Fund Director

The deadline for applications is Sunday 15^th June

Location: Global
Location type: Remote
Reporting to: Chair of the Steering Committee
Annual salary: $100K USD, inclusive of all fees. Compensation will vary based on employment type (self-employed or salaried), part-time or full-time status, experience, and location.
Contract type: Two – year contract
Candidate level: Experienced non-manager

Background
The Early Childhood Regional Networks Fund (ECRN Fund) is a philanthropic initiative that supports strong, resilient and representative networks to advance early childhood development. Presently, the ECRN Fund supports four regional networks who together span over 100 countries, covering Asia and the Pacific (ARNEC), the Middle East (ANECD), Africa (AfECN), and Europe and Central Asia (ISSA).

The ECRN Fund is a collaborative pooled fund launched in June of 2022, and is governed by five partner foundations which constitute the Steering Committee: Oak Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Porticus, Van Leer Foundation, and The Human Safety Net. The ECRN Fund is hosted by Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, who ensures good governance and stewards the Fund's financial and administrative management. The Fund is staffed by a small and dynamic team: the Fund Director and the Program Manager.

The ECRN Fund is the direct consequence of philanthropy’s commitment and support to the early childhood field, and the recognition of the role that networks play in sustaining and catalysing policy and practice change for the early years. Without networks, the field would lack the platforms to share knowledge and best practices, the place to incubate new ideas and generate collective momentum, and the channels to coordinate plans and strategies to avoid re-inventing the wheel. Rather than tackling issues in isolation, networks combine the forces of many different actors to coordinate action and make progress together. In early childhood, where positive outcomes are dependent on the collaboration between many sectors and stakeholders, networks play an even more significant role.

As a collaborative fund, the ECRN Fund recognises that supporting the growth and development of networks is an investment with enormous reach and potential. Regional early childhood networks catalyse change in policy and practice by mobilising their members to generate evidence, share knowledge, strengthen capacity and build the resilience of ECD systems across their regions, which together span over 100 countries. By funding networks, we enable a wider chain of impact that runs from a network’s membership of organisations to the communities, families and children that they serve.

The ECRN Fund is closing its first three-year phase of grant-making and is currently undergoing a participatory strategic review to capture its successes and gather insights on how to improve its ways of working, which will feed into a refreshed strategy to be developed later this year.

For additional information on the ECRN Fund, we encourage you to review our website, as well as our inaugural report on how regional ECD networks catalyse impact.

Purpose of role
This is an exciting opportunity to guide the ECRN Fund into its next phase. While grant-making activities will continue, 2025 represents a period of transition for the fund and an opportunity to strengthen and build from its achievements and learnings during its first phase of implementation.

Connected to this, the Fund must grow in order to sustain its operations and grant-making moving forward, which will require a strong donor mobilisation strategy. The goal is to raise an additional USD $2.5 million over the next three years, and the right candidate will be a creative, motivated leader who can help deliver on this goal, in partnership with the Steering Committee and regional networks.

Appointed by the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, you will act as the lead staff member responsible for the strategic development and operation of the Fund. Reporting to the chair of the Steering Committee and supported by the Program Manager.

Primary responsibilities
Strategy refresh & donor mobilisation

Develop and implement a refreshed grant-making strategy for the ECRN Fund, together with the Steering Committee and regional networks.
Refresh and execute our donor mobilisation plan, which will include the promotion and representation of the Fund in discussions with potential new donors. This may also include other areas of work, such as strengthening our external communications to elevate the visibility of the fund and boost the interest of the philanthropic community.

Liaison with regional networks

Liaise with the regional networks to understand their needs, issues and context; to communicate future funding levels and opportunities; to support networks in preparing applications, and in meeting their reporting obligations. To be particularly proactive in emergency or unexpected situations.
Assess grant or project applications from the Regional Networks, providing analysis and recommendations to the Steering Committee, including soliciting and summarizing external reviews, where requested.
Identify opportunities to provide non-monetary support to Regional Networks (e.g. external consultancy support).

