Director of Development

ISD is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to safeguarding human rights and reversing the rising tide of polarisation, extremism and disinformation worldwide.

Why work for ISD?

ISD is not your ordinary think tank. We turn research into action that changes the world. Our insights don't gather dust on shelves - they power the fight to protect democracy and human rights on the front lines. We're committed to delivering real change, from the grassroots to the highest levels of global institutions. And we're looking for passionate individuals who share our commitment to making a difference. Join us and be part of an organisation that's making an impact.

ISD's Guiding Principles of integrity, collaboration, agility and courage define who we are as a team and an organisation. These principles reflect our culture and guide the way we work and the choices we make.

Our benefits

• Flexible and remote working based on ISD's Time Principles of trust, communication and flexibility.

• 20 days annual leave, plus 11 public holidays.

• 1 week of additional paid time off over Christmas, outside of your annual leave entitlement.

• Additional paid time off for development and life's important events.

• Sick pay and enhanced family friendly policies and compassionate leave.

• Health insurance policy including vision, dental, life insurance and disability.

• Annual personal development budget.

• Remote working budget.

• Employee Assistance Programme and dedicated counsellors for those working with potentially traumatic content.

• Inclusive wellbeing programme with regular wellbeing initiatives e.g. early finish on a Friday.

Salary

$110,000 - $140,000 based on experience

Location

You may work from our office in Washington, D.C, from home, or on a hybrid arrangement to suit you. Please note you will be required to attend the office occasionally for team meetings.

Hours

This is a full-time position, 40 hours per week. We are open to considering flexible working arrangements.

Contract type

Full time, permanent.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

ISD is committed to promoting diversity throughout its workforce and aims for its team to be truly representative of all sections of society. We make a concerted effort to ensure our workplace, employment policies and organisational culture creates an inclusive, positive and progressive environment in which all members of our team are treated with dignity and respect. For further information about this policy or our recruitment practices, please email vacancies@isdglobal.org.

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, carers, and people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

The role

The US Director of Development will drive the growth of our work in the US by (a) increasing grants from private, family, community, and corporate foundations, (b) building a new pipeline of individual major gifts. They will work with the Executive Director, CEO, and respective program leads in designing, developing and delivering a series of exciting development opportunities to support overall growth in the US market.

The post holder will oversee and manage foundation grants and individual major gifts in tandem with our US Executive Director. Responsibilities include researching prospects, identifying and building relationships with them, and developing bespoke proposals. The incumbent will oversee development, compliance, reporting, and coordination.

Key responsibilities include:

• Opportunity scoping by leading on opportunity research and mapping activities, including proactively monitoring US funding opportunities to support ISD’s work.

• Analyze and provide recommendations to the US Executive Director in the “go/no go” process for new funding opportunities.

• Proposal development and fulfilment by working closely with leadership and program teams in the planning and conceptualization of development activities.

• Contribute to and lead all aspects of proposal development including opportunity analysis, partner negotiations, preparing supporting documents, writing sections of technical narrative and budget development, collating and editing additional content 

• Oversee the proposal process, including liaising with partners and donors and managing cross-departmental internal team timelines and contributions.

• Act as the intersection between programming and operations teams to ensure proposals comply with any donor requirements and meet ISD quality standards 

To view a full job description, please  click here.

The ideal candidate

The ideal candidate will have impeccable writing and verbal communication skills, and a keen understanding of development, moves management, donor stewardship and fundraising ethics. Key to success in this role is the ability to speak to the full suite of ISD programming to pitch to potential partners and deliver quick turnaround concepts that can lead to development wins for ISD-US. 

Please review our  job description for essential criteria, and keep in mind that no candidate will meet every requirement in the advert. If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified, but you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to hear from you.

How to apply

Please submit your application by the 31st of January. ISD reserves the right to interview and appoint candidates prior to the advertised closing date.

If you have any further questions about this vacancy or want to speak to a member of our recruitment team, please contact vacancies@isdglobal.org.