Our searches

About Climate Catalyst

Climate Catalyst is a new international organisation seeking to make a distinct and important contribution to tackling climate change — the greatest challenge facing humanity.  

Their analysis to overcome this challenge is to generate the political and societal will to take the specific actions needed to rapidly reduce emissions from different sectors. While an incredible array of organisations is building pressure to achieve this and winning many battles, Climate Catalyst believes it is necessary to deepen the trust and collaboration among these organisations and to expand this community in order to accelerate progress and increase collective impact. Their aim is to make a significant contribution to these efforts.

As a strategic convenor, Climate Catalyst will bring together civil society, business and new champions for climate action. They will enable high-impact international and national coalitions to secure decisive action by governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — likely focusing on two to four issues annually. 

In addition to convening campaigns, Climate Catalyst also aims to deliver wider and lasting benefits to the climate struggle, by enhancing connections and learning on how to achieve shared goals among a diverse network of allies including the private sector. 

The organisation will be governed by a small Advisory Board of individuals playing leadership roles in the climate community, and personally committed to enhancing collaboration. A Strategic Council of senior figures from a wide range of organisations will also be established.

Climate Catalyst is currently housed by fiscal sponsor Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, who are responsible for issuing contracts. 

Their starting point is a commitment to practice four core values:

1. Courage: being highly ambitious for the desired impact, and determined about being open-minded and innovative in the development of strategies to achieve this.
2. Collaboration: working with others in all activities.
3. Diversity: reflecting diversity, scale and complexity of the climate struggle in recruitment, geography, and external relationships.
4. Learning: listening and learning from leaders driving change on climate, and actively learning from own experience.

About the Role

This is a new organisation. As a member of the start-up team, the Fundraising Director will play a key role in shaping the organisation itself.  The nature of the role will evolve as Climate Catalyst grows. 

The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker who can execute against daily responsibilities, driven by a strong commitment to the mission. This role requires strong relationship building and fundraising skills, and an understanding of the systems and processes that support this work.

The Fundraising Director reports to the Chief Architect.

Purpose of the Role

The Fundraising Director is responsible for designing and implementing a fundraising strategy, strongly focused on foundations and private philanthropy, to take Climate Catalyst from its start-up funding of $7 million for the next two years to a multi-year income of over $5 million per year. 

The objective is to have three to five donors in total, and for these donors to continue the approach of the current donors who have made unrestricted and multi-year commitments. New funding needs to be secured by mid-2022. 

This role will therefore focus from the outset on: 

1. identifying potential donors 
2. working with the Chief Architect to build relationships with potential donors and secure requests for proposals 
3. managing relationships and reporting to existing donors.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Design a fundraising strategy, drawing on input from the Chief Architect and other senior staff
• Lead implementation of this strategy, working with the Chief Architect to build relationships and secure requests for proposals
• Represent the organisation in interactions with prospective funders and other key stakeholders
• Oversee and participate in all daily requirements of managing a fundraising program (grant writing, funder reporting, donor communications and relationship management)
• Create and maintain tools and systems that support fundraising efforts, with a focus on impact measurement and reporting to support the growth of the organisation.
• Work closely with partners and allies on fundraising strategy and donor outreach, where appropriate.
• Recruit and manage a support role, if required.

Skills and Experience

Essential

Experience

• Experience in developing and executing a foundation and private philanthropy fundraising strategy and plan
• Demonstrated success in raising significant gifts (EUR or USD 500,000+) from foundations and individual philanthropists
• A thorough understanding of the donor market in different geographies (in particular, US and Europe)    
• Demonstrated experience working with and across teams and time zones

 Competencies

• Sophisticated relationship-building skills
• Ability to inspire and motivate others
• Ability to think and act strategically, entrepreneurially and creatively
• Ability to work independently and to follow up, with an attention to detail
• Ability to work well as part of a team
• Experience and inclination to be an effective, outgoing spokesperson
• Collaborative interpersonal style and skills, and high level of emotional intelligence
• Strong people-management skills, including self-awareness and the ability to delegate
• Strong communication skills and a high level of fluency in written and spoken English

Qualifications

• A passion for the mission
• Demonstrable commitment to the values of courage, collaboration, diversity and learning
• Willing and able to travel internationally, should this be necessary and possible

Desirable

• Knowledge of and networks in the climate philanthropy community
• Fluency in a second language, other than English

Diversity is a matter of principle for Climate Catalyst. It is also critical to their long-term success. Climate Catalyst aims to recruit leaders with different experiences, networks and perspectives, to help design strategies that can be highly effective in many different national contexts and with different stakeholders.