Foundations Account Manager

Role

Are you ready to take on a critical role that contributes to the success of War Child Alliance (WCA) and its mission to positively impact the well-being of children affected by conflict? We are looking for an innovative and results-driven Foundations Account Manager to secure funding from Trusts and Foundations, ensuring the financial sustainability of our organization and driving transformative change.

In this critical role, you will maximize fundraising potential by managing relationships with grant-making organizations and supporting the Foundations Senior Team Lead in achieving extraordinary results. This role requires a high level of initiative, innovation, and problem-solving skills, as you will work to strengthen partnerships and develop strategies that enhance our fundraising capacity.

As a key member of the Institutional Funding and Grants Delivery (IFGD) team, you will collaborate across regional, country, and global teams to deliver on organizational goals, improve grant management processes, and explore new opportunities. Your efforts will directly support War Child’s ability to create a lasting positive impact on the lives of children affected by conflict.

If you’re passionate about making a difference and enjoy working in a dynamic, purpose-driven environment, join us and help shape a brighter future for children worldwide.

Team

The IFGD team is part of the larger Programme Implementation and Institutional Funding (PIIF) department of the WCA Foundation (WCAF). Through collaboration with WCA fundraising members, global, regional and country teams, the IFGD team leads overall strategy and policy and quality assurance standards for grant cycle management across the WCA and coordinates the strengthening of internal competencies and capacities to acquire and manage institutional funds in-line with policies and quality assurance standards. In addition to this, the team coordinates global level account management with WCA fundraising members and grant management in collaboration with teams at country, regional and global levels.

Engage with relevant networks, partners and stakeholdersion’s ambitions through effective engagement and partnership building with institutional donors, trusts, foundations, and other strategic partners. It is directly responsible for raising and managing funds from institutional donors and foundations where there is no WCA fundraising member, exploring and developing new fundraising markets, and supporting WCA fundraising members in raising and managing funds from their respective national donors. The IFGD team consists of account management, strategic partnerships, quality assurance, process improvement, and proposal development specialists.

Your Mission & Impact

1. Build, maintain and strengthen the WCA’s relationship with Trusts and Foundations

• Drive Funding Strategies: Support and execute plans to meet fundraising targets and engagement plans to meet fundraising targets and grow the donor base. Contribute to prioritizing funding opportunities (with approval from the Senior Team Lead), managing relationships with Trusts and Foundations, and monitoring and analyzing donor trends to contribute to strategic directions.
• Build Strong Relationships: Cultivate strong, enduring relationships with existing and potential Trusts and Foundations, positioning War Child as a reliable and respected organization within the philanthropic sector.
• Achieve Sustainable Growth: Contribute to the sustainable growth of Trusts and Foundations, working towards the achievement of annual income targets and anticipated growth in line with the impact strategy.
• Expand Donor Networks: Expand and maintain a network of contacts within the foundation portfolio, ensuring War Child’s effective positioning and visibility within the sector.
• Position WCA Strategically: Position WCA as a specialist networked organization within donor portfolio.
• Analyze and Act on Trends: Contribute to monitoring, analysis and reporting on philanthropic developments, trends, priorities and policies, translating these into opportunities for the WCA and providing actionable insights to support strategic decision-making

2. Engage with relevant networks, partners and stakeholders

• Strengthen Networks: Support the development and maintenance of a strong network and relationships with existing and new Trusts and Foundations, collaborating closely with internal stakeholders Ensure that these relationships support and align with War Child’s strategic objectives.
• Foster Stakeholder Engagement: Support the Senior Team Lead to foster meaningful relationships with key stakeholders.

3. Contribute to strategic development of Trusts and Foundations opportunities

• Drive Strategic Growth: Support with the development and execution of strategies and engagement plans within the Trusts and Foundations Portfolio to meet fundraising targets and drive growth in the portfolio.
• Prioritize Opportunities: Collaborate with the Senior Team Lead and other stakeholders to identify and prioritize funding opportunities, offering advice on the practicalities of strategy implementation.
• Enhance Proposals: Support opportunity and proposal development processes to enhance the quality and effectiveness of proposals, ensuring they align with donor expectations and organizational goals.
• Strengthen Fundraising Capacities: Contribute to strengthening internal capacities for fundraising with Trusts and Foundations, in addition to ensuring all compliance requirements are met and sharing donor guidelines as appropriate within the organization.

4. Contribute to strengthen internal capacities for fundraising with Trusts and Foundations, and grant-making organizations

• Build Internal Capacity: Provide guidance and support for capacity-building efforts aligned with the Grant Management Policy and Processes.
• Ensure Compliance: Share donor guidelines across the organization to enhance engagement quality and ensure compliance.
• Deliver Training: As needed, support with the delivery of training and capacity-building support for country, regional, and global teams to strengthen expertise in Foundations’ portfolio. This may include facilitating workshops on Foundations’ strategy, donor engagement plans, and effective ways of working within the Foundations portfolio.
• Support Stakeholders: Provide support to country, regional and global teams by building and maintaining strong relationships with relevant stakeholders.
• Lead Proposal Development: Under the supervision of the Senior Team Lead, lead bid management for proposal development by coordinating with country and regional teams, global programmes, and fundraising members to ensure all stakeholders are engaged and available for timely proposal development and reporting activities.

