Background to the role

Working with philanthropic foundations to help protect people, animals and the planet

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is at the forefront of the movement to transform meat production in order to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, from climate change and global hunger, to antibiotic resistance and animal suffering.

We work with scientists, businesses and policymakers to make sustainable proteins like plant-based and cultivated meat (cultivated directly from cells) delicious, affordable and accessible. Please check out our 2023 Year in Review and our 5 year anniversary blog post to find out more about who we are and what we do.

We are at an exciting stage in our growth and are looking for a Foundations Manager to support GFI’s fundraising efforts across Europe.

How you will make a difference

The work of GFI is entirely funded through philanthropy. Reporting to our Head of Development, you will be in a frontline fundraising role, building and sustaining relationships with philanthropic foundations in support of GFI’s global work. Your role will have high responsibility and high impact. Your performance in this role has the potential to make a significant impact on how quickly Europe and the world move to a more ethical and sustainable food system. 

Working closely with GFI’s global development team, you will be responsible for securing essential philanthropic funds to power our work across the globe to transform animal agriculture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve natural resources and prevent animal suffering on a massive scale. Your work will include:

• Achieving ambitious, mutually-agreed fundraising targets through cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of foundations.
• Developing and implementing a strategy to build GFI’s philanthropic income from foundations in Europe, including by:
  • Working with the Prospect Research Manager to identify the most promising foundation prospects for GFI in Europe. 
  • Recommending which cause areas to focus on/expand into and developing messaging accordingly.
  • Liaising with GFI Europe’s Policy team on the intersection of development work and the NGO Policy workstream, to identify mutually beneficial strategies and engagement opportunities.
  • Coordinating with the Senior Director of Foundation Relations at GFI US to ensure that our strategies are complementary and aligned.
  • Working with national-level fundraisers (e.g. in Germany) to support their work with foundations.
• Through face-to-face meetings, video and telephone calls, email and other channels, building strong, meaningful, long-term relationships with a portfolio of philanthropic foundations across Europe to acquire, retain and upgrade their support. 
• Crafting and presenting creative funding proposals and strong grant applications. This will include liaising with programmatic colleagues and GFI’s leadership to craft compelling proposals based on specific projects, as well as for unrestricted grants.
• Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of GFI’s theory of change and programmatic work in order to effectively communicate our impact with foundation donors and prospects.  
• Ensuring accurate, timely and thorough correspondence, acknowledgement and record-keeping at all stages of the donor journey. You will use our CRM system (Salesforce) to manage your portfolio and grant opportunities, enter and track gifts, pull reports, and analyse data.  
• Developing and maintaining a calendar to document all deadlines for calls for projects, LOIs, proposals, and reports, and ensure tracking mechanisms are in place, to ensure grant compliance requirements within your portfolio are met. 
• Coordinating closely with colleagues including GFI Europe’s Managing Director and Head of Development, GFI US Senior Director of Foundation Relations, and other GFI colleagues across our global affiliates to coordinate their roles in grant-seeking strategies, proposal and report creation, and meetings with foundation donors.
• Performing other relevant duties as required.

Who we’re looking for

You must have:

• A passion for our philosophy and mission.
• A proven track record of cultivating relationships with foundations or other funding institutions, and securing significant gifts. Ideally, you will be able to demonstrate experience in successfully leading new foundation prospects through the pipeline from identification to stewardship. 

• Exceptional strategic thinking: the ability to see the big picture, and to envisage an ambitious goal and illuminate a path for achieving it.
• Excellent verbal communication skills: the ability to persuasively make the case for support for GFI and to represent GFI Europe to our stakeholders.
• Exceptional written communication skills: the ability to understand a range of specialist information and craft it into compelling, inspiring, understandable proposals/funding applications. 
• Excellent people skills: building strong, collaborative and positive relationships, and working well with colleagues and managing many stakeholders across multiple cultures.
• Strong initiative: self-motivation, a sense of ownership and responsibility to drive outcomes.

• Strong prioritisation and organisational skills: consistently following through on commitments, reliably bringing simultaneous tasks and projects to completion, ensuring that all aspects are addressed comprehensively and nothing is overlooked, and allocating time effectively to manage competing deadlines.
• Comfort using a CRM database to record and track interactions with donors and prospects, and attention to detail in ensuring the accuracy of information.

• A willingness to travel across Europe in pursuit of philanthropic opportunities.
• Commitment to confidentiality: A high degree of professionalism, ethical sensitivity and discretion, and awareness of how to manage confidential and sensitive information in line with European data protection regulations. 
• An affinity with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and with maintaining our welcoming and supportive culture. 
• A willingness to occasionally work flexibly, including some evenings, weekends and public holidays.
• Good level of IT literacy and a willingness to learn new software packages.

It would be an advantage to have some or all of the following attributes, but none of them are prerequisites, and we welcome applications from candidates without any or all of them:

• The ability to work in European languages in addition to English. German, French or Dutch would be a particular advantage.   

We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We strongly encourage people of every colour, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. Because we value a diverse workplace, we prioritise an inclusive climate absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team. 

Benefits and the fine print

• Terms of employment: Full-time (flexible hours), permanent. Requests for part-time hours (0.8 FTE or above) can be considered. Please state in your application.
• Location: We can consider applicants based in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain or the UK. This is a remote role, and you will be able to work from home, or we are happy to consider supporting costs for co-working to enable you to work from an office if you wish. The whole GFI Europe team aims to get together in person approximately twice per year for around 3-5 days at a time. Travel costs will be covered by GFI Europe within our travel policy.
• Salary: £45,600 to £51,600. FTE.  This range is based on a UK hire and will be adjusted if hired elsewhere in Europe.
• Right to work requirements: The successful candidate must, by the start of the employment, have permission to work in the country where they are based, and to travel in the EU.

Application process

Please apply through Bamboo Fundraising here, and reach out to info@bamboofundraising.co.uk with any questions.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about this role, please do reach out to us at europe-hiring@gfi.org. If you’ve read this far but decided not to apply, please share this job description with someone else in your network who you think might be a good fit for the role! Thank you.