Director of Development

ABOUT NEW ENERGY NEXUS

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international not-for-profit organization that supports clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators and networks. We started in California and have expanded operations into China, India, Southeast Asia, East and West Africa, UAE and Australia. Our mission is to support diverse entrepreneurs to drive innovation and build equity in the global clean energy economy. Our goal is to support 100,000 startups to succeed by 2030 – a decisive decade to surface and support as many climate solutions as possible. Through our global network, we directly boost hundreds of entrepreneurs annually while uplifting thousands more. Since 2004, New Energy Nexus has mobilized $3.7 billion in investment and supported over 1200 clean energy startups to date.

THE ROLE

New Energy Nexus seeks an experienced Director of Development to secure financial support for our organization. This individual will be responsible for developing a comprehensive strategy to build and expand our pipeline and portfolio with a specific focus on programmatic and unrestricted fundraising to meet our current and future fundraising goals and cultivating long-term relationships with funding partners. The Director will work with the team to strategize the best way to approach a funder by identifying and translating organizational priorities that align with funder interests while seeking six and seven-figure grant opportunities. The ideal candidate will have worked in the clean energy or climate in the context of developing countries and worked with HNWI and family and medium and large U.S. and/or European Foundations in previous roles.

The Director will manage a set of funders including all stages of cultivating, solicitation and relationship management, including prospect research; working with potential funders to identify areas of alignment; writing and preparing concept notes and proposals that include budgets; and managing relationships with long-term partners. The Director will manage all stages of the application process, delegating where necessary, and honor all grant submission and grant reporting deadlines. This individual will work with our Impact Manager and Communications Director to ensure all impact metrics and stories are embedded throughout our proposals and grant reports, as well as our Chapter Development Leads to better understand their program fundraising needs and impact. Additional responsibilities include entering, updating and maintaining portfolio information in our CRM system and actively participating in Development team meetings, prospect strategy sessions, and quarterly performance meetings with the Development and Finance teams.

THE TEAM

Reporting to the Chief Growth Officer, the Director will be expected to supervise a small team across the US and European timezones, with an expectation to invest time and effort in the professional development of the team members. The individual will also be working closely with our global Chapter Development Leads who manage fundraising for their respective programs as well as the Global leadership team.

WORKING AT NEX

Working at New Energy Nexus is an opportunity to make a positive impact in the clean energy industry and be part of a supportive and forward-thinking community. It will offer an innovative and collaborative work environment, fostering networking opportunities and providing diverse roles that allow for personal and professional growth.

This job is based either in the US or in the EU with frequent travel to meet with strategic partners, funders and visits to our international chapters. Relocation assistance is not available for this role.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Fundraising Strategies

• Accountable for supporting chapters reach their fundraising goals
• Accountable for helping reaching platform (core) fundraising goals
• Be a thought partner as it relates to funding various initiatives and programs
• Responsible for best-in-class functional fundraising support to NEX chapters to enable chapters reaching their fundraising OKRs
• Source and cultivate funding partners that match the programmatic objectives of the chapters
• Donor stewardship of multi-country funders that enable and enhance the accomplishment of chapter fundraising goals
• Coordinate and project manage multi-chapter fundraising proposals including task allocation, budget, and timeline
• Identify funding opportunities for new products and programs
• Collaborate with the Global Comms Director to align on new product and program launches and initiatives
• Oversee fundraising events and activities to cultivate relationships with funders
• Maintain high-level overview of funding opportunities including both government, philanthropic and High-Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs)

Operations Management

• Hands-on proposal development support as critical value add to individual chapter and multi-chapter proposals to tangibly increase fundraising success of individual chapters and NEX multi-stakeholder coalitions
• Facilitate training and workshops that build fundraising capacity across the NEX network to increase collective fundraising success rates.
• Manage the fundraising budget with finance team and preparing reports for Global Leadership team and board members

People Management

• Responsible for recruiting, hiring and onboarding new development staff and overseeing their performance and KPIs
• Responsible for working and training the Development Coordinator which is responsible for organizing monthly fundraising status calls amongst the chapters, managing incoming leads and conducting success rate analysis
• Oversee a Development Manager who is responsible for researching donor strategy and intelligence, relationship building with key funder accounts and High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs), and organizing fundraisers

Requirements

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• 10 years of successful fundraising results with over USD 20m in direct funding raised in their portfolio
• 3 years of global programmatic experience
• Proven history of meeting fundraising goals and cultivating and managing multi-year, six- and seven-figure relationships with foundations, family offices, donor advised funds (DAFs) and HNWIs
• Proven history of working with Foundations and HNWI in the climate, energy or entrepreneur space
• Proven history of developing and implementing a fundraising strategy
• Demonstrated experience in a non-profit organization

BEHAVIORS

• High level of adaptability in an environment with evolving team structures and workflows, including a penchant for embracing change as an opportunity for growth and the ability for navigating ambiguity or periods of uncertainty
• Ability to frequently attend in-person meetings with funders and strategic partners
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, particularly storytelling
• Strong problem-solving skills combined with excellent budget and project management skills to effectively manage multiple priorities and functions
• Ability to work independently within a global team
• Entrepreneurial mindset and ability to work in a fast moving culture
• Work collaboratively in a team environment and receptive to feedback
• Proficiency in database management (we use Zendesk)
• Proficiency in Google Workspace and Slack

QUALIFICATIONS

Preferred: Passion for energy startups, and professional knowledge or experience in the clean energy sector

Due to the global nature of the organization and team, some meetings will take place outside of regular work hours.

New Energy Nexus values and celebrates diversity among our employees and in our movement and knows that’s the way we’re going to win big. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer - all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, family/marital status or veteran status. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Benefits

Compensation is competitive for the market the candidate is based in. Applicable benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, paid holidays and insurance will depend on the location of the selected candidate.

TO APPLY

PREFERRED OPTION: Interested candidates should send a CV and letter of motivation to Delphine Barringer-Mills at dbm@dbmco.be. Please include the following subject to your email: your name.NEX.DirDevelopment.

ALTERNATIVE OPTION: You may also submit your resume, letter of motivation (cover letter) and responses to our application questions by clicking on the “Apply for this job” button below to begin your application.

Qualified candidates will be invited to an introductory call and interview with the recruiter. Recommended candidates will be formally presented to New Energy Nexus. Those selected will move into the second phase with the client. More details will be provided to those candidates who are selected in the initial stage.

References will be checked for finalists only with your permission