5. Foster a collaborative and positive team culture within the War Child Alliance (WCA)

• Foster Teamwork: Promote a positive, collaborative culture across the Alliance while upholding organizational values.
• Commit to Safeguarding: Ensure full compliance with War Child Alliance’s Child Safeguarding policies to protect children and adults.
• Support Team Objectives: Actively participate in team activities, meetings, and projects, contributing insights to achieve annual goals and encourage continuous learning.

Your Expertise and Strengths

• Expertise
  • Demonstrated donor account management expertise, especially with trusts and foundations.
  • Demonstrated expertise in opportunity identification and definition, bid and contract management.
• Experience
  • Proven experience in a similar position in an international organisation.
  • Good knowledge of and experience in Trusts and Foundations fundraising for NGOs.
  • Demonstrated experience of strengthening the capacity of others in working with Foundations, using a range of formal and informal methods.
• Knowledge
  • Good knowledge of current development and trends in the (international) aid sector
  • Good knowledge of the Trusts and Foundations market globally.
  • Knowledge and understanding of donor networks.
• Skills
  • The ability to engage with diverse stakeholders in a way that leads to increased impact for the organization, and to spot and create opportunities with Trusts and Foundations effectively and facilitate increasing access to funding for the WCA's work.
  • Ability to analyse the donor environment and identify trends, anticipate changes, be comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.
  • Ready to be held to account, and ability to hold others to account in a consistent and respectful manner (leadership skills)
  • Good relation building skills, diplomatic skills and strong in building and maintaining networks.
  • Excellent facilitation and organisational skills.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Preferable skills
  • One or more of the following languages: Dutch, French, Arabic and/or Spanish
  • Experience in CRM system, Salesforce.
• Education
  • Academic working level with relevant academic background in development/ international cooperation and/or humanitarian aid

What We Offer

• Contract Type: Initial one-year contract with potential for permanent employment, subject to location and local labor laws.
• Location: ideally in countries where War Child operates
• Professional Development: Opportunities for capacity building and growth, both within the role and through War Child’s broader network.
• Meaningful Impact: The chance to make a tangible difference in the lives of children and families affected by conflict, contributing to long-term, sustainable change.
• Equal Opportunities: War Child is an inclusive employer committed to diversity and inclusion, respecting all individuals regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or physical ability.
• Workplace Culture: War Child is dedicated to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace that prioritizes safety and fairness for all individuals. We strictly prohibit any form of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying within our organization.

Why You Should Apply

• Make a Real Impact: Your work will directly contribute to providing quality education to children who need it most, creating lasting change in their lives.
• Career Growth: Join a dynamic organization that values your professional development and offers opportunities for learning, growth, and innovation.
• Global Reach: Play a key role in scaling a ground-breaking programme that operates in multiple conflict-affected regions around the world.
• Collaborative and Mission-Driven: Work alongside passionate colleagues and partners united in a mission to protect children and help them thrive despite adversity.

How to Apply

Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit their applications by January 12, 2025 . We are reviewing submissions on a rolling basis, so early applications are strongly recommended.

About War Child

The War Child Alliance is an international non-governmental organization committed to providing psychosocial support, child protection, youth empowerment programming and quality education to the children affected by armed conflict. We implement evidence-based interventions to empower key stakeholders—including governments, educators, caregivers, and communities—to foster children’s wellbeing, education, and self-determination. War Child has a presence in 19 countries: Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Colombia, Burundi, DR Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Learn more about War Child and our programmes https://www.warchild.net/

We are reviewing submissions on a rolling basis, so early applications are strongly recommended.

Safeguarding

War Child is committed to humanitarian values, standards and norms and we expect the same from job applicants. War Child is especially committed to safeguarding the children and youth we support and doesn’t tolerate any form of abuse. Because we want to prevent and deter any actions that place children and youth at risk, conduct references are an important part of our recruitment procedure. As part of the selection process, War Child will request standardized references in accordance with the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and a recent Criminal Records statement.

Equal opportunity

War Child has a dream that every child lives in peace - no matter who or where they are. That’s why we pride ourselves on being an equal opportunity employer. We promote diversity and belonging in everything we do and select our potential new colleagues without regard to gender, race, colour, religion, nationality, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Application process

To ensure that we spend as much of our resources on the support of children and youth, War Child needs to operate as efficiently as possible. This means we can only process job applications received through our websites.

If we appoint a suitable candidate before the given closing date, the vacancy will be removed from our websites. In this case, any responses received after removal will not be processed. Sometimes the closing date of a vacancy is extended. If so, and you have not yet heard from us, your application will remain active.