Senior Officer, National Society Fundraising Capacity Building

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The Federation is a membership organisation established by and comprised of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The Federation is served by a Secretariat based in Geneva, with regional and country offices throughout the world. The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity of the International Federation to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s focus includes providing support to the IFRC governance mechanisms; setting norms and standards; providing guidance; ensuring consistency, coordination, and accountability for performance; knowledge sharing; promoting collaboration within and respect for the RCRC Movement; and expanding engagement with partners. The Secretariat’s headquarters is organized in three main business groups: (i) Partnerships, including Movement and Membership; (ii) Programmes and Operations; and (iii) Management Services.

The Senior Officer is a member of the Partnerships and Resource Development Department (PRD) and Global PRD Team.

This is a temporary position for Maternity Coverage! 

Lead in the implementation of the Federation Wide Resource Mobilisation Strategy objective and the Movement-Wide Principles for Resource Mobilization to increase the fundraising and resource mobilisation capacity of National Societies. The post holder will be expected to ensure that fundraising capacity building is conducted in the context of wider National Society development, frameworks. Lead the IFRC and its members in enabling National Societies to access support to develop their fundraising governance, accountability and financial management infrastructure. The overall objective is to lead National Societies in developing their capacity to maximise fundraising opportunities in their domestic markets. A significant part of this work will be performed within the Virtual Fundraising Hub (VFH), a coordination body created to support capacity development for fundraising at Movement level.

National Society Fundraising Capacity Building

• Create a framework for National Society fundraising capacity building that will enable the IFRC to improve its global fundraising performance.
• Promote and facilitate leadership engagement in domestic fundraising development.
• Create and manage a fundraising investment mechanism for the sole purpose of National Society capacity building, including the governance and monitoring of funding.
• Lead the development of external partnerships to progress National Society fundraising capacity building e.g. CRM database, fundraising agencies and consultancies.
• Develop and manage a peer-to-peer learning platform that co-ordinates online and offline regional and global fundraising networks.
• Provide guidance to Regional PRD Coordinators to ensure PRD forms an integral part of National Society organisational development, working also with organisational development teams globally.
• Take proactive measures to develop effective governance for fundraising (e.g. financial management systems, development of fundraising management standards, etc.).
• Lead the management of learning modules and master classes, facilitating training where appropriate and supporting National Societies directly to develop their fundraising strategy and implementation.
• Design and develop materials that will support National Society development e.g. market studies, strategy development etc.
• Explore fundraising and social financing innovations, building opportunities for fundraising.
• Consult and design a fundraising reference centre to research, gather and share fundraising excellence and innovation.

Global fundraising performance monitoring

• Lead IFRC benchmarking initiatives; track global fundraising performance for domestic fundraising and emergency appeals, contributing to international fundraising leadership forums.
• Analyse global fundraising data and trends to inform senior management within IFRC Secretariat and throughout the Movement or the Red Cross and Red Crescent position in fundraising.
• Generate market knowledge to inform and direct where significant fundraising investment will enable growth, particularly in individual giving and digital fundraising as a major priority.
• Ensure that global fundraising trends and innovations are tracked and explored for relevance to IFRC and its National Societies.
• Co-ordinate IFRC members’ approach to fundraising capacity building, creating a network of technical fundraisers who can support National Society development across all disciplines.

PRD Tools and Systems

• Work with the Federation Data Reporting systems to develop the organisation’s capacity to capture relevant and useful data on National Society domestic fundraising.
• Support National Societies in the sourcing, development and implementation of relevant fundraising tools and systems e.g. CRM.
• Participate and/or lead where relevant, in partner evaluations, assessments, reviews and/or audits to ensure IFRC systems and operations are accurately represented and partner requirements are successfully met.

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, International Development or other relevant fields.

Required

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in fundraising for an international organisation and/or a domestic fundraising context. Experience in a Red Cross or Red Crescent National Society.
• Experience in the development of Partnership and Resource Development strategies, market research and market analysis, benchmarking, risk assessment.
• Experience in creation of individual giving programmes, systems and processes including online, digital, face to face and direct mail at a management level.
• Experience identifying and articulating strategic issues, risks and priorities to provide sound advice to senior management. 

Preferred

• Experience in the development of new market entry in fundraising or equivalent discipline.

Knowledge and Skills 

• Ability to translate strategy into action.
• Results oriented individual, strategic thinking, entrepreneurial and hands on.
• In-depth knowledge of fundraising strategy development across multiple disciplines
• Experience in driving fundraising performance and demonstrable results in achieving fundraising growth.
• Strong financial monitoring and analysis skills.
• Experience in the design and implementation of market research
• Outstanding, communication and training skills. An ability to be proactive and persuasive, contributing to a client-focused culture.
• Demonstrated track record in innovating, contributing to a learning culture, sharing knowledge with strong analytical skills.
• Track record in producing high quality work within short deadlines and ability to make effective, timely decisions.
• High degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to work within a multi-cultural, multilingual, multidisciplinary environment.
• Fluency in Microsoft office tools. 

Languagues

Required 

• Fluently spoken and written English 

Preferred 

• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic)

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust