Most of the world's poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor people in the world. One Acre Fund is a start-up NGO in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a "market bundle" that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure more than 100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser-like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.
We are growing quickly. In five years, we have grown to serve 65,000 farm families with more than 500 full-time field staff. We have a $9m budget this year, funded half by donor grants and half by earned revenue. Our approach has won widespread validation, winning grants from the highly competitive Echoing Green and Skoll Foundations, and the global Financial Times/ IFC award for "basic needs financing" in 2010 and 2011. Website: www.oneacrefund.org
Job Description
In eight more years, we will multiply in size by 20-30x, while adding several new countries. To make that happen, we will need to raise an ambitious level of funds. We are seeking someone who can write, and eventually train others to write and manage writing.
One Acre Fund now has dozens of opportunities every year to write concept notes and proposals for funding ranging from $50,000 to $5,000,000. Historically, our founder has written many of these grants, and he is now seeking to mentor a grant-writer to respond to these requests. For this reason, we would love to meet someone who will live in rural Kenya where he is based for 6-12 months; after that the position is geographically flexible.
Responsibilities would include:
- Understand our core business intimately:We are seeking someone who is strong at writing, but also someone that has a strong business mind and can write about our work at the next level of detail. Today's funders do not just want smooth prose – they want business rationale. We would work hard to expose the writer to our program operations in depth.
- Write concept notes and proposals: We are seeking someone who will write concept notes and proposals for the organization. Key features of our writing:
- We do not just copy and paste, we tailor our materials to the funder. This makes the job more interesting as well – we are generally applying to more sophisticated funders, and our proposals are often very strategic and interesting to work on.
- We make heavy use of business rationale, tables and charts, etc.
- We emphasize clear logical flow in our writing.
- We often have heavy research in our writing, and we want someone who is good at research and/ or good at managing volunteers to do research.
- Write reports for funders: One Acre Fund values our current funders above all others, and works very closely with our top 15 funders. We keep them closely informed.
- Keep organized:We are not a boss-employee culture. We would like to hire someone who can manage their own work, and who does not need to be reminded to do things. This person should own the role.
- Develop to train others: In ten years, we envision probably having a writing staff. We are looking for someone that ideally could see themselves growing their career with the organization.
Career Growth and Development
One Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. We provide constant, actionable feedback delivered through weekly mentorship and through regular career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings, where we listen to and discuss career goals, and work collaboratively to craft roles that each person can be passionate about. Because of our rapid growth, we constantly have new high-level roles opening up. This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Qualifications
We are seeking exceptional professionals with 2 to 5+ years of work experience, and a demonstrated long-term passion for international development. We are looking for truly extraordinary candidates that will help take our organization to the next levels of impact and scale. This is a competitive posting for a career-track role. Only 3% of applicants make it to a phone screen. Therefore, please only apply if you fit these criteria:
- A business mind. We would like to hire someone who will truly understand our operations.
- Strong demonstrated writing experience. We do not need grant-writing experience per se, but we will be looking for a broad variety of writing samples.
- A genuine interest in international development. We are not looking for a "hired gun" – we want someone who genuinely is passionate about providing opportunity to the hardest-working farmers on the planet.
- Top-performing undergraduate background (please include GPA and test scores on your resume).
- Humility and personal stability. We have a fantastic and likeable team. We are looking for passionate professionals that combine strong leadership skills with good humor, patience, and a humble approach to service
- A willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least six months – this is a long-term, career-track role. The ideal candidate will have at least one year demonstrated experience working in the developing world, although this is not a strict requirement.
- Ability to cook/laugh – desirable.
Preferred Start Date: Flexible
Compensation: This is not a place to get rich – we often pay less than market rates, and we have a team of people that really believe in our mission. Our pay starts modestly. However, we do recognize the importance of personal sustainability, and our long-term staff all make highly live-able salaries.
Benefits: Health cover, immunizations, flight, room and board. 2 annual home flights provided.
Career Development: Quarterly management consulting-style career reviews, and constant feedback. Your manager will invest significant time in your career development.
Sponsor International Candidates: Yes
To apply:
Email (1) cover letter, (2) resume, and (3) 1-2 writing samples to jobs@oneacrefund.org (Subject line: Grant Writer Search + name of the site that referred you)
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