Business Development & Fundraising Manager

About Action For Ocean

Action For Ocean (AFO), formerly Aqua-Farms Organization, is a Tanzanian, youth-led and community-rooted nonprofit working to protect marine ecosystems while strengthening coastal livelihoods and local leadership. AFO works across the Tanga, Kilwa, Mtwara and Dar es Salaam seascapes through ecosystem restoration, fisheries co-management, inclusive conservation finance, sustainable coastal livelihoods, marine skills development, research and policy engagement. AFO's Strategic Plan 2026-2030 sets out an ambitious programme to restore marine habitats, strengthen community stewardship of Marine Managed Areas, scale conservation-friendly livelihoods and build a resilient, high-performing organisation. Implementing the strategy requires the mobilisation of more than US$16 million over five years, greater funding predictability, diversified income, strategic partnerships, and disciplined execution of an organisation-wide resource mobilisation agenda.

Role Context

Action For Ocean (AFO) is implementing its 2026–2030 Strategic Plan, which requires mobilising more than USD 16 million to achieve its ambitious goals in marine conservation, community resilience, blue economy, research, and organisational development. To support this vision, AFO has established a comprehensive resource mobilisation function comprising an approved Resource Mobilisation Strategy, a structured donor pipeline, a fundraising dashboard, a Monday.com workflow, proposal development systems, institutional fundraising assets, and an expanding network of strategic partners.

The Business Development & Fundraising Manager will inherit this established fundraising ecosystem and will be responsible for strengthening, managing, and scaling it to deliver sustainable organisational growth. Rather than building a fundraising function from the ground up, the role focuses on executing strategy, increasing funding predictability, diversifying revenue streams, enhancing proposal quality, and building long-term strategic partnerships that position AFO as a leading marine conservation organisation in East Africa.

Role Purpose

The Business Development & Fundraising Manager provides strategic leadership for resource mobilisation and organisational growth by leading the implementation of AFO's Resource Mobilisation Strategy and securing the financial resources required to deliver the organisation's 2026–2030 Strategic Plan.

The postholder is accountable for managing AFO's end-to-end fundraising function, including donor engagement, strategic partnerships, opportunity identification, proposal development, pipeline management, fundraising systems, and institutional relationship management. Working closely with the Executive Director, Senior Management Team, and the technical advisors, the role will coordinate cross-functional proposal development, strengthen donor stewardship, expand funding opportunities, and ensure that AFO maintains a healthy, diversified, and sustainable funding portfolio.

Beyond securing funding, the role will continuously strengthen AFO's fundraising systems, institutional knowledge, and business development capacity to improve proposal success rates, increase donor retention, enhance funding predictability, and position the organisation for long-term financial sustainability and strategic growth.

Performance will be measured through a balanced scorecard that includes funding secured, quality and diversity of the funding portfolio, donor retention, pipeline health, proposal success rates, compliance, effective use of fundraising systems, cross-departmental collaboration, and contribution to the long-term financial sustainability of the organisation.

Core Responsibilities

A. Execute the Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Deliver Income Targets (25%)

• Lead implementation and periodic review of AFO's approved 2026-2030 Resource Mobilisation Strategy and annual fundraising action plans.

• Translate the Strategic Plan, annual budgets and programme priorities into clear annual and multi-year income targets.

• Develop and maintain fundable programme packages and donor-specific cases for support across AFO's four strategic goals and priority seascapes.

• Maintain a balanced portfolio of institutional grants, foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, corporate and ESG partnerships, philanthropy, conservation finance, earned income and other appropriate mechanisms.

• Lead quarterly funding-gap, scenario and pipeline analyses and recommend corrective action to the Executive Director and Senior Management Team.

• Prioritise multi-year, unrestricted, core, scale-up and capacity-strengthening funding and reduce dependence on any single donor or funding source.

• Apply a consistent opportunity qualification and bid/no-bid process to protect organisational focus and proposal quality.

B. Manage the Fundraising Pipeline, Dashboard and Monday.com System (20%)

• Own and maintain AFO's detailed fundraising dashboard, donor pipeline and Monday.com fundraising workflow as the organisation's single source of truth.

• Ensure all prospects, opportunities, donor interactions, deadlines, tasks, proposal stages, probabilities, values and next actions are updated at least weekly.

• Maintain a qualified, risk-adjusted pipeline with sufficient coverage against annual and forward funding requirements.

• Conduct prospect research, donor intelligence, funding landscape analysis and relationship mapping for AFO's thematic and geographic priorities.

• Lead weekly pipeline reviews and monthly performance reviews with the Executive Director and relevant teams.

• Maintain accurate historical data on submissions, outcomes, conversion rates, reasons for wins and losses, and lessons for future bids.

