Proposal Coordinator

The Director General’s Office (DGO) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks a highly motivated Proposal Coordinator to join its team. The ideal candidate will be innovative, self-motivated and goal-oriented, with experience creating and executing fundraising strategies and developing successful proposals to secure restricted and unrestricted funding from foundations and government and multilateral agencies. The incumbent will be responsible for supporting senior staff and research leads with strategic resource mobilization, proposal development, and coordination efforts across the institute.

This locally recruited position is a one year, renewable appointment and is located at IFPRI’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Essential Duties:

Specific duties include but are not limited to:

Fundraising

• Assist in advising staff on the development and implementation of fundraising strategies
• Perform competitive intelligence gathering through research and analytics to identify new donors and funding prospects, including private industry, foundations, high-net worth individuals, multilateral agencies, and government
• Advise staff on strategies for approaching donor prospects and draft outreach & communication materials
• Manage cultivation and stewardship for select foundations and individual donors

Proposal Development & Coordination

• Proactively liaise with research units and corporate services to facilitate proposal development efforts, streamline the process, strengthen the output, and track progress and staff input throughout the proposal process
• Work closely with and support research units from project concept to full proposal development, incorporating input from multi-disciplinary staff
• Provide high quality review for key proposals to ensure output complies with proposal requirements, and facilitate professional service support (grant writer, editor, etc.), in collaboration with research units and finance
• Continually assess and propose improvements for practices/procedures/systems involving IFPRI’s proposal pipeline and funder/funding intelligence

Other duties:

• Assist with partnership-related activities and event coordination as needed.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree plus 10 years of relevant work experience or master’s degree or equivalent certification plus 8 years of experience, preferably 4 years of experience in a business development team supporting international development clients, including USAID and US government contracting.
• At least 2 years of management experience.
• Experience developing and/or implementing fundraising strategies for nonprofit organizations, including prospect research; outreach to funding sources; and donor cultivation and stewardship
• Experience developing successful proposals/grants targeting various funding sources (government, private industry, foundation and individuals), preferably in agriculture, nutrition and/or relevant fields
• Highly effective and versatile communication skills—both written and oral. Ability to effectively synthesize scientific/programmatic content for multiple audiences
• High level of professionalism, including the ability to diplomatically coordinate individuals with various disciplines to accomplish common objections
• Self-motivated, with proven ability to work independently and multi-task to accomplish key goals and complete projects
• Strong analytical skills
• Comfortable in a global team, including working well with team members and collaborators located in multiple time zones and countries
• Willingness and ability to travel as needed

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree
• Proficiency in a second language of the U.N. system
• International experience, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office and donor databases
• Background, or interest in, international development

Physical Demand & Work environment:

• Employee will sit in an upright position for a long period of time
• Employee will lift between 0-10 pounds.
• Employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform activities such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing computer terminal; extensive reading

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an equal employment opportunity employer - F/M/Disability/Vet/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity.