BACKGROUND
Water for Waslala (WfW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to
ending the water crisis in Waslala, a municipality in central Nicaragua
where over 60,000 residents live in 85 rural communities. Due to a lack
of potable water systems, nearly all Waslalans are forced to drink from
polluted local rivers, causing severe illness and inhibiting personal
and regional development. Water for Waslala seeks to permanently end
this crisis by working together with the Waslalan people to provide
every Waslalan man, woman, and child with access to safe drinking water
within a generation.
Since its inception in 2004, WfW has provided a daily supply of clean
water to over 2,500 Waslalans. On the ground in Waslala, WfW supports
several full-time staff to deliver its program objectives. In the US,
Water for Waslala consists of a volunteer Board of Directors, which
oversees the organization's fundraising and programmatic activities.
Learn more at
www.waterforwaslala.org.
OVERVIEW
After nine years of refining our drinking water programs, Water for
Waslala has recently begun to scale the pace of its work and its impacts
in Waslala. Over the last twelve months, we have doubled our Waslala
staff from three to six, and plan to gradually increase the number of
projects we complete each year as well, with an ultimate goal of
providing all 60,000 Waslalans with clean drinking water by 2030.
To enable this growth in Waslala, Water for Waslala is seeking to
hire its first full-time US employee, an Executive Director, to build
the capabilities of our US side of the organization. The Executive
Director will be expected to develop our organization in three areas:
1. Fundraising capacity: To scale our work in
Waslala, we need to grow from being a $100K organization to a $200-$250K
organization within the next 1-2 years. Our Executive Director will be
expected to create and execute a new fundraising strategy that will
enable us to double our fundraising revenues through new partnerships,
major gifts, and foundation support.
2. Strategic partnerships: given
that we are still a young and relatively unknown organization, one of
our biggest needs is to develop partnerships with organizations that
will:
- Significantly increase awareness of Water for Waslala
- Provide access to potential board members or strategic advisors
- Provide access to new sources of revenue
Such partnerships could include (but not be limited to) industry
partnerships with peer water and sanitation (WASH) nonprofits, Latin
America or Nicaragua-focused associations, and academic professors or
institutions that specialize in WASH. Partnerships could also be formed
with PR or media firms that could get our name out in the press, or with
SEO organizations that could help improve our presence on the web.
3. US operations: the day-to-day operations of our
US organization have been carried out by our Board of Directors for the
last ten years. However, as our organization enters into a new growth
phase, we recognize that our Board of Directors needs to evolve to focus
more on strategy and fundraising. As a result, many of the day-to-day
operational activities and processes need to be formalized and delegated
to other volunteers. Our Executive Director will be expected to create a
strategy to improve our US governance and operations activities,
including developing a road map for evolving our Board of Directors,
recruiting new Board members, creating a strategy to delegate key
operational processes (e.g. accounting, HR, website maintenance) to
other individuals, and managing those individuals.
---------
The successful candidate will be our only US employee, so the
position is suited for an entrepreneurial self-starter who has
experience and is excited by working independently in a startup-like
atmosphere, with few resources to leverage that are common at larger
organizations. Our future Executive Director must also be passionate
about our organization and eager to build a lasting legacy that tangibly
improves the lives of the poor in our world.
Because we are a virtual organization in the US, the location of the
Executive Development position is flexible, though frequent travel to
Philadelphia, where most of our donors and Board of Directors live,
would be required.
QUALIFICATIONS
The right professional will have the following attributes and qualifications:
- Ability to be both a high-level strategic thinker and a doer –
must be equally comfortable developing blue-sky strategic plans and
driving the day-to-day execution of those plans
- Proven track record of leading similar organizations through their own growth phases
- Proven ability to work independently with little day-today oversight or support
- Creative, out of the box problem solver
- Tenacity – must be resourceful enough to overcome the inevitable challenges and setbacks that will naturally occur over time
- Experience leading and managing teams
- Sales/fundraising background and Executive Director or related experience
- Proven track record in designing and managing fundraising
campaigns, developing relationships with donors and prospects, securing
major gifts, and meeting fundraising targets
- Experience identifying and cultivating relationships with strategic partners
- Experience with organizational design, process improvement, and Board management
- Experience in the water and sanitation sector, or a proven track record of becoming expert in various industries quickly
- International development experience, as well as experience in a developing country context, preferred
- Entrepreneurial attitude and a willingness to work as sole US employee in a startup-like environment
- Exceptional attention to detail and organizational skills
- Drive and a passion to grow Water for Waslala to new levels of success
- Bachelor's degree required; 10+ years of professional experience preferred
- Ability to communicate confidently and effectively with Board of
Directors, donors, prospects, and high-net-worth individuals; strong
written, oral, and listening skills a must
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Create a detailed fundraising strategy and action plan to meet our fundraising goals and close our projected fundraising gap
- Research and prospect potential individual donors through existing and new networks
- Create high-quality marketing materials and pitches to articulate our achievements, vision, and needs to potential donors
- Build and cultivate relationships with new and existing donors
and strategic partners through personal meetings or phone calls, emails,
or mailings
- Create a Board evolution strategy and a plan to recruit new Board members
- Formalize key US operational processes, and manage group of volunteers to oversee the execution of those processes
- Travel to Waslala, Nicaragua several times per year to gain a first-hand perspective on our work and its human impacts
HOW TO APPLY