• Ensure continuity through strong documentation, access controls, version management and regular backup of fundraising records.

C. Lead Proposal Development and Bid Management (20%)

• Lead end-to-end development of concept notes, expressions of interest, proposals and donor presentations from opportunity assessment through submission and clarification.

• Chair proposal kick-off meetings and establish bid plans, responsibilities, internal deadlines, review stages and approval pathways.

• Coordinate Programme and MEL teams to develop technically credible designs, theories of change, results frameworks, indicators, implementation plans, learning agendas and sustainability strategies.

• Coordinate Finance to develop compliant, realistic and fully costed budgets, including indirect cost recovery, co-financing, match funding and value-for-money narratives.

• Ensure proposals reflect community leadership, gender and social inclusion, safeguarding, climate risk, locally led development and AFO's evidence and track record.

• Manage internal quality assurance, red-team reviews and executive approval for high-value or high-risk submissions.

• Manage proposal consultants and external technical inputs where required.

• Maintain and continuously improve reusable proposal assets, organisational profiles, capability statements, standard narratives, staff CVs, evidence summaries, policies and due-diligence materials.

D. Donor Cultivation, Stewardship and Retention (15%)

• Manage and deepen relationships with AFO's current donors, prospects and strategic partners.

• Develop engagement plans for priority donors, including relationship owners, entry points, influencing objectives and next actions.

• Prepare the Executive Director and other leaders for donor meetings, pitches, field visits and strategic events through briefing notes, talking points and follow-up plans.

• Maintain a donor stewardship calendar covering reporting, renewals, learning exchanges, field visits, acknowledgements and relationship milestones.

• Coordinate with Programme, MEL and Finance teams to support timely, accurate and strategic donor reporting while respecting formal reporting ownership.

• Identify renewal, extension, scale-up and co-funding opportunities well before existing grants end.

• Monitor donor satisfaction, restrictions, commitments and emerging risks and escalate issues promptly.

E. Strategic Partnerships, Consortia and Co-Financing (10%)

• Identify, cultivate, strengthen, and manage strategic partnerships with local and international NGOs, research institutions, bilateral and multilateral agencies, philanthropic foundations, government institutions, private-sector organizations, community-based organizations, and financing partners to advance AFO's strategic objectives.

• Develop and implement a strategic partnership engagement plan that expands AFO's funding opportunities, technical collaborations, visibility, and long-term institutional influence.

• Lead the identification, negotiation, and development of strategic consortia for large and complex funding opportunities, including partner due diligence, consortium design, role definition, governance arrangements, and proposal coordination.

• Identify and develop co-financing, cost-sharing, and match-funding opportunities that strengthen AFO's competitiveness and leverage additional resources for strategic programmes.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with existing strategic partners while proactively identifying and cultivating new partnerships that align with AFO's long-term strategic priorities.

• Represent AFO in donor roundtables, sector forums, conferences, technical working groups, and strategic networks to position the organisation as a recognised leader in marine conservation, blue economy, and community-led development.

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• Lead the negotiation and development of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), partnership agreements, and collaboration frameworks, ensuring appropriate legal, financial, safeguarding, compliance, and reputational due diligence.

• Monitor and evaluate the performance of strategic partnerships to ensure they deliver mutual value, strengthen AFO's institutional positioning, and contribute to sustainable resource mobilisation.

F. Innovative Finance and Organisational Sustainability (5%)

• Support AFO to assess and pursue suitable blended-finance, conservation-finance, blue-carbon, biodiversity-finance, recoverable-grant and earned-income opportunities.

• Work with the Executive Director and Finance team to assess financial viability, risk, governance requirements and mission alignment.

• Develop investor, funder and partner materials where appropriate while ensuring that financial commitments and transactions receive the required executive and Board approvals.

• Support AFO's objective of increasing flexible and earned income without compromising its nonprofit purpose.

G. Team Leadership, Capacity Building and Knowledge Transfer (5%)

• Supervise, coach and performance-manage fundraising staff, interns, consultants and assigned bid teams.

• Build fundraising capacity across AFO through proposal clinics, donor-intelligence sessions, writing support and practical coaching.

• Establish a collaborative bid culture with clear accountability, realistic lead times and shared ownership across departments.

• Maintain comprehensive documentation of donor relationships, proposal histories, systems, standard operating procedures and lessons learned.

• Protect continuity by ensuring the fundraising function does not become dependent on one individual.

Systems and Resources in place

• AFO 2026-2030 Resource Mobilisation Strategy.

• Detailed fundraising dashboard and funding pipeline.

• Monday.com fundraising workflow and task-management system.

• Existing donor and partner relationship portfolio.

• Active, submitted and prospective funding opportunities.

• Proposal templates, organisational narratives, capability statements and staff CVs.

