Overview

Want to make a positive difference to the future of people and our one shared home, the Earth? Working at WWF could be your opportunity of a lifetime.

All around the world, people are waking up to the deepening crisis of nature loss. A growing realisation that nature is our life-support system. And that nobody will be spared from the impacts of its loss. Here at WWF, we are helping to tackle this enormous global challenge.

Our people come from hugely diverse backgrounds and with a variety of expertise, ranging from HR and finance to advocacy and conservation science. We welcome applications from anyone who believes they can help us create a better future for people and wildlife.

What we do

We are an independent conservation organisation, striving to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife. From individuals and communities to business and government, we are part of a growing coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Together, we seek to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable.

Duration of the contract: 2 years fixed-term

Preferred location: Woking (UK) or Zeist (NL)

1 MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT

Support, inspire and drive the WWF network to increase public and private resources for WWF’s conservation strategy and mission. Help WWF offices to mobilise resources for global conservation priorities through strategic public sector partnerships and philanthropy, including working collaboratively with the WWF Network to encourage and facilitate cross-border efforts. Support the sustainable growth of WWF offices by providing strategic support and capacity building to offices and regions and by sharing learning and best practices across the fundraising, resource mobilisation and public sector partnership communities of practice. Raise funds from philanthropic partners in support of WWF’s global conservation strategy and operations.

2 MAJOR FUNCTIONS

The Senior Specialist, Prospect Research will work with and assist the Development Team to increase and maintain resources from major donors and foundations for WWF programs. This will be done through research on donors and donor trends, information management using a Microsoft Dynamics 365 database and supporting donor cultivation and solicitation.

3 MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Specialist, Prospect Research is responsible for the research and identification of priority prospects, the management of donor data and the database, and for all compliance checks in support of the Major Donors and Foundations’ engagement strategy.

Research & Donor Trends:

  • Monitors donor trends and preferences to identify new funding opportunities;
  • Researches, analyses and prepares donor profiles;
  • Tracks news on active prospects and donors;
  • Creates briefs for fundraising staff, senior management and steering committee for meetings and events; Collects and consolidates feedback from events and ensures the information is captured in the database;
  • Acquires and maintains relevant prospect research resources;
  • Leads negotiations and manages relationships with personal data providers, representing WWF at strategic clients meetings.

Donor recruitment and cultivation:

  • Identifies, and seeks out and prioritises new fundraising opportunities: a proactive approach to identify new prospect names/intermediaries/pool from generic and targeted research as well as prioritises the prospect pools as part of the various business development activities
  • Provides in-depth quantitative analysis or strategic research on agreed topics
  • Supports the planning and promotion of donor/prospect targeted engagement activities (e.g. speeches, lunches, events, trips, mailings), particularly responsible for creation of distribution lists from the database for targeting audiences;

Information and Database management and technology:

  • Oversees donor-related data entry and accurate maintenance of donor records in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 database;
  • Performs database management and administration by ensuring integrity, consistency, and quality/reportability of data as well as upload efficiency;
  • Ensures consistent policies (specifically data protection policy) are applied. Maintains and updates the database policies, and procedures and training;
  • Manages IT projects connected to the Database (eg. projects carried out with data providers) and technical maintenance of database and related IT tools, recommends alternative tools and providers when relevant, liaise with 3rd party providers for solving potential technical issues, and collaborates with WWF ICT team and Legal/Compliance for data security matters and IT projects;
  • Creates and provides tracking of portfolios of fundraisers and prospect / donor contacts;
  • Recommends changes in database set up or in distribution lists to enable more efficient portfolio management and better targeted marketing activities;
  • Trains new and current team members on database usage;

Compliance:

  • Leads the due diligence and compliance checks process: research on potential risks (reputational, legal, and financial) and identifies the source of the funds;
  • Leads negotiations and manages relationships with external suppliers as required;
  • Leads the implementation of the fundraising data privacy mitigation plan and recommends additional activities to reduce the risk for WWF

Other:

  • Provides support and training to network offices in prospect research, prospect development, due diligence and database management;
  • Supports or leads ad-hoc projects aiming at growing philanthropic income.

4 PROFILE

Required Qualifications.

  • Minimum undergraduate university degree, preferably in the field of business, marketing, sociology;
  • Minimum five years’ experience in the field of fundraising, including minimum two years’ experience in the field of major gift fundraising;
  • Comprehensive knowledge of major gift fundraising methodology including prospect research, proposal preparation and the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors.

Required Skills and Competencies.

  • Experience in wealth research and using (online) wealth estimation tools (access to share price and ownership structures, valuation tools for real estate, access to official financial report etc);
  • Experience in database management or CRM — experience with Microsoft Dynamics a plus;
  • Strong (online) research, analytical and organisational skills (understanding business needs) and eye for detail and accuracy;
  • Fluency in English required and good command of French;
  • Team player and supportive;
  • Excellent writing and verbal communication skills;
  • Proficiency in email, internet, word-processing, database and spreadsheet maintenance, and PowerPoint is required and understanding of structured query language (SQL) is a plus;
  • Embraces the WWF mission and values of the organisation: Courage, Integrity, Respect & Collaboration.

5 WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

Interacts regularly with other Fundraising, Programme, Policy and Management staff of WWF International and the WWF network as required in fulfilment of duties.

External:

Occasionally interacts with current and prospective Major Donors as required in fulfilment of duties.

How to apply

Only one single document can be uploaded through our platform. Upload your covering letter and CV as one file. We will not accept applications without CV and Covering Letter.

Deadline for applications: by 5 May 2024

Work permit restrictions may apply.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

Base salary range for this job level is between 36,925 GBP – 46,156 GBP gross annually. Please note that the final offer will be matched with the experience, interview performance and our internal equity.

Downloads:

WWF is an equal opportunity employer and committed to having a diverse workforce.