Institutional Funding Senior Team Lead Foundations

Your mission

War Child Alliance works to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children affected by conflict. Through a global alliance of partners, we deliver high-impact programmes that help children recover from war and build a safer future.

To support our growing ambitions, we are seeking an experienced and strategic Institutional Funding Senior Team Lead Foundations to play a pivotal role in securing funding from major trusts and foundations worldwide.

The Role

This is a senior leadership position within our Institutional Funding & Grants Delivery (IFGD) department. You will lead the Foundations Account Management (FAM) team and drive the development and delivery of War Child Alliance’s foundations funding strategy across the Alliance.

Reporting to the Global Head of Institutional Funding & Grants Delivery, you will combine strategic vision with hands-on leadership—strengthening donor relationships, shaping winning funding strategies, and ensuring income growth that directly enables life-changing programmes for children affected by conflict.

What you will do:

1. Coordinating and driving implementation of the IF and foundations funding strategy  

• Coordinate and ensure coherence in the implementation of trust and foundations funding strategies and donor engagement plans across the Alliance.
• Proactively engage with the trusts and foundations market to maximize funding opportunities, including through strategic engagement and positioning towards donors.
• Lead and coordinate proactive acquisition and sharing of donor intelligence, networking and strategic engagement among donor account managers and with country, regional and global teams, and WCA members.
• Work with country, regional and global teams, and WCA members to develop compelling propositions for trusts and foundations.
• Implement fundraising activities, and monitor and report on progress and results.
  Result:Income growth ensured in accordance with theWCA’sgrowth ambitions and targets, with clear oversight of progress against agreed plans.

2. Optimizing donor funding, partnerships, and quality delivery 

• Provide expert advice to country, regional, and global teams on donor engagement, business development, proposal development and submission, contract management, and reporting.
• Implement fundraising activities, monitor and report on progress and results.
• Ensure high-quality, compliant submissions and reports in collaboration with the Quality Assurance team.
• Strengthen relationships with in-country donor representatives and relevant foundation stakeholders.
  Result:Higher-quality donor propositions and optimized funding performance across the Alliance.

3. Leading and supporting the Foundations Account Management (FAM) team 

• Supervise staff by reviewing performance quality and volume, providing guidance, coaching, and motivation where necessary.
• Ensure the team has the appropriate manpower and qualities to realize defined goals and targets.
• Support staff development and provide a point of contact for questions and challenges.
• Foster teamwork and a positive team culture aligned with safeguarding and HR policies.

For full details of the role and responsibilities, please view the complete Job Description here:
 [Link to Full Job Description]

Your profile

You will bring:

Proven foundations fundraising expertise
Significant experience developing and maintaining relationships with large-scale trusts and foundations, with demonstrated donor account management expertise, particularly with major foundations.
Strategic and operational funding leadership
Demonstrated expertise in funding strategy development and operationalisation, with the ability to analyse the donor environment, identify trends, anticipate change, and work effectively in complex and evolving contexts.
Relevant INGO experience
A minimum of five years’ experience in a similar role within an international organisation, with strong knowledge of fundraising for NGOs from foundations and an understanding of donor networks.
Team leadership and capacity building
Experience managing and supervising staff, including coaching and developing others, and demonstrated ability to strengthen the capacity of colleagues using a range of formal and informal methods.