African Collaborative is hiring a Director, Development & Partnerships!

About African Collaborative

African Collaborative invests exclusively in African-led organizations, providing the critical, multi-year capital needed to help them create purposeful, locally rooted change. Less than 5% of global humanitarian assistance reaches locally rooted organizations, and only 1 in 4 dollars from U.S. foundations to Sub-Saharan Africa supports African-led organizations — closing that gap is the reason we exist. We advocate for structural transformation in philanthropy and development to promote equitable funding practices that shift resources to the frontlines of impact. 

Since launching in 2020, we have tested a bold hypothesis: When African-led organizations are given flexible resources and the power to lead, impact returns multiply. We have funded 45 organizations across 15 Sub-Saharan African countries with unrestricted, multi-year grants and tailored support services. Our partners are improving maternal and child health outcomes, improving young people’s access to education, and increasing income to youth farmers—amongst many other impactful solutions that prove that the future of sustainable African development is African-led. 

When we got started in 2020, our goal was to raise $10M over three years, with a larger goal of driving $50M+ in catalytic resources to African innovators by 2030. With a small but mighty team of 12 spread across 5 countries, we’ve committed $12.3M+ in flexible multi-year funding to 45 African organizations across 15 countries, and been featured in outlets such as the New York Times and The Guardian. Having successfully launched our 2030 strategy, we are now in an exciting phase of growth. We are expanding our funding partnerships, deepening our investment in African changemakers, and ramping up our advocacy work to continue our mission and realize our vision at scale.

The Opportunity

African Collaborative has reached an inflection point. We have a strong fundraising foundation, an active pipeline and a talented team and we are ready to take our fundraising ambition to the next level.

As Director, Development & Partnerships, you will provide the strategic and operational leadership to help us scale. You will shape and execute a fundraising strategy that not only advances our financial goals, but also helps shift how funders see and invest in African-led organisations and their impactful models. You will bring an advocacy lens to our fundraising, building the relationships, ideas and partnerships that move both resources and mindsets.

You will be a builder as much as a world-class fundraiser: strengthening the systems, processes and ways of working that allow a growing fundraising function to operate efficiently and effectively. In addition you will lead and develop a highly functional team, building on the strengths already within it and ensuring the right capabilities are in place for the next stage of our growth.

This is also a highly collaborative leadership role. Our Co-CEOs bring deep relationships, credibility and influence across the field, and so do you. You will work closely with them to strategically leverage their time, energy and relationships helping them make their most valuable contribution to our fundraising goals while bringing the strategy, structure and follow-through needed to move opportunities forward.

We already have a healthy pipeline and growing portfolio of partnerships. You will bring the strategic thinking, trust-based relationship-building and persistence needed to turn strong prospects into meaningful, long-term partnerships and close opportunities. 

This is a unique opportunity to shape equity in global philanthropy and ensure African-led organizations are equipped to deliver change in their communities - by steering the next chapter of African Collaborative’s fundraising: strengthening what exists, building what is needed, and creating a fundraising function capable of helping us achieve our 2030 vision. 

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Fundraising Operations

• Steer vision for the fundraising department and own departmental goals, fundraising projections, and keep AC management updated on progress. 

• Serve as a thought partner to the Co-CEOs to translate fundraising strategy and ideas into actionable plans and high quality deliverables by driving execution with the team that move fundraising relationships forward.

• Lead, build, and grow the fundraising team, and make the calls on how the team should be structured as the organization’s budget doubles from ~$5M/year to ~$10M/year in the next few years, driving towards our $50M by 2030 goal. 

• Manage relationships with contracted fundraising service providers — including scoping their engagements, coordinating deliverables, and integrating their work into the team's overall strategy.

• Direct the team to design, improve, and implement the right systems (e.g., CRM, pipeline tracking, reporting cadence) that lets the team operate efficiently and gives leadership visibility.

• Build the right mix of in-house staff and outside consultants to ensure the whole Fundraising team is leveraging their unique strengths to achieve maximum impact.

Prospect Strategy & Pipeline Development

• Build a framework for evaluating and qualifying major-gift, HNWI, foundation, and institutional prospects, and ensure the team can effectively build a prioritized, well-researched pipeline (especially for targeted events).

• Design the strategy and cultivation plan for priority prospects — the strategic thinking behind who to approach, how, and in what sequence — while others on the team execute the outreach itself. You will eventually build capacity and mentor the fundraising and executive support teams to drive relationships forward.

• Oversee pipeline cultivation to ensure highest potential leads are elevated to Co-CEOs with full research, strategy and preparation needed to move leads towards a commitment.

