Business Development Adviser

Location: Remote and flexible

Department: Business Development

Reports to (Line Manager): Director of Business Development

Grade: E

Contract Type: One Year Contract

About HelpAge

HelpAge International works with partners and a diverse global network of more than 170 organizations in over 90 countries, supporting millions of older people to live safe, dignified, and healthy lives. Through our partnership and collaborations, we work to ensure the inclusion of older people across society and strive to deliver a just and fair world for everyone, whatever their age.

The world is at a critical juncture as countries prepare (or don’t) for population ageing, alongside major challenges such as conflict, climate change, and inequality. By ensuring that all our work promotes wellbeing, dignity and voice, we can be a positive influence in the lives of current and future older people.

HelpAge International is entering into an exciting phase of its evolution. Driven by our commitment to partner-led programming, we are evolving the way we partner and deliver value. In the coming 3 years, we will have localized all our country-level work and developed new and diverse forms of partnerships globally. Going forward, our value is framed around supporting, convening and thought leadership. We will deliver our work through agile teams and a global operating model with regional roots, collaborating with our global network, to focus on impact and support others to set their own agendas.

About the Business Development Department

Working in HelpAge International’s Business Development Department, you’ll have a unique career experience, and the chance to bring positive and lasting change in the lives of older persons.

We lead the business development strategy, whose aims are to increase core funding, income diversification and diversified business models. We do this through:

• Developing relationships with new and existing donors, building donor journeys that lead to increasingly strategic partnerships.
• Developing income models for non-grant income, such as earned income from contracting and consultancy, and direct giving.
• Effective collaboration across HelpAge International, the HelpAge network and with partner organisations and influencers.

At the moment we mostly focus on funders in Europe and North America, but we want to progressively build partnerships with strategic donors around the globe.

Right now, ageing is not a major field for the governments and major foundations who lead significantly in the global funding agenda. We intend to change that, and if you can help us with that change, then you’ll be making a real difference to how societies adapt to ageing in a world of change.

About the Job

We are looking for you to:

1. Act as account manager for a portfolio of key new donors, developing strategies to engage them with our work and our issues, and moving those relationships towards core and flexible funding.
2. Identify new strategic funders and key influencers through your external network and scanning of our landscape to help diversify our funding base.
3. Developing compelling pitches and proposals that secure core or flexible funding.
4. Working with regional representatives to develop knowledge and expertise in at least one of the emerging (non-DAC) donor regions.
5. Developing an expert understanding of global ageing and using your voice and growing network to stimulate interest in ageing among funders and influencers.

We work across the organisation, and especially with the organisation’s technical leadership teams (“the portfolios”), advocacy champions and regional representation teams.

We are looking for exceptional individuals who will bring an entrepreneurial mindset, confidence in our mission, and an expert understanding of how global funding works. HelpAge International offers you an inclusive workplace and innovative environment where you will work with other talented colleagues to bring about global impact at a systemic scale.

We are initially offering a one-year contract with the expectation of being able to extend to a longer-term role as the portfolio grows.

Key areas for impact/influence and responsibilities

The Business Development Adviser will:

• Build strategic relationships with an assigned group of major donors with a focus on trusts and foundations.
• Develop and deliver engagement plans that lead to invited pitches and proposals for strategic funding which you will coordinate.
• Design and deliver strategic donor engagement events such as webinars, special events, hybrid meetings etc that develop shared knowledge and commitment to responding on population ageing and older people’s rights.
• Identify new potential donors and areas of strategic match.
• Monitor formal opportunities for funding (e.g. calls for proposals) from your assigned group of funders, and work with relevant HelpAge technical leadership teams (the portfolios) and regional representations to identify how to present core, flexible, convening or thought leadership work for these opportunities.
• Provide strategic advice for portfolio or country level opportunities with your group of assigned donors.
• Enhance HelpAge’s profile, access, and influence with regular engagements with select partner/prospect groups, or key conferences, in collaboration with advocacy leads and technical specialists.
• Contribute to team work to build the capacity of others in the organisation to deliver the business development roadmap.
• Collaborate with the Communications team and Advocacy champions to develop and harness engaging content to support our donor journeys.
• Provide strategic advice on your assigned group of donors to grant and project managers to support their oversight.
• Contribute to grant oversight work and donor communications in the project cycle, to ensure that HelpAge produces compelling reports, learning products and evidence of impact that support donor journeys towards more strategic funding.
• Coordinate with one or more assigned Supporting Members (HelpAge network organisations in major donor countries) regarding relationship building and donor intelligence in relation to funders who can create strategic funding opportunities.
• With the Director, set and monitor three year and annual workplans for your assigned group of government and foundation donors, with objectives and targets negotiated with portfolio teams and regional representation.

Skills and experience required

Essential

Strong verbal and written persuasive communication skills

Sensitivity to the needs and priorities of diverse stakeholders

Expert knowledge of some aspects of global development funding

Experience in building strategic donor relationships with philanthropic foundations and/or institutional donors

Experience in developing successful large and complex proposals

Strong negotiation skills

Confidence in the subject matter of international development and/or humanitarian assistance and/or human rights.

Experience developing and/or critically reviewing budgets

Results focused, strong delivery skills

Assertive and diplomatic

Intercultural competence and familiarity with working in international contexts

Commitment to learning and professional development in a business development context.

Desirable

Fluency in a language other than English used in the HelpAge network: ideally Arabic, Spanish or French

Experience opening up new donor markets in unfamiliar regions or funding segments

Knowledge and experience in working with foundations in the USA

Other entrepreneurial experience

Key Behavioural Competencies

At HelpAge International, we believe in the importance of empowering our people to be change makers and leaders at all levels. We expect our people to embrace and live our values, challenging themselves every day to identify issues that are most important to older persons and their communities, and to make an impact that matters.

In addition, as an HelpAge employee you are expected to:

Competencies

Description

Working Collaboratively with Others

Work collaboratively, building mutual trust and respect, with external organizations and partners to achieve our strategic aims and objectives; being accountable for the work we do together.

Adaptability and Flexibility

Adapt to new directions or opportunities arising within the organisation and in our work area; being flexible in our role, constantly using the feedback to learn more and evolve further.

Supporting and Facilitating Change

Lead behavioural and cultural change through embracing a supportive, collaborative and highly inclusive environment where everybody feels supported, respected and engaged.

Extend HelpAge’s Reach and Impact

Extend HelpAge’s reach and impact by creating and identifying new business development opportunities and building relationships with new partners.

Diversity and Inclusion

Lead and promote a culture of including the voices of older people across our support, convening and thought leadership roles, in a way that is transformative, empowering and highly inclusive of those marginalised by gender, economic status, disability and other factors of discrimination.

Leading Others (for managers)

Demonstrate strong leadership to own unit/department and manage people in a well and reputable manner. Create an atmosphere of trust and an enabling environment where staff can contribute their best and develop their potential.

Safeguarding

HelpAge International is committed to safeguarding the communities with which we work, our partners, staff and any others who we come into contact with. The post holder will also be responsible for:

• Preventing harm and abuse from our people, operations and programmes to anyone that encounters our work.
• Reporting all safeguarding incidents you see, hear, hear about or suspect, using our internal reporting mechanism.
• Complying with all safeguarding framework policies and practices.
• Completing mandatory training courses relating to our safeguarding policy framework and complying with HR vetting procedures.