• Due-diligence, policy and compliance document repository.

• Fundraising tracker, scenario budgets and opportunity forecasts.

• Proposal-development processes, review arrangements and institutional knowledge from the outgoing manager.

Role Boundaries and Cross-Functional Responsibilities

Area BD & Fundraising Manager Supporting/Approving Functions Funding strategy and pipeline Owns execution, prioritisation, tracking and reporting. Executive Director and SMT approve strategic direction and annual targets. Programme design Coordinates the bid process and ensures donor fit and coherence. Technical advisors and Programme leads own technical accuracy and implementation feasibility. MEL and evidence Ensures evidence is used persuasively and donor requirements are met. MEL owns indicators, data quality, measurement methodology and learning systems. Budgets and financial terms Coordinates costing, cost recovery, co-financing and donor requirements. Finance owns financial accuracy, controls, compliance and final budget approval. Donor reporting Maintains calendar, relationship strategy and quality coordination. Programme, MEL and Finance own report content within their mandates. Contracts and commitments Supports negotiation and flags risks. Executive Director, Finance and Board approve according to delegated authority.

Performance Indicators

Performance Area

Income and funding quality

• Income secured against approved targets; proportion of multi-year, unrestricted/core and strategic funding; appropriate indirect cost recovery.

Pipeline health

• Weighted and unweighted pipeline value; coverage ratio; proportion of opportunities with clear next actions; accuracy of probability and timing forecasts.

Proposal performance

• On-time submissions; quality assurance compliance; conversion rate; average lead time; lessons captured from wins and losses.

Donor stewardship

• Retention and renewal rate; timely follow-up; donor engagement milestones; quality and timeliness of coordinated reporting.

Diversification and resilience

• Forward funding secured; donor concentration; diversity by source and instrument; progress on earned and innovative finance.

Systems discipline

• Accuracy and completeness of Monday.com and dashboard records; weekly updates; document control; continuity and accessibility of institutional knowledge.

Leadership and collaboration

• Team performance; internal stakeholder feedback; adherence to roles and deadlines; staff capacity strengthened.

Compliance and risk

• Donor due diligence completed; funding restrictions understood; safeguarding, financial and reputational risks identified and managed.

Note: Numeric targets will be confirmed annually against the Board-approved budget, secured funding position and realistic market conditions. Performance incentives, where applicable, must use a balanced scorecard and must not be based only on cash raised.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum 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 seven years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising resource mobilisation, business development, strategic partnerships or institutional advancement.

• Demonstrated contribution to securing significant grants or partnerships of a minimum of 1M USD, from institutional, bilateral, multilateral, philanthropic and/or private-sector sources.

• Proven ability to lead complex, multi-partner and multidisciplinary proposal processes, including technical design, budgets, MEL frameworks and executive review.

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

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

• Experience in East Africa and familiarity with locally led development, conservation, climate resilience, coastal livelihoods or blue economy themes is strongly preferred.

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

Essential Competencies

• Strategic judgement and the ability to prioritise opportunities and protect organisational focus.

• Exceptional proposal writing, synthesis and persuasive communication.

• Strong donor and partner relationship management.

• Financial and commercial acumen, including budgets, cost recovery, co-financing and funding terms.

• Programme design literacy, including theories of change, results frameworks, indicators and sustainability models.

• Execution discipline and the ability to manage multiple deadlines, contributors and review stages.

• Digital systems discipline, including practical use of Monday.com, dashboards, CRM systems and document repositories.

• Leadership, coaching and cross-functional collaboration.

• High integrity, ethical judgement and awareness of safeguarding, compliance and reputational risk.

• Learning orientation and use of evidence, feedback and win/loss analysis to improve performance.

Desirable Experience

• Fundraising for marine conservation, fisheries, climate adaptation, blue carbon, biodiversity, livelihoods or locally led organisations.

• Experience with consortium bids, EU or other complex institutional grants, private foundations and international conservation funders.

• Exposure to blended finance, impact investment, carbon or biodiversity finance, social enterprise or conservation trust mechanisms.

• Public speaking, donor pitching and representation at regional or international forums.

• Professional proficiency in English; strong English is highly desirable.

Values, Safeguarding and Conduct

The postholder must demonstrate AFO's values and comply with all organisational policies, including safeguarding, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, child protection where applicable, anti-fraud and anti-bribery, conflicts of interest, data protection, health and safety and responsible use of donor and community information. Appointment will be subject to satisfactory references and any checks required by AFO policy.

Working Conditions

• Based in Dar es Salaam with regular travel to AFO's seascapes and partner locations.

• Occasional evening or weekend work may be required to meet donor deadlines or participate in international engagements.

• The role requires sustained desk-based work, external representation and coordination across dispersed teams.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: 31st August 2026.