Grant management and learning activities

Implement the grant-making strategy of the Fund under the supervision of the Steering Committee, including developing and managing grant application and review processes.
Advise the Steering Committee and take a lead (as appropriate) on the design and development of specific projects consistent with the goals of the Fund. For example, capacity building of Regional Networks, optimisation of the administrative process, specific research into network effectiveness, etc, managing external consultants/advisors as appropriate.
Organising events and convenings with regional networks, steering committee members, and others, as relevant.
As advised by Steering Committee and in consultation with regional networks, develop and implement a Learning, Monitoring and Evaluation framework and processes to capture important information and insights about the activities, outputs and impacts of the fund, and to gather strategies to inform collective, reflective learning by all participants in the fund (Regional Networks, donors, SPF, staff) and the field in general.
Proactively create an ethos of collaboration amongst a diversity of partners and stakeholders. Scan the field for opportunities.

Fund management, governance and donor relations

Organise and facilitate meetings of the Steering Committee (~quarterly), ensuring efficient and effective governance support; also ensuring that new members of the Steering Committee are appointed and briefed. (Note: The Fund Director attends meetings of the Steering Committee as a non-voting member).
Ensure the Steering Committee has accurate and timely information to ensure proper financial and strategic oversight.
Produce an annual report for the Fund, designed to meet the needs of the various stakeholders.
Liaise with the Donors to understand their needs and to ensure that Donors are supplied with an appropriate quantity and frequency of information to keep them actively engaged.

Financial management & oversight

Work with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation on the day-to-day management the budget, including expense tracking, incoming grant allocation and ensuring appropriate financial forecasting and healthy cashflow.
Facilitate discussions and approval of the annual budget with the Steering Committee and ensure adherence to approved budgets.

Supervision

Supervise and support the work of the Program Manager, particularly in relation to grant management, administrative support to the Steering Committee, and communication with the Regional Networks.

Experience

Experience and professional credibility to represent the fund at a senior level.
Knowledge of early childhood development and the field, particularly at the global level.
Experience of working with networks, donor collaboratives, and boards.
Strong track record of developing and delivering on fundraising or resource mobilisation plans.
Prior experience in grants management.
The ability to write clear and focused reports/presentations (in English).
Experience with developing donor mobilisation plans, fundraising strategies, and/or strategic communications strategies.
A high level of cultural sensitivity and awareness.
A capacity to work independently; be proactive; demonstrate diplomacy, transparency and fairness; negotiate consensus, and show initiative.
Highly strategic and adaptive, able to work in a dynamic environment.
An excellent communicator able to develop and deliver compelling narratives, and comfortable with public speaking.
The ability to travel in person for Steering Committee meetings, visits of Regional Networks and other site visits/meetings/conferences as required.

Terms and conditions
This is a global initiative with a remote team, and we welcome applications that reflect the diversity of the regional networks supported by this fund. Our intention is to build a talented team with diverse backgrounds, cultures, perspectives, and experiences to support the innovation and creativity aspired to by the networks and donors involved.

Given the international locations of both donors and networks, the work base of the Fund Manager will be home based. Flexibility in working hours to accommodate meetings across global time zones will be required, especially in the 09:00 to 12:00 CET window.

In your covering letter, please address the following three questions:

What are the main opportunities and challenges you anticipate in leading this fund?
What would be your priorities in the first three months of this role?
What is your salary expectation, date of availability for this role, and are you looking for an 80% or 100% FTE role?

Please contact Ruth Gardner at ruth@darylupsall.com for any queries you may have.

The deadline for application is Sunday 15^th June 2025

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Daryl Upsall International actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. In recruiting candidates, we seek candidates with the proven skills required; irrespective of race, gender, religion or belief, age, disability or sexual orientation.

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