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About Oxfam International

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries. One person in three in the world lives in poverty. Oxfam is determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty.  Around the globe, Oxfam works to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive. They save lives and help rebuild livelihoods when crisis strikes. And campaign so that the voices of the poor influence the local and global decisions that affect them. Oxfam works with partner organizations and alongside vulnerable women and men to end the injustices that cause poverty.

Background

Institutional income is increasingly important to the confederation, Oxfam’s current income portfolio is €947m and 42% of this (€398m) comes from institutional donors. However the confederation has ambitions to expand its number of affiliates, increase its portfolio of donor partnerships, and grow its global income, as part of its ‘2020 agenda’. In order to achieve these ambitions a collective investment to improve its institutional fundraising architecture at the global level is planned to ensure strategic alignment and coherence across the globe, and to provide capacity building support for business improvement to underpin successful institutional fundraising at scale.

The creation of a new team within the OI Secretariat through this investment will for the first time establish an impartial shared service within Oxfam at the global level which has the mandate of representing functional interests within the confederative architecture and the capability of providing specialist technical support for institutional fundraising. This team will both complement and boost the current functional resources across the Oxfam affiliates who have variable capability for institutional funding, so as to harmonize ways of working between affiliates, to improve effectiveness and to deliver income growth and partnerships for greater impact and influence. 

The global team will be responsible for designing and operationalizing a confederation wide resource mobilization strategy for institutional donors; coordinating the affiliate heads of institutional funding to achieve collective goals; for developing the capacity of existing affiliates for institutional funding especially in markets where Oxfam is currently underperforming; for providing a strategic framework, plan and resources to new affiliates joining the confederation; to support all affiliates to establish a consistent and coherent system for home donor account management; to matrix manage and have oversight of the Regional Business Development Managers in order to ensure standardization of approaches in the development of regional resource mobilisation strategies and overall coherence with the global resource mobilization strategy; to lead on the development and implementation of a learning strategy for the whole confederation which will benefit the 200 functional staff based across 90 countries; to support the development of standardized policies, tools and guidelines for business improvement and increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

Job Purpose

The Associate Director of Institutional Funding will manage the institutional funding function within the OI secretariat so as to support the confederation to grow Oxfam income and partnerships at global level in order to resource their program strategy.

The post holder will be expected to work across the confederation of OI affiliates in achieving the global strategy and be the primary link for institutional fundraising in the confederation’s global fundraising architecture.

Job Dimensions

• Senior management position required to provide strategic and operational management of a specialist function on behalf of the confederation.
• Influences decisions affecting Oxfam affiliates, programs, and the confederations.
• Significant autonomy to anticipate and plan work.
• High internal impact requiring complex analysis and problem solving.
• Subject area specialist with wide ranging experience, ability to advise at senior level and design workable solutions to complex problems.
• Decision-making requires significant levels of judgment based on technical knowledge, experience, and consultation.
• Contributes to global income and budget planning processes according to agreed Oxfam processes.
• Works across the global program funding function to ensure coherence, consistent and quality in fundraising efforts and results.

Key Responsibilities

Change management:

Lead on the development and implementation of an operational plan to support the transition process envisaged for institutional funding as part of the Oxfam 2020 change plan. Establish an Institutional Funding team within the OI secretariat; and support affiliates in establishing standardized home donor account management systems aligned to confederative ambition. Contribute to further design and delivery of Oxfam change plans for institutional fundraising as they evolve.

Resource mobilization strategies:

Lead the design, implementation and monitoring of a global resource mobilization strategy for the confederation intended to strengthen institutional income and partnerships to deliver program impact. Work with functional leadership in affiliates to design and deliver a global strategy that builds on affiliate funding strategies to achieve confederation income growth. Ensure integration and alignment with fundraising strategies of other income streams.

Functional leadership in the confederation:

Convene the global institutional funding team consisting of representatives from affiliates to ensure strategic coherence and co-ordination to deliver against the confederation ambition for institutional fundraising. Monitor and analyze information on institutional funding trends, design strategies to grow income, develop and implement annual operational plans and support inter-affiliate access to funding intelligence, opportunities and skills. Broker assistance from technical advisers in shared services, funding staff in regional and country offices and with donor account managers in affiliate HQs. Support Oxfam staff to adhere to funding policies and guidelines of the confederation and lead on dispute resolution for issues related to institutional fundraising. 

Secretariat functions:

Ensure adequate and timely communication for institutional fundraising within the confederation. Work actively within the confederation architecture to ensure relevant groups are able to govern effectively.  Present annual plans and budgets for approval to Executive Board committees and ensure operational management, implementation and monitoring of relevant decisions taken. Manage joint projects and collaborate across other functions to identify and manage cross-dependencies.

