Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action โ helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.
The Department
In support of Mercy Corpsโ mission, the Corporate and Foundation Partnerships teams manage Mercy Corpsโ fundraising relationships with major global companies and foundations. We set bold visions for the positive social change we can create with our partners, provide outstanding partner services and relationship management, and together build meaningful partnerships that provide value to all parties while creating lasting impact for the local communities where we work. Our partnerships span areas including emergency response, economic opportunity, technology for development, food and water security, and climate resilience. We work across many teams at Mercy Corps, including marketing and communications, individual fundraising, the executive office, and with our program and field-based colleagues around the world.
The Position
The Senior Development Officer plays a key role in supporting Mercy Corpsโ global corporate and foundation partnership teams by providing business intelligence, project management, and operational support. This position is responsible for delivering high-quality research and analysis to strengthen prospect pipelines and guide sophisticated engagement strategies with corporate and foundation donors worldwide.
They maintain a strong understanding of existing partnerships, regularly share insights on trends and opportunities, and identify potential reputational risks to ensure alignment with Mercy Corpsโ policies and values. The role requires building and maintaining efficient operational processes to effectively manage, track, and measure research, due diligence, and pipeline development.
In addition, the Senior Development Officer provides critical operational support across the teams, including knowledge management, preparation of donor-facing materials, preparing background materials for events, and management of invoices and other logistics.
Essential Responsibilities
PRIVATE SECTOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE โ 60%
โ Maintain a strong familiarity with current donors and prospects and provide timely business development insights on strategy announcements, leadership transitions, philanthropic trends and other opportunities for funding across the private sector funding landscape.
โ Proactively identify new prospects through relationship mapping, industry scans and other data sources to add to the corporate, foundation, strategic philanthropy, and Gulf donor pipelines.
โ Assess prospect capacity and alignment; work closely with Sr. Directors of Coporate & Foundation Partnerships to assign qualified prospects and make recommendations for engagement strategies.
โ Create and maintain systems for tracking, prioritizing and allocating research requests from the global corporate & foundation partnership teams, and report on key performance indicators.
โ Coordinate with the Major Gifts research team on cross-department strategies and business intelligence.
DUE DILIGENCE COMPLIANCE โ 20%
โ Develop and lead tracking systems for due diligence screenings, approvals and filing in compliance with Mercy Corps policies, in partnership with Executives
โ Conduct in-depth due diligence research for partners and prospects, assessing reputational risk for the organization, securing approvals and elevating for executive review as required.
OPERATIONS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT โ 20%
โ Support prospect outreach, proposal development, grants management, and donor stewardship activities as needed.
โ Support across the corporate and foundation teams in organizing and preparing materials and logistics for global events and donor travel.
โ Manage internal team knowledge sites, for example the team SharePoint site.
โ Manage in-bound inquiries and responses via the CFT partnerships email on the website.
โ Manage team subscriptions and invoices.
โ Maintain schedule, agenda, and meeting notes for regular meetings.
โ Other duties as assigned.
Supervisory Responsibility
None.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Director of Fundraising Strategy & Services
Works Directly With: Sr. Directors, Directors and Deputies for Corporate & Foundation Partnerships, Development Officer MCE Corporate & Foundation Partnerships, and other Corporate and Foundation team members, as well as other team members across the broader Philanthropic Growth & Engagement team.
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills
โ BA in relevant field required, such as International Relations, Business, Communications & Marketing, etc.
โ 5+ years of experience in supporting donor relations and stewardship - preferably foundation and corporate partnerships.
โ Demonstrated success managing project timelines.
โ Experience in conducting in-depth donor research.
โ Excellent writing and analytics skills, with proven ability to present clear and succinct analyses.
โ Excellent problem-solving skills and a demonstrated ability to work independently.
โ Outstanding interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate with colleague in both remote and in-person work environments.
โ Excellent computer & tech skills (MS 365, Sharepoint, Google Suite, project management software), including remote communication and project management platforms.
โ Experience in international development work or a demonstrated interest in this field is preferred.
Success Factors
The ideal person for this role is deeply interested in the private philanthropy and international development nexus. They will keep a pulse on philanthropic trends for the