

·      They will have extensive experience working in complex cross-functional roles with excellent influencing skills and strategic acumen.

·      They will have experience in securing and managing 7 figure funding relationships and be confident working at the most senior level externally.

·      They will have significant knowledge and experience in the foundation/ philanthropy sector, ideally in the climate or environmental space.

·      The candidate will thrive in fast-paced environments, and be adept at managing complex and multi-level relationships both internally and externally.

·      They will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and be confident in leading on compelling proposals and pitches, turning complex and technical information into engaging donor content and experiences.

·      The candidate will be highly organized, demonstrate strong project management skills and be comfortable balancing a varied and demanding workload.

•       They will have a passion for global environmental issues, particularly climate change and biodiversity loss, and an affinity with FILE’s values.

Working for FILE

FILE is a collaborative community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about climate. Together, we share knowledge and experience to support our mission.

Individuals are empowered to work as both part of a wider team and individually to make impactful change and deliver to a high standard. Roles here are ideally suited to those who are highly flexible and happy to change and grow in line with the ever-changing challenges of the Foundation – those who are willing to get stuck in and make an impact.

 Application

Please submit your CV and introductory letter here: https://filefoundation.bamboohr.com/careers/26?source=aWQ9OA%3D%3D. All interest must be submitted by the deadline of 3rd September 2023.

Diversity & Inclusion

As an equal opportunities employer, FILE is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.

We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join FILE.