Working as part of an international team of fundraising professionals, the Manager, Institutional Relations, Mesoamerica is responsible for fundraising with institutional donors (multilateral and bilateral agencies, corporate and private foundations) for RA priorities in the region. The Manager will coordinate with regional teams to manage the fundraising portfolio, leading and/or facilitating donor prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, and reporting. Locally based in Central America or Mexico, this role is part of both the Latin America regional team and the global Institutional Relations team, and will report to the Director, Strategic Partnerships and Community Forestry Enterprises (CFEs), LATAM with a matrixed reporting line to the Senior Manager, Institutional Relations. This role will coordinate closely with a Manager, Institutional Relations, South America region to align funding strategies for Latin America, and work in partnership with the Global IR team.

S/he will proactively lead institutional fundraising in the Mesoamerica region, coordinating with the global IR team and program colleagues to ensure that regional fundraising targets are met. This includes linking global and regional priorities and funding strategies, building and monitoring a funding pipeline, facilitating or leading engagement with donors and partners, creating persuasive messages and materials for communications, and assisting with the development and submission of proposals and reports. Maintaining a strategic portfolio of institutional donors and donor prospects, s/he will develop and regularly update a region-wide engagement plan, ensuring timely follow-up actions, and helping to further strengthen relationships with key institutional donor and partner contacts in the region. The incumbent will work closely with senior program staff to develop compelling proposals, build creative funding partnerships, and support reporting and donor stewardship. S/he will engage staff from across the organization, such as programs, global compliance, markets, themes and sectors, and finance staff in the development of detailed funding proposals at the six- and seven-figure level. S/he will be expected to directly cultivate potential new funder relationships and pursue creative solutions to leverage new partnerships with donors and companies, cultivating an understanding of RA’s strategic priorities and programmatic capabilities with relevant donors.

Responsibilities:

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate.
• Write, adapt, and edit proposals, concept notes, impactful project ideas, and reports for field projects and programs, working closely with program staff, Global IR, and field teams;
• Advance and implement regional fundraising strategy and annual plans to secure bilateral and multilateral funding, as well as corporate and foundation revenue, with specific fundraising targets identified for the short and long term;
• Develop and maintain a portfolio of key local contacts for priority donors and other institutional partners to strengthen RA’s position regionally and capture intelligence relevant to funding priorities;
• Serve as a key point of contact between the Global IR team and technical staff based in Mesoamerica, liaising with both on a day-to-day basis;
• Ensure that fundraising data for the Latin America Program is up to date and accurate within donor database, in coordination with the Manager, IR, South America region;
• Work collaboratively with the Director, Director of Partnership and CFEs Strategic Relationships, and the Regional Communications Manager to develop a unified, strategic positioning and roll it out with key donors and other strategic partners in the region;
• Represent RA externally with a funder audience through in-person meetings, presentations, phone calls, and written communications;
• Support development of high-quality reports for selected institutional donors, ensuring consistency with donor requirements and coordination with global grants management team;
• Develop deep collaborative bonds with colleagues across functional areas, particularly field teams with whom proposals and reports will be produced jointly and under tight deadlines;
• Support grants management for projects executed in Mesoamerica;
• Create and manage key performance metrics to build awareness of and communicate priorities and performance on fundraising in the Mesoamerica region and beyond, serving as a champion for IR Latin America efforts within the organization;
• Create and disseminate donor collateral and other materials that clarify to internal and external audiences RA’s impact, immediate funding needs, and overall approach in Latin America;
• Develop engagement plans and action items for key donors in the Mesoamerica region;
• Support the design and dissemination of key material to better position the organization in Mesoamerica to engage donors and key audience; and
• Other tasks as assigned.