Business Development & Fundraising Manager

Action For Ocean (AFO) is seeking an experienced Business Development & Fundraising Manager to lead its resource mobilization and organizational growth efforts in Dar es Salaam. The role is focused on building a strong and diversified fundraising portfolio through institutional grants, foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, corporate partnerships, philanthropy, and conservation finance.

The successful candidate will manage the full fundraising cycle, from identifying funding opportunities and developing proposals to managing donor relationships, partnerships, fundraising pipelines, and reporting. This is a senior position requiring strong strategic judgment, proposal-writing ability, financial understanding, and experience securing significant funding.

Responsibilities

• Implement AFO’s 2026–2030 Resource Mobilisation Strategy.

• Develop annual and multi-year fundraising targets.

  

• Develop fundable programme packages and donor-specific cases for support.

• Diversify funding across institutional grants, foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, corporate/ESG partnerships, philanthropy, and conservation finance.

• Conduct funding-gap, scenario, and pipeline analysis.

• Prioritize multi-year, unrestricted, core, and capacity-strengthening funding.

• Apply opportunity qualification and bid/no-bid processes.

• Manage the fundraising dashboard and Monday.com workflow.

• Maintain accurate donor and funding opportunity information.

• Conduct prospect research and donor intelligence.

• Lead weekly pipeline reviews and monthly performance reviews.

• Track proposal submissions, outcomes, conversion rates, and lessons learned.

• Maintain secure and organized fundraising records.

• Lead the development of concept notes, EOIs, proposals, and donor presentations.

• Coordinate proposal kick-off meetings and bid plans.

• Work with Programme and MEL teams on theories of change, results frameworks, indicators, and sustainability strategies.

• Coordinate with Finance teams on budgets, cost recovery, co-financing, and value-for-money narratives.

• Ensure proposals address gender, social inclusion, safeguarding, climate risk, and locally led development.

• Conduct proposal quality assurance and red-team reviews.

• Manage proposal consultants and external technical contributors.

• Manage relationships with existing and prospective donors.

• Develop donor engagement plans.

• Prepare senior management for donor meetings and field visits.

• Maintain donor stewardship calendars.

• Coordinate donor reporting with Programme, MEL, and Finance teams.

• Identify renewal, extension, and scale-up opportunities.

• Monitor donor satisfaction and emerging risks.

• Develop partnerships with NGOs, research institutions, government agencies, foundations, private-sector organizations, CBOs, and financing partners.

• Develop partnership engagement plans.

• Lead consortium development for major funding opportunities.

• Conduct partner due diligence.

• Develop co-financing, cost-sharing, and match-funding opportunities.

• Represent AFO at donor roundtables, conferences, and sector forums.

• Support the development of MOUs and partnership agreements.

• Explore blended finance, conservation finance, blue-carbon, biodiversity-finance, and earned-income opportunities.

• Assess financial viability, risk, and alignment with AFO’s mission.

• Develop investor, funder, and partner materials.

• Support efforts to increase flexible and earned income without compromising the organization’s nonprofit mission.

• Supervise and coach fundraising staff, interns, consultants, and bid teams.

• Conduct proposal-writing and donor-intelligence training.

• Strengthen collaboration across departments.

• Maintain institutional knowledge, fundraising procedures, and lessons learned.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Ocean Conservation, Marine Science, Blue Economy, Environmental Science, Business, Public Policy, Economics, Finance, or a related field.

• A relevant postgraduate qualification is desirable.

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, resource mobilization, business development, strategic partnerships, or institutional advancement.

• Demonstrated contribution to securing significant grants or partnerships worth at least US$1 million.

• Experience leading complex, multi-partner, and multidisciplinary proposals.

• Experience managing donor pipelines, forecasts, CRM systems, fundraising dashboards, or digital project-management systems.

• Strong knowledge of donor compliance, due diligence, restricted and unrestricted funding, cost recovery, co-financing, and match funding.

• Experience in East Africa is strongly preferred.

• Experience in conservation, climate resilience, coastal livelihoods, or the blue economy is advantageous.

• Experience supervising staff, consultants, or cross-functional teams.

• Strong strategic judgment and prioritization skills.

• Excellent proposal-writing and persuasive communication skills.

• Strong donor and partner relationship-management abilities.

• Strong financial and commercial acumen.

• Knowledge of programme design.

• Strong project and deadline-management skills.

• Ability to manage digital systems and dashboards.

• Strong leadership and coaching capabilities.

• Ability to collaborate effectively across departments.

• High integrity and ethical judgment.

• Knowledge of safeguarding, compliance, and reputational risk.

• Strong learning and analytical orientation.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply through the official online application form:

Apply via the Action For Ocean online application form

The application deadline is 31 August 2026.

This is a senior fundraising and business-development opportunity best suited to candidates with substantial experience securing large-scale funding, developing donor partnerships, leading complex proposals, and managing strategic resource-mobilization systems.