• Streamline, design and manage rigorous and repeatable systems for prospect research and relationship management across the full portfolio of donors.

• Guide the strategy and narrative for grant proposals, concept notes, and reports. You’ll be responsible for ensuring the team delivers on high-quality reporting to funders and grant products. 

Business Development

• Lead business development to diversify and grow the organization's funding base beyond current relationships. You’ll be responsible for representing AC at events and conferences, meeting with new and existing funders, and helping build interest of new potential funders. 

• Manage portfolio of funder relationships, new & existing, cultivating their commitment and giving to AC’s mission.

• Identify and shape AC’s overarching revenue pathways in collaboration with Co-CEOs - whether that’s through new grant partnership models (e.g., institutional, corporate, multilateral) or earned revenue, focusing on opportunities that drive funding to African-led organizations.

• Own the forecasting and reporting against pipeline and revenue targets.

Thought Partnership & Sector Engagement

• Stay genuinely well-plugged into the funding sector — interfacing with peer organizations, understanding funder priorities, and having a finger on the pulse of where the field is moving to draw insights that can inform our fundraising & advocacy strategy.

• Collaborate with the Advocacy & Strategy team on speaking and writing opportunities so that you can represent the organization externally at sector convenings and events as needed.

What You'll Bring

• You know the potency & power of impact when it is driven by local changemakers and want to be a part of changing philanthropic systems to make that the norm rather than the exception.

• You have led the effort to secure multi-million-dollar individual grants or gifts and contributed to growing an organisation’s annual revenue from single-digit millions to double-digit millions over multiple years (e.g. towards $20M+ overall). Previous experience fundraising for an intermediary or fund is an added advantage. 

• You have strong strategic thinking and proven experience translating fundraising goals into strategic and actionable plans, setting goals across funding sources, and exercising sound judgment in evaluating prospects. You are also a strong thought partner to leadership, who is able to ideate and shape solutions.

• You have at least 10 years of progressive fundraising/development experience, ideally spanning foundations, major gifts or HNWI cultivation and business development. You understand that different fundraising audiences require different strategies and relationship-building approaches and you can build a complementary team with the skills to engage each audience effectively. 

• You have a track record of proactively building and cultivating a strong and sustained pipeline of prospects and opportunities. 

• You have exceptional project management skills, with a proven ability to keep multiple fundraising workstreams moving simultaneously across different stages, reprioritising as needed and keeping the organization focused on key priorities. 

• You bring strong emotional intelligence to fundraising, balancing the science of fundraising with the art of relationship-building. You understand the nuances of different funders and adapt cultivation and stewardship approaches creatively to each audience and relationship. 

• You have successfully built and managed strong fundraising teams, with a clear understanding of the different capabilities and roles needed to drive organisational goals.

• You are an effective people manager who can hire, develop and guide a high-performing team, as well as manage external consultants and structure outsourced engagements where needed. You are comfortable building and evolving a fundraising function that is still taking shape.

• You have a successful track record of building and overseeing efficient and effective fundraising systems, and building the team’s capacity to adopt and use them effectively.

• You have a way of building relationships that is focused more on trust, allyship, and strong values alignment rather than just conversion of conversations-to-dollars. 

• You have strong existing relationships and credibility in the philanthropic sector relevant to the AC’s work.

• You are comfortable challenging traditional power dynamics in the philanthropic sector. AC strives to make funders better through education and advocacy, and we do this by thinking about the implications of funder requests on our partners.

• You have exceptional communication skills and world-class responsiveness - both internally and externally.

• You are a highly agile individual who is able to navigate a rapidly changing philanthropic environment and adapt strategies and approaches without losing momentum or focus. 

• You have experience collaborating effectively across timezones while keeping work on track during approximately 20% travel.

• You are excited to contribute to thought leadership through speaking and writing, and comfortable representing the organisation externally at relevant sector convenings and events. 

• Expression of AC’s seven Culture Tenets: 1) Human-centered approach, 2) Mission-aligned, 3) Integrity, 4) Agility and flexibility, 5), Intentional team player, 6) Goal-oriented and proactive, and 7) Next-level contribution.

How to Apply

• If you are interested in the role and have questions, do not hesitate to reach out to ac@edgeperformance.co.ke 

• Apply by filling out the application survey through the form below.

• You will be asked to upload your CV as part of the application form. Make sure it is tailored towards the role, no longer than 3 pages and in PDF format.

• Applications will be shortlisted on a rolling basis until the role is filled. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply early. 

• The recruitment is carried out in collaboration with edge. All communication regarding this role will come only from email addresses in the domains @edgeperformance.co.ke and @africancollab.org