Team management:

Lead and manage the Institutional Funding Team based in the OI Secretariat. Manage and develop direct line reports to deliver agreed objectives. Lead the Institutional Funding Team to achieve team goals in the Oxfam Strategic and Operational plans of delivering increased income and greater affiliate capacity. Develop a strategic and coherent approach to resource mobilization from institutional donors to capitalize on opportunities to work at scale across the confederation.

The team will include functional specialists with responsibility for the following areas:

Donor account management:

Responsible for cultivating and building relationships with bilateral and multilateral donor agencies which belong to no single affiliate in order to grow income and partnerships for the confederation. Responsible for designing new account management system, policies, and procedures. Convene regular donor portfolio meetings to review progress and plans of all account managers. Ensure delivery of annual account strategies and accountability to the confederation.

Capacity building:

Responsible for providing support for capacity assessments, technical training and advice for staff at all levels on the core elements of institutional funding including strategy, partnerships, opportunity appraisal, bid development and compliance to ensure that country and affiliate offices have the requisite basic skills for successful resource mobilization. Ensure provision of support to new and existing affiliates to develop, improve and exchange capacity for institutional fundraising by leveraging collective and individual strengths as a global confederation to grow income, program quality, impact and influence. Maintain a confederation wide overview of capacity in relation to fundraising potential of different institutional donors so as to help plug capacity gaps to grow income.

Systems development:

Provide business support and systems to monitor global income and pipeline to inform management decision making and strategy development.  Contribute to a review of existing systems to ensure that they are fit for purpose, and that processes across the function are sufficiently well harmonized and aligned.

Learning:

Responsible for providing support to develop and implement strategies for learning and skills development for the global network of staff involved in institutional fundraising through capturing and sharing learning, producing standard tools, guidelines and training materials, facilitating deliberative social learning processes and convening regular learning events.

Investments in resource mobilization:

Lead on the design and delivery of an investment strategy that will achieve income growth for the confederation, increase Oxfam’s competitiveness in the global market, develop Oxfam’s strength in their home markets, support diversification of their donor portfolio and facilitate responsiveness to emerging funding opportunities.  Responsible for management of a collective investment fund for institutional fundraising through an approach which is simple, effective, delivers results and is accountable to its stakeholders; and management of a confederative Strategic Opportunities Fund in order to provide agile financing in response to funding opportunities that have significant value in terms of income or influence.

Budget responsibilities:

Responsible and accountable for management of departmental budget (circa €1.4m pa).

Key Working Relationships:

• Reports to the OI Global Program Director based in the Secretariat.
• Works closely with functional leadership of institutional fundraising in affiliates.
• Line manages approximately 4-5 senior managers in the Secretariat responsible for account management, business systems, learning and capacity building.
• Works with other key confederation staff/groups such as the Global Director of Public Engagement, Finance and Information Systems, Income Development, Confederation Development, Advocacy and Campaigns.
• Matrix relationships with regional business development managers.

Key Competencies:

Function specific:

• Demonstrated ability to devise and implement organizational resource mobilization strategies at scale and plans for measuring effectiveness.
• Track record of success in developing successful partnerships and proposals with institutional donors.
• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing organizational level capacity building initiatives to deliver business improvements.
• Knowledge or experience of strategic investments on behalf of collective stakeholders in order to deliver financial benefits.
• Track record of managing teams with responsibility for resource mobilization activities.
• Track record of experience in external representation at a senior level with bilateral donors, multilateral agencies, and international foundations.

Leadership and management:

• Experienced in managing and developing others, including direct line management.
• Proven ability to utilize talent and expertise of team members to achieve objectives.
• Experience of leading and managing conflict resolution.
• Experience of developing and managing budgets.
• Effective negotiation abilities and informal leadership skills in a multi-stakeholder, network environment.
• Demonstrable organizational and project management skills and ability to manage multiple projects to deadlines.
• Experience of leading and implementing organizational level change management projects.
• Strong analytical skills. An entrepreneurial spirit that is able to transcend boundaries in current thinking and operations.
• Ability to make effective, timely decisions and take prudent risks.

Communication:

• Ability to liaise with a wide range of people, both internally and externally and at many levels, with credibility, tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills with demonstrable ability to lead, influence and motivate others.
• Fluent spoken and written English with ability to analyze and synthesize complex issues.

Demonstrable affinity with Oxfam’s culture and values:

• Ability to think and work in a multi-disciplinary way. 
• Ability to operate effectively in a network environment.
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as a commitment to equal opportunities.
• Honest and transparent.
• Accountable.
• Supporting each other.
• Professional and striving for excellence.
• Proactive and solutions oriented.

Qualifications:

• Minimum requirement is a university degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Law, Economics, or International Development or other relevant experience.

Other:

• Excellent computer skills, including various office applications and internet navigation (essential).
• Ability to travel up to 6 weeks per annum.