Purpose of role:
Support VSO to seek and respond to restricted funding opportunities – developing competitive funding proposals by coordinating VSO bid teams and acting as lead writer.
Responsibilities:
Funding strategy & positioning is aligned to programme priorities:Contribute to a global, coordinated fundraising strategy, centered around VSO’s Core Programme Areas and Signature Programmes – when required participating in the CPA and SP development processes (either as a process coordinator or a member of the core development team)Work collaboratively with wider funding team to help identify and plan strategies to position VSO with potential partners and donors
Bid development:
Rapidly pull together bid materials (proposal, presentation, concept outline) that bring a project or programme idea into a concrete, fundable proposition (including bringing out the VfM arguments, responding to donor/partner key interests, & being technically compliant, to ensure sound concept in line with good development practice and feasible delivery –
Provide bid development for single and multi-country bids, regional and global calls and where VSO is a member of a consortia (as lead or sub)
Manage and lead diverse proposal bid teams (made up of country office staff, partners, volunteers, VSO technical experts from finance, M&E & fundraising, programme teams and external consultants as needed) to deliver highly competitive concept notes and full proposals for all funding sources (institutional donors, trusts, foundations, major donors, and the corporate sector) -emphasis on large scale funding opportunities over £1M, complex and / or consortia applications
Design and lead on proposal development workshops to bring together and validate consortia/bid team inputs
Ensure legally binding teaming agreements are in place with consortia partners, and facilitate internal proposal risk assessment sign offs by senior leadership
Ensure Value for Money arguments and Theories of Change and Cost Recovery are clearly articulated in all proposals
As part of the wider business development team, provide high quality proposal review to other proposals (where not the lead)
Identify, collate and share good practice and learning around donor requirements and agreed programme portfolio
Contribute to the development of signature packages for country offices as part of the prepositioning and bid development core functions
