Ignite Philanthropy: Inspiring the End to Violence Against Girls and Boys is a pooled, collaborative donor fund whose members are Human Dignity Foundation, Oak Foundation, and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.  Ignite Philanthropy nimbly catalyzes and incubates strategic initiatives that advance the field of violence prevention to bring an end to all violence against children. 

Among other priorities, Ignite Philanthropy seeks to help build a strong resource, asset, and commitment base for effective efforts to prevent violence against children.  To this end, Ignite Philanthropy has supported the 2017-2018 conceptualization and incubation of the End Violence Investors Forum.  The Investors Forum convenes major, international, public and private, source donors to collaborate and to align and increase funding and advocacy for urgently ending violence against children, in support of the mission of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. 

The Forum aims to complement, not duplicate, the work of other existing donor affinity groups, and it is neither a donor fund nor a new fundraising mechanism.  Its principles are transparency and trust, collaborative action, partnership for impact, evidence-based solutions, alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, and a fundraising-free zone.  A core group of bilateral and philanthropic donors held the Forum’s first two in-person meetings in 2018 and will continue guiding future efforts.  Among others, participating public and private donors include the Governments of Canada, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States, and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Human Dignity Foundation, Oak Foundation, Porticus Global, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and World Childhood Foundation.  As relevant, future participants may also include corporate and individual donors.

Given the enthusiasm to date, Ignite Philanthropy is committed to progressively developing, testing, and refining the Investors Forum concept over 2019-2020 in collaboration with these donors and future donor participants.  With Ignite Philanthropy support, they will continue co-creating and piloting the Forum through two thematic donor action hubs (i.e., online sexual exploitation of children, and violence in and around schools), deciding respective objectives and strategies, and feeding in strategically to the Forum’s broader collective activities.

Ignite Philanthropy’s Senior Coordinator will lead all aspects of the End Violence Investors Forum.  These include, for example, generating the 2019-2020 strategy and work plan, developing and expanding donor participant relationships, overseeing the development of a compelling narrative for donor participation, facilitating donor action hubs, planning all Forum meetings and events, and selecting and managing external vendors as needed to accomplish Forum objectives.  The Senior Coordinator will continuously innovate and improve upon processes and products as needed to drive engagement and best achieve overall Forum goals.  The Senior Coordinator will lead on strategy development and execution in close consultation with the End Violence Investors Forum Co-Chairs, Ignite Philanthropy’s Director, as well as participating Investors Forum donors. 

The Senior Coordinator will be an integrated member of the Ignite Philanthropy team, and will hold related Ignite Philanthropy responsibilities such as project financial oversight, documentation, learning, and reporting.  Limited administrative support will be available for Investors Forum work until on-going internal/external support needs are defined during 2019-2020 planning.

The Senior Coordinator role is a two-year post with a start date as soon as possible.  An extension to this for a further one-two years is anticipated but is subject to continued Investors Forum success and additional dedicated resources from Ignite Philanthropy members.  The post location is flexible worldwide but preferably based in North America or Europe due to ease of access to current Investors Forum donors.

Primary responsibilities

• Generate the Investors Forum 2019-2020 strategy and work plan.
• Develop, manage, deepen, and expand Forum donor participant relationships.
• Facilitate Forum donor action hubs and activities.
• Plan all Forum meetings and events.
• Manage and oversee Investors Forum programmatic budget.
• Develop and embed learning mechanisms to evaluate the value of the Investors Forum.  
• Lead in selecting and managing external vendors as needed to accomplish Forum objectives.
• Maintain records to document the Investors Forum’s history, experience, and learnings.  Write related segments of Ignite Philanthropy’s Annual Report and other reports or proposals.
• Provide relevant support as needed to the Director and to broader Ignite Philanthropy activities, including through participation in regular team check-ins and periodic Ignite Philanthropy member check-ins (both via phone and in person).

Essential Education, Experience, Skills and Ability

• Senior professional with 15+ years of relevant experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• Native or near-native English fluency.
• Hands-on designing and building of successful collaborations among multiple diverse institutions.
• Facilitation of complex consensus-building processes.
• Ability to engage, develop and deepen relationships among wide-ranging institutional representatives.
• Stature, gravitas and confidence to gain the credibility and respect with Investors Forum participants and Ignite Philanthropy members and staff at all levels, as well as other external partners and stakeholders.
• Ability to manage-up effectively to individuals and groups in a way that makes group processes efficient and productive.
• Experience of effective communication at senior levels and with wealthy and influential people, providing compelling cases for advocacy and investment leadership.
• Demonstrated cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of values, views and approaches to issues relevant to Ignite Philanthropy allies and partners around the world.
• Savvy to generate and seize opportunities organically while building and maintaining a structured strategic framework and processes.
• Strong analytical and strategic mind for connecting the dots across fragmented spaces.
• Deep and responsive listener and superb oral and written communicator.
• Effective working independently and remotely, and as a team player.
• Exceptional reliability, organizational skills, and attention to detail.
• Exemplary interpersonal skills and collegial demeanour.
• Excellent fit with Ignite Philanthropy’s ethos and approach.
• Ability to manage and field phone calls at early/late hours as needed to accommodate diverse time zones of key partners.
• Significant professional experience in low- and middle-income countries.
• Periodic international travel required.

Desirable Education, Experience, Skills and Ability

• Prior leadership in ending violence against children is not required; familiarity with the sector is helpful.
• Direct experience as (and/or working with) senior foundation and bilateral donor agency staff.
• Familiarity with the complementarities between public and private funding, including understanding the differences both between them and within each type is helpful.
• Communications experience valuable.
• Additional United Nations official languages helpful but not required.

Desirable Education, Experience, Skills and Ability

Ignite Philanthropy: Inspiring the End to Violence Against Girls and Boys is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. NVF is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. NVF’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working. 

Post Title: Senior Coordinator, End Violence Investors Forum

Reports to: Director, Ignite Philanthropy

Location: Flexible worldwide, North America or Europe preferred