Background:
SOS Children’s Villages International www.sos-childrensvillages.org is the umbrella organisation for over 130 SOS Children’s Villages associations worldwide. As a non-governmental social development organization which is helping children without parental care and families in difficult living conditions through services in care, education and health. The organization also advocates for children’s rights.
SOS‐Bosnia and Herzegovina www.sos-ds.ba started its operation in the year 1994 with the first SOS-Children’s Village opened in 1996 in Sarajevo, and is currently running 12 programmes (SOS Children’s Villages, Family Strengthening-programmes, social centre, play-bus, kindergartens and education programmes) thus caring for a total of 800 children and young people. In order to respond to the huge need of SOS-programmes, an ambitious growth plan is being worked out at the moment in terms of programme-support and local income. SOS-Bosnia and Herzegovina started with fundraising activities in 2000, had good growth rates in the beginning but is stagnating in the past 4 years, raising in average 500,000 € gross. There is an expectation to grow this to 1,250,000 € by 2016.
A dedicated team of experts and support-staff (4), including fundraisers, public funding and sponsorship advisers is in place in Sarajevo and will be managed by the person in this role. Fundraising programme in the market in the corporate field and fundraising from individuals are areas to be further developed – focusing on new integrated campaigns using all channels possible, increasing number of committed givers, leveraging income and level of partnership with companies, linking communication and fundraising. In addition, there is large public funding potential in the country to be further explored and increased.
Aim of the position:
The purpose of this position is to further build and strengthen the 3 sources of fundraising income for SOS‐Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely; corporate fundraising, fundraising from individuals and public funding. This is in order to have a sound and sustainable financial basis and to move forward in reaching financial self‐sufficiency in the upcoming years. It is also to access new target groups, with new channels in order to guarantee sustainable income for existing and future programs. The focus in the coming years is to reinforce fundraising from both individuals and corporations; to reinforce relationships and cooperation between the team of experts including Fundraisers, Public Funding Adviser and Sponsorship Adviser. She/he will work on both the strategy development and practical implementation to maximize effectiveness of overall fundraising in Bosnia and Herzegovina and therefore the total number of committed donors and other income for the organisation. The post-holder should establish a close relationship with national journalists and media in order to support FR-activities and promote the brand of SOS-CV.
What is exciting about this position:
• This position is partly a replacement of an existing post but with a sharper focus on skills and expertise on Fundraising and Communications
• It is located in Sarajevo at the headquarters of SOS‐Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• The post‐holder will have a national contract in line with national and international benchmarks for similar positions.
• She/he will be part of the National Management Team making major strategic decisions that concern the whole national organization.
• A unique and exciting challenge is that fundraising from individuals mainly through digital channels is nearly untapped in Bosnia. This is a great opportunity to develop it in the market.
• Presence of major international donors (such UN Agencies, EC, US Government Agencies, other donors and embassies) in country and high potential in Public Funding is an additional challenge and opportunity.
• It is an opportunity to grow professionally by working with fundraising, sponsorship and public funding national and international experts and teams and sharing knowledge and skills with other colleagues in the SOS Children's Villages worldwide.
Candidate profile
• We are looking for a creative, inspirational leader with entrepreneurial skills who is both strategic and also willing to work "hands on".
• She/he needs to have experience in monitoring the performance of others and a strong commitment to meeting agreed targets.
• She/he also needs to be able to actively identify and open new opportunities for financial support and maintaining high ethical fundraising standards.
• She/he will need to have Bosnia and Herzegovinian Nationality with a proven understanding and knowledge how things work in country and be professionally well networked in local business and society, such as via their membership of professional associations.
Required experience and skills:
Essential
• Can identify with the vision, mission and values of SOS Children’s Villages
• A proven track record of at least 3‐5 years in leadership and management
• Able to lead, motivate, mentor, coach and manage staff within their team.
• Capable of setting and achieving ambitious and realistic targets
• Proven track record of at least 2‐4 years in fundraising or similar profession in a leading position
• Proven track record in direct marketing
• A proven track‐record in sales/marketing either in the profit or non‐for‐profit sector in a senior position
• Experience and competence in dealing with managing income and expenditure budgets.
• A strong result focused orientation combined with a proven competence in strategic planning, budgeting, analysis and evaluation
• Proven market analysis skills
• Efficient in time and resource management
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills both in Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) and English
• Able to deal with the challenges of a complex international organization (such SOS Children’s Villages International) and the matrix structure.
• Self‐motivated, determined, innovative and with a “can do” mentality, i.e. ability to identify and take advantage of fundraising opportunities with an entrepreneurial spirit and not rely on brand awareness. Must proactively “sell” SOS ‐ Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Service culture approach: able to understand the language, needs and able to fulfill the needs and expectations of corporate donors.
• Strong social and networking skills and in initiating and developing professional relationships
• Well‐groomed and self‐confident character and appearance
• Good working knowledge and use of MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Access)
• Driving license
Preferred:
• Experience in the use of online marketing and the use of social media
• Experience in the use of online marketing and the use of social media
• Experience with high‐level negotiations and management of partners and service providers
• Understanding of donor/client relationship‐management‐software
Education:
• University degree ideally in marketing and sales; as an asset in business administration;
• University degree ideally in marketing and sales; as an asset in business administration;
How to apply:
To apply for the post, please send in Word document format and in English a letter of application stating the skills and approach that you would bring to the post with your CV/resume in strict confidence as Word documents (NO PHOTOS) by email to Emily Bracken at emilyrecruit@darylupsall.com
Please let us know where you found out about the post. Please ensure that they are sent as Word documents with the titles “your name cover letter” and “your name CV” Please put "SOS Bosnia and Herzegovina‐Dir FR & Comms” in the email subject line.
Deadline for application: Monday 14 January 2013, 18.00 CET
