KickStart International Fundraising & Grant Writing Manager Job in Nairobi Kenya

Manager, Fundraising & Grant Writing (Nairobi, Kenya)

KickStart International has an exciting opportunity for an experienced, entrepreneurial, and enthusiastic Manager to help us grow our fundraising program in Africa.

About the Organization: KickStart International is an award-winning, nonprofit social enterprise with a mission to lift millions of people in Africa out of poverty. They do this by designing and mass-marketing simple, “MoneyMaker” branded, human-powered irrigation pumps. These low-cost pumps are bought by poor local farmers who use them to irrigate their plots. 

The farmers move from rain-fed subsistence farming to commercial irrigated agriculture. They grow and sell high-value crops throughout the year—especially in the long dry “hungry” seasons when the prices are highest—and on average increase their farming income through irrigation from $150 to $850. 

For the first time they can properly feed and educate their children, afford healthcare, and plan for their futures. To date, more than 165,000 farming families have used MoneyMaker pumps to climb out of poverty.

KickStart was recognized as one of the “Top 100 Best NGOs in the World” in 2012 and 2013 by The Global Journal. The U.S. Department of State presented KickStart with the first-ever Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls in 2012. 

In 2011, Forbes named KickStart to their “Impact 30 List” as one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. Fast Company Magazine and the Monitor Group awarded KickStart with a Social Capitalist Award in each of the years 2004-2008.

About the Position: KickStart is seeking an experienced, entrepreneurial, and enthusiastic fundraising professional to expand its fundraising program in Africa. The Manager of Fundraising and Grant Writing will work with program teams in Africa and with the U.S. fundraising team. 

This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya and reports to the Director of Partnership & External Relations who is based in New York City. 

This position requires travel within Africa and with occasional travel to Europe and the U.S. as well as the flexibility to work on weekends, early in the morning or late in the evening as necessary for donor events and meetings and/or to collaborate with colleagues in Africa and the United States.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Identify and generate new sources of funding from foundations, corporations, and government development agencies
• Develop and write compelling and impactful grant proposals and donor reports
• Steward existing donor relationships to ensure future funding opportunities
• Help to coordinate/manage the establishment and implementation of KickStart’s donor funded projects across Africa and to ensure on-time and complete implementation and reporting

Qualifications Needed

Education and Experience

• Bachelor degree required.
• Knowledge of international development and/or international agriculture and rural development
• 5+ years of significant experience and proven success in securing funding from foundations, companies and/or multilateral/bilateral donors
• Good understanding of the project management cycle to achieve results to timescale
• Experience living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa or in a developing country in another part of the world

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal (e.g.: public speaking, presentations, correspondence, proposals and reports), including compelling, clear, succinct and jargon-free writing abilities. 
• Proven writing skills an absolute must in developing and presenting proposals and donor reports for both internal and external audience
• Team oriented and able to work effectively with cross-functional teams to develop and analyze proposals that have both a realistic chance of success but are also realistic in terms of KickStart’s capacity to implement
• Self-motivated and entrepreneurial - must be able to work with limited supervision
• Creative, critical and analytical thinker - able to co-design implementable projects with program teams.
• Resilient and persistent: Must be able to bounce back from donor rejection (e.g. to proposals) and, where the is funding potential, able to identify alternative avenues to secure support
• Charisma, able to articulate KickStart’ s mission and programs to inspire others through in-person meetings, phone and video conference
• Strong computer skills – Microsoft Office, Internet, fundraising database (i.e. Raiser’s Edge), and demonstrated competency working with and developing budgets using Excel
• Commitment to KickStart’ s mission, purpose and values, and to its methodology, history, culture, programs and constituencies
• Fluent in written and spoken English French fluency preferred.

How to apply:

Please email your application to hr@kickstart.org by October 31, 2014. 

Please type “Manager of Fundraising and Grant Writing” in the subject line of your e-mail application. 

All candidates MUST include both a cover letter and resume/CV to be considered for this position. 

Qualified women candidates encouraged to apply. 

Note: Please limit your CV/resume to 3 pages.