Position summary:

Working as part of an international team of fundraising professionals, the Manager, Institutional Relations and Strategic Alliances, Mesoamerica is responsible for fundraising with institutional donors (multilateral and bilateral agencies, corporate and private foundations) as well as with companies, financial institutions, and others for RA priorities in the region. The Manager will coordinate with regional teams to manage the fundraising portfolio, develop multidisciplinary partnership opportunities, lead and/or facilitate donor prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, and reporting. This role is part of both the Mesoamerica regional team and the global Institutional Relations (IR) team, and will report to the Mesoamerica Sr. Director, with a matrixed reporting line to the Senior Manager, Institutional Relations. They will also coordinate closely with the Director of Partnerships and Development.

They will proactively lead fundraising in the Mesoamerica region, coordinating with the global IR team and program colleagues to ensure that regional fundraising targets are met. This includes linking global and regional priorities and funding strategies, building and monitoring a funding pipeline, facilitating or leading engagement with donors and partners, creating persuasive messages and materials for communications, and assisting with the development and submission of proposals and reports. Maintaining a strategic portfolio of institutional donors and donor prospects, they will develop and regularly update a region-wide engagement plan, ensuring timely follow-up actions, and helping to further strengthen relationships with key institutional donor and partner contacts in the region. They will be responsible for building functional alliances to scale-up our impacts in Mesoamerica and beyond, harnessing the institutional strategy of driving landscape and sector transformation. They will also safeguard the Rainforest Alliance’s reputation and collaborate with the Mesoamerica team and functional areas such as Markets; Advocacy & Themes; Partnership, Communications; Standards & Assurance; IR; Supply Chain Excellence; Innovation, Finance & Administration; and HR.

Responsibilities: 

Institutional Fundraising

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate.

• Write, adapt, and edit proposals, concept notes, compelling project ideas, and reports for field projects and programs, working closely with program staff, Global IR, Country Directors and field teams;

• Advance and implement a regional fundraising strategy and annual plans to secure bilateral and multilateral funding, as well as corporate and foundation revenue, with specific fundraising targets identified for the short and long term;

• Develop and maintain a portfolio of key local and regional contacts for priority donors and other institutional partners to strengthen RA’s position regionally and capture intelligence relevant to funding priorities;

• Proactively identify funding opportunities and cultivate long-term relationships with senior leads and decision makers from governments, companies, aid agencies, and donors within Mesoamerica;

• Serve as a key point of contact between the Global IR team and technical staff based in Mesoamerica, collaborating closely with both on a day-to-day basis;

• Ensure that fundraising data for the Mesoamerica program is up to date and accurate within donor database, in coordination with the Manager, IR, South America;

• Represent RA externally with a funder audience through in-person meetings, presentations, phone calls, and written communications;

• Support development of high-quality reports for selected institutional donors, ensuring consistency with donor requirements and coordination with global grants management team;

• Support grants management for projects implemented in Mesoamerica;

• Create and manage key performance metrics to build awareness of and communicate priorities and performance on fundraising in Mesoamerica;

• Develop engagement plans and action items for key donors in Mesoamerica, and;

• Other tasks as assigned.

Strategic Alliances

• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with Rainforest Alliance clients, donors, partners, NGOs, government representatives, and other stakeholders in Mesoamerica as relevant, working in collaboration with global leadership, including in the Regions, IR, and Corporate Engagement and Partnerships departments;

• Contribute to the design and implementation of a relationship strategy for Mesoamerica in close coordination with Country Directors and Managers.

• Represent the Rainforest Alliance at key events, presentations, policy forums and roundtables in Mesoamerica enhancing the Rainforest Alliance’s reputation, credibility and positioning;

• In collaboration with the communications team, position the Rainforest Alliance for thought leadership on key issues by conducting outreach and communication efforts with key stakeholders, funders and partners to disseminate approaches, results and impacts of Rainforest Alliance programs in Mesoamerica;

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s Degree, or equivalent experience preferred;

• Minimum of 7 years’ institutional development experience with at least 3 in a large, global organization;

• Must have excellent Spanish and English oral and written skills and be able to create content for different audiences;

• Must be detail oriented, resourceful, and able to work independently and under demanding timelines;

• Significant experience working with bilateral/multilateral donors, the private sector, governments, NGO´s and foundations, including building relationships with new donors;

• A track record successfully leading seven-figure institutional funding proposals;

• Clear ability to understand and articulate complex programmatic material in a detailed manner both internally and externally, and to audiences with different levels of background in these areas;

• Excellent interpersonal and relationship building skills;

• Experience working as part of a cross-functional, global team;

• Ability to negotiate, advise, persuade, engage, and support resolution of complex and sensitive issues with internal and external stakeholders at different levels and of different cultural backgrounds;

• Experience working with budgets and financial reports;

• Ability to work regularly and collaboratively with colleagues who are based in a different geography;

• Knowledge of Mesoamerica with a network of bilateral, multilateral, private sector, and foundation donors preferred;

• Ability to design materials to position RA with key donors, engage donors and represent RA in meetings;

• Demonstrated ability to work independently, as well as be an effective team member;

• Experience with/knowledge of conservation and/or sustainable development issues required;

• Strong research and computer skills required (Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint);

• Experience with Salesforce strongly preferred; and

• Ability to travel up to 30% of time.

 Competencies:

• Managing: Promotes and embodies a culture of participation, collaboration and trust amongst team members across participating organizations; effectively organizes the team to stay focused on priorities and advance on time and on budget against plans.

• Organizing/Planning: Knows how to design a viable plan, adapt that plan to unforeseen circumstances to stay on target, and guide a team of staff/consultants to stay on track.

• Team working: An active listener, who uses and maximizes the expertise and talents of others.

• Analytical ability: Quickly identifies bottlenecks and obstacles and finds solutions aligned with the initiatives vision and strategy

• Situation awareness: Has a strong sense of trends and recognizes the potential therein for the job.

• Partnership building: Prioritizes building alliances and knows how to become a partner of choice to our key stakeholders.

Job level: 3A

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Deadline: This will be ongoing until the position is filled.

Notes: Only candidates authorized to work in Mexico or Guatemala will be considered.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: recruitment@ra.org


WHO WE ARE:

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land-use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why
To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How
Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability, and any other protected group.