Are you an external engagement expert who likes to combine institutional donor engagement and fundraising with strategic thinking and leadership of a team? Would you like to use your management skills and experience in nurturing stakeholder relationships at one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs to serve people affected by displacement and conflict? Then we encourage you to apply to the new role of Head of Institutional Donors at Danish Refugee Council (DRC).

Who are we?

As DRC embarks on its Global Strategy 2025 to assist people affected by displacement and conflict and advocate on their behalf, the organisation has implemented an organisational transformation aiming at advancing accountability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, while increasing efforts to generate sufficient resources to fulfil DRC’s strategic ambitions. Following this organisational transformation process, the new division Partnerships, Engagement and Fundraising (PEF) has been established, which is responsible for DRC’s global strategic partnerships and engagement with institutional donors, global foundations, and private contributors at a global level. The division is part of the DRC HQ department for Partnerships, Advocacy & External Relations (PAER). Most DRC resources generated in support of our work with conflict and displacement affected persons come from institutional donors such as the European Commission, UN agencies, and bilateral humanitarian and development funding envelopes from major donor countries. While most funds are raised at country and regional level, the newly established Institutional Donors team is accountable for ensuring that DRC has a centralised and harmonised approach of high quality to addressing donors and keeping an overview of funding opportunities. Together with the rest of the department, the Institutional Donors team is working to increase DRC’s capacity and ambition to expand, deepen, and strengthen partnerships and fundraising activities with institutional donors.

About the job

As Head of Institutional Donors your purpose will be to strengthen and elevate DRC’s capacity to improve donor relationships, while increasing the effectiveness of our fundraising efforts. You will be expected to proactively identify and foster long-term relationships with existing and potential donors who align with the vision, mission, mandate, and strategic priorities of DRC. An important part of the role of Head of Institutional Donors is to provide guidance and direction to the entire Institutional Donor Advisor team, represented in DRC Headquarters in Copenhagen as well as DRC Representations in Berlin, Brussels and Geneva. Next to establishing trust and personal bonds at senior and desk level, good donor relationships rely on DRC’s ability to comply with donor regulations. It will be your responsibility to provide the space for Institutional Donor Advisors to develop their roles, while supporting them in their efforts to strengthen DRC’s capacity to manage donor relationships, ensure strategic donor compliance, and increase donor engagement. You will further ensure that DRC has a global overview of available institutional funding opportunities and identify gaps in DRC’s institutional donor knowledge.

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

• Line manage the four DRC HQ based Institutional Donor Advisors, and perform technical line management of the Institutional Donor Advisors based outside of HQ
• Establish a working structure and formalise the Institutional Donor team consisting of the Institutional Donor Advisors based in HQ and the DRC Representations. This includes revising job descriptions and setting up coordination structures, which should be done jointly with the line managers in the DRC Representations
• Contribute to the finalisation of DRC’s Institutional Donor Engagement Strategy (IDES) as well as the roll out of the final strategy, which is owned by the Director for Partnerships, Engagement & Fundraising (PEF)
• Facilitate close collaboration with and the inclusion of programme, advocacy, Regional Business Development Coordinators and other key internal stakeholders in setting institutional donor engagement strategies
• Ensure the development of annual plans for donor engagement including mapping of existing donors and gaps in consultation with relevant stakeholders
• Coordinate capacity needs assessments and guide delivery of capacity building activities by Institutional Donor Advisors across DRC
• In close collaboration with the PEF Director, identify and ensure cross-cutting implementation of donor requirements across DRC
• Represent DRC’s institutional donor engagement approach externally and internally in DRC including in strategic level working groups, ensuring knowledge sharing and collaboration on donor engagement and global compliance across all key stakeholders at DRC
• Work closely with Finance Department and Grants Management Unit to install best possible division of labour in ensuring donor compliance. This includes transferring day-to-day routine helpdesk questions to free up more resources for the Institutional Donor Advisors to engage in strategic compliance issues with global ramifications

About you

The Head of Institutional Donors will be incremental to DRC’s efforts in nurturing existing donor relationships, while opening doors to new funding opportunities. To excel in this role, you will need to have strong management experience as well as the interpersonal skills and institutional know-how to ensure that there is a close working relationship with relevant internal and external stakeholders. The role will further require good overall knowledge of regulations and compliance mechanisms, as well as the ability to competently navigate the organisational interfaces between units engaged in donor compliance. All employees should master DRC’s core competencies: Communicating, Taking the lead, Collaborating, Striving for excellence and Demonstrating integrity.

Moreover, we also expect the following:

Required

• Management experience, including people management skills and remote management
• Documented extensive experience with institutional donors and fundraising
• Understanding of the links between compliance and building the image of a go-to organisation for donors
• Ability to skilfully navigate the technical interfaces between different areas of donor compliance that are placed at different levels of the organisation
• Good relationships building skills and proactive approach to partnership building and nurturing
• Capacity to work in a changing environment and setting up new organisational structures
• Experience with networking and representation at all levels
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with an ability to identify, address and communicate the core of an issue even if very complex

• Master’s degree in relevant field of study
• Professional proficiency in languages other than English is an asset

We offer

Contract length: Permanent

Workplace: HQ, Borgergade 10, Copenhagen

Start date: 1 August 2023 or as soon as possible hereafter

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with the agreement between DRC and Lederaftalen between Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening og Lederne (agreement for managers), which can be found here: www.lederne.dk.

Application process

All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English.

Closing date for applications: 16 August 2023, however interviews will be done on a running basis due to the urgency of filling this role. Hence, in case a candidate is identified before the deadline, the vacancy announcement will be removed.

Further Information

For questions regarding the vacancy please contact the interim Executive Director for Partnerships, Advocacy & External Relations, Susanne Brokmose at [email protected]

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website drc.ngo.