Grant Proposal Officer

Job Description and Requirements

1. Purpose of the Position:

Are you ready to apply your grant-writing and donor engagement talent to raise support for youth-led peacebuilding around the world? Do you enjoy turning inspirational ideas for peace into persuasive grant proposals, and then creating meaningful partnerships with funders to make those ideas a reality? Do you want to want to be part of a multi-cultural team where you can learn, grow, take on new challenges, be inspired and makean impact? Generations For Peace is hiring a full-time Grant Proposal Officer to join our headquarters in Amman, Jordan, and create high-quality and effective fundraising materials, whilst engaging prospective donors, introducing them to GFP and building a relationship for support.

At Generations For Peace (GFP), we believe a more peaceful world is possible, and we want to make it happen now and for future generations. Over the last 15 years, we have developed a unique curriculum and model to train and support volunteer leaders of youth to lead and cascade sustainable peace in their communities experiencing conflict and violence. The result is a global movement of nearly 20,000 volunteers in 52countries, who are using innovative approaches like sport, arts and media to build meaningful relationships and work together across conflictdivides to build peace in their communities. Since 2007, we have achieved rapid global growth, learned an enormous amount, and gone through "proof of concept", developing our approach in different contexts, and demonstrating the success, impact and sustainability of our model, all while remaining true to our values of youth leadership, community empowerment, active tolerance and responsible citizenship. We are looking for talented and passionate people to join us in writing the next chapter in GFP’s story.

As GFP grows, we need an enthusiastic Grant Proposal Officer who can work across GFP departments and geographies to generate ambitious and transformational funding ideas from our team and partners, and turn them into compelling cases for support. They must be an effective written and oral communicator, and be able to identify synergies and build meaningful partnerships with funders based on principles of transparency, trust and shared values and vision for a more peaceful world. They must find great satisfaction developing proposals, as approximately 75% of this role is focused on this critically important task. While GFP already has processes in place to identify, apply and successfully secure donor funding, our hope is that this person will help us build upon our strengths and innovate, so we can take our grant-writing and donor engagement efforts to the next level.

2. Responsibilities:

Proposals and Reports (75%)

Develop proposal plans, timelines and templates in compliance with specific donor requirements
Organise meetings, workshops, surveys and reviews generate programme ideas and capture lessons learnt and feedback for iterative process improvement
Research and compile background materials (including country context analyses, country strategies, previous proposals, donor strategies, reports, and research studies), and gather input of staff, volunteers, local partners and donors to inform programme designs and proposals
Develop and utilise in-depth knowledge of GFP programmes, including values, approach, and impact, to describe persuasively to donors, partners, and stakeholders
Coordinate proposal inputs – such as activity timelines, theories of change, budgets, communications plans, log frames, and other supporting documents - from staff, volunteers and partners
Prepare and submit tailors and compelling proposals and reports for donors and partners
Review proposals and reports prepared by other colleagues, ensuring they comply with donor priorities and guidelines and persuasively describe GFP’s actions
Handover successful proposals to the Grants Management Team, and support them in the grant kick-off process
Supervise the Fundraising Coordinator, interns and other staff as directed, including leading regular one-on-one check-in meetings; setting priorities, deadlines, plans; tracking progress, and addressing problems

Donor Engagement (15%)

Research prospective donors and partners, identifying new prospects and funding opportunities
Schedule and participate in donor and partner meetings, including prepositioning and donor check-ins, obtaining feedback to allow Generations For Peace to respond to their needs
Serve as the Fundraising Department point of contact on select geographies and donor relationships, building trust and deep understanding of synergies and priorities, and monitoring donor communication (both GFP communication with donors, and external communication released by donors)
Support fundraising-related capacity development of GFP volunteers, staff and partners through training and mentoring
Ensure funding opportunities are regularly shared and participate in go/no-go decisions and prioritization processes.

Fundraising Knowledge Management (10%)

Support the development and maintenance of grant and reporting systems and processes, including developing and utilising databases, trackers, monitoring sheets, checklists, templates, tools, COPs, process flows, manuals and other documents
Support in reporting on Fundraising Department metrics and performance, including but not limited to top-level metrics, KPIs and post-proposal development surveys
Utilise the server, OneDrive, Teamwork.com, Blackbaud eTapestry and other systems to improve and innovate Fundraising Department fundraising and knowledge management practices
Participate in intra- and inter-departmental meetings to ensure collaboration and coordination between and among the Fundraising Department and other colleagues; including but not limited to weekly one-on-one meetings with the Grant Proposal Officer and Fundraising Coordinator, bi-weekly Fundraising Department meetings, coordination meetings with other departments, all-staff meetings and presentations, etc.

3. Key Results Areas:

Restricted funding support secured
Unrestricted funding support secured
Knowledge management, continuous learning and improvement
Teamwork and contribution to the broader work of the organization
Personal development

4. Generations For Peace Values:

Leadership: demonstrating personal leadership and fostering leadership, responsibility and initiative in others
Respect and Tolerance: showing respect and tolerance for all Staff, agents, suppliers and contractors
Empowerment and Teamwork: supporting capacity development of the Department, and supporting all other staff as a team player in creating impact
Responsibility: demonstrating and encouraging responsibility, accountability and transparency, professionalism, care and diligence in respect of all people and property, and the brand and reputation of the organisation; seeking quality, effectiveness, sustainability, efficiency and good value for money; to maximise positive impact whilst minimising risk.

5. Education, Qualifications, Competences, Skills Required:

What You Bring:

Bachelors degree in a relevant discipline with a speciality in Proposal Writng, Donor and Partner Development and/or Fundraising Knowledge Management.
At least 8 years’ work experience, including at least 3 years in grant-writing and donor engagement for a global NGO.
Ideas, best practices and passion for fundraising for GFP’s mission
Experience leading proposal development processes across departments, contexts and time zones
Knowledge of the funding priorities of key donors to the peacebuilding sector
A proven track recording managing donor relationships and securing funds from governmental and non-governmental donors, especially the US Government, EU, UN agencies and foundations

About You:

Passionate about fundraising for GFP’s mission to support grassroots peacebuilding
Enjoy developing proposals and satisfied spending the majority of your time at work doing so
Proactive, innovative, collaborative, and resourceful with a learning and growth mindset
Excellent spoken and written English, and in particular top quality written English communications (proficiency in Arabic is useful but not required)
Organized with excellent attention to detail, time management, record-keeping, and computer skills
Savvy networker able to inspire and motivate others within and outside GFP to collaborate with you and support GFP
Ability to prioritize tasks and handle multiple competing deadlines and priorities
Self-aware with a strong understanding of your strengths, limitations, emotions, biases, and different interpretations of communication approaches in different global, regional, and local contexts
Interest in global current affairs, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and international development
Discrete and confidential with donor information
Willing to live and work in Jordan (GFP provides support obtaining residency and work permit as needed)