Organization Summary:

UBONGO is Africa's leading producer of kids' edutainment. As a non-profit social enterprise, we create fun, localized, and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Ubongo reaches over 27 million kids across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio, and mobile phones. Our show’s Ubongo Kids and Akili and Me currently air in 23 countries across Africa, in Swahili, English, French, Kinyarwanda, Kikuyu, Luo, Yoruba, Hausa, Chichewa, and Juba Arabic. 

Job Position: We are looking for a Development Manager.  Working at Ubongo won’t be easy, but it will challenge and excite you with lots of responsibilities, and plenty of fun, and give you the opportunity to impact the lives of millions of kids every day. 

We’re looking for a dynamic, creative, and flexible Development Manager to expand and improve our Fundraising department. You’ll work closely with our Head of Communications and Development to support our fundraising efforts with foundations, grantmakers, and individuals from around the world who may be interested in funding and giving to our work. We are looking for a dynamic, experienced communications professional, who will work closely with our fundraising team to solicit funding opportunities through grant writing and help to create content for/run individual giving campaigns.  A successful candidate will be a great storyteller and an even better relationship builder with a passion for the work that we do. 

The selected candidate should expect to spend 80% of their time drafting, editing, and submitting grant applications, and 20% of their time on prospecting funding opportunities and team meetings.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Lead in grant writing efforts, including, prospecting, drafting, editing, and submitting applications that Ubongo decides to pursue

Main Activities:  

• Researching, prospecting, and identifying donors, funders, and opportunities to pursue
• Updating and managing our CRM database for prospective donors, applications, and past (already pursued) prospects
• Writing applications for awards and challenge grants, LOIs and concept notes with support from the Development Manager

• Manage relationships with individual donors through consistent personalized communications and the development of content for fundraising campaigns

Main Activities:  

• Own and manage our Network for Good fundraising platform & pages
• Write fundraising newsletter and support the development of other fundraising communications including website copy, social media content, blog posts, and press releases
• Understanding Ubongo’s vision, mission, impact, and priorities and sharing our story effectively with potential funders through different communication channels
• Design and write donor appeals for campaigns
• Building personal relationships and following up consistently  with individual donors and fundraisers, encouraging them to get more involved 
• Find creative ways to host and facilitate Ubongo introductory webinars for interested stakeholders, supporters, and donors 
• Support brand awareness and building within our US audiences and the African diaspora - think critically and creatively about building brand awareness, with support from the comms team, in the US and among African diaspora communities

REQUIREMENT: KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, and QUALIFICATIONSESSENTIALS:

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills: Proven grant writing and storytelling skills.
• Experience in outreach and/or network-building roles
• Ability to synthesize research and produce compelling literature reviews.
• Bachelor's degree preferably in English Literature, Creative Writing, Education, Research, Marketing, Communications, Nonprofit Management, Business, or a related field.
• Proven experience working in grant writing,  fundraising, marketing, corporate communications, content development, writing, or project management
• Must be able to provide at least 3 professional references.
• Must love kids!
• You have the ability to work independently and to think on your feet
• Be willing to wear many hats!

PREFERRED:

• Deep understanding of Africa’s education and development landscape
• 3+ years experience fundraising or grant writing for a non-profit company or social enterprise
• Passionate about education, storytelling, and being a changemaker.
• Loves building relationships and talking to new people!
• Great storytelling skills that come through in public speaking and writing. We tell powerful stories and you need to be able to represent our brand well publically. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES:Benefits: 

Phew! You made it through that. The good thing is that there are also perks, like a delicious healthy lunch at the office, health insurance, pension payments of up to 10% (matching the value of your individual contributions), 28 working days of paid annual leave (in addition to the public holidays) and you get to watch cartoons at work. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Please note that only online applications will be considered. Those who come directly to the office with a CV or who email their CV to us will simply be directed to apply online. 

So please save yourself time and effort by simply sticking to online applications. THANKS!