Regional Manager - Individual Partnerships

Position: Regional Manager - Individual Partnerships

Department:

Location:

Experience:

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation works for the welfare of underprivileged children and their families through intensive programs focused on education, healthcare, skilling and women empowerment and Empowering Grassroots. Started in 2002 by a group of young corporate professionals, today Smile has evolved into a national level development organization impacting lives of over 1.5 million underprivileged children and their families with project presence in 25 states across India, 10 offices in strategic locations and over 650 employees, besides countless volunteers, well- wishers and supporters.

The organization also holds Special Consultative Status with United Nations Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC), accredited with global organizations like GuideStar, United Way, CAF America, Give2Asia and many more. Furthermore, continuously for the past Five years Smile is a Great Place to Work Certified organization and is considered Gold Standard in identifying and recognizing Great Workplace Cultures.

Currently SF has been implementing projects worth Rs 120 Crore across India directly or with the help of grassroot organizations, primarily CSR funded projects of varied scale both in urban slums and rural areas including aspirational districts in thematic areas mentioned above. The wealth of knowledge emanated from the same is immense, however the same is grouped in systematic manner which can be used for pitching for large projects of long term in nature leading to data driven knowledge products which can be further used in creating large scale impact.

Visit our website to know more about us and our latest development: www.smilefoundationindia.org

How can you contribute towards a better world?

If you are a passionate and skilled business development professional, an eye for market trends, a skill for constant learning, creating partnerships and belief that you have the ability to make a difference in the society by demonstrating your leadership qualities, creativity, analytical and strategic thinking, this could be the right opportunity for you.

Job Summary:

The incumbent in the capacity of a Deputy General Manager, Individual Partnerships, will be a key stake holder in driving the Net Incomes (NI) across various verticals of fundraising under Individual Partnerships. These verticals could be External Channels /Fundraising partners which are commission based, Telecalling, Tele-facing and Face to Face. The Net Incomes for a region are pure incomes net of all costs and taxes.

This requires the incumbent to have a mix of these verticals in a manner that PNL is judiciously maximized. This incumbent is required to drive the toplines keeping a hawks eye on the bottom lines.

As a visionary leader, the person is expected to take well weighted meticulous decisions in the interest of business. Needless to say that they themselves along with their team, have to drive the highest standards of Integrity and discipline. Apart from focusing on the business numbers, they are expected to build a strong team and should have a fine understanding of team dynamics and human behavior.

A: Channels / External commission driven Fundraising agencies

Background:

The Individual Partnerships (IP) fundraising space has seen a lot of Fundraising Channel partners in the last 7 to 10 years, coming up like mushrooms on the moss. Most of them are startups by young enthusiastic, erstwhile salaried fundraisers who have either worked with a NGO directly or have been a fundraiser themselves in one such channel. It has been observed that they go and make commitments to any extent, which is beyond the scope and purview of the programmes of a given NGO. This results in showcasing or projecting an extreme emergency situation to raise funds, which is certainly not the case on the ground. Hence the donor gets to see a completely different on ground reality, if he chooses to visit the project of the NGO.

Herein comes skepticism not only for the fundraiser but for the NGO as well and creates a bad donor experience. This calls for checking the values and credibility of a prospective fundraising partner beforehand. Hence a meticulous selection of a fundraising partner is very much required as he happens to be the carrier of the brand that the NGO has created in the social sector by doing great service delivery which results in a long lasting social impact.

Key Pointers:

• Doing due diligence while identifying a partner. KYC to be established, market reputation to be gauged and existing clients and their corresponding fundraising volumes to be estimate.
• Evaluation of fundraising volumes that the prospective channel can do for Smile Foundation and knowing the trajectory of scaling performance over a period of time.
• Checking the capacity of a channel to invest in telecallers since Smile Foundation works on a variable payout model
• Recruiting and Signing up new channel partner at the lowest possible variable payout
• Engaging with the channel partner- Onboarding, agreements signup, training, assigning targets, RNR of their telecallers /facers, product training, invoicing and payments.

B: Telecalling / Telefacing

• Should be able to hire telecallers from the open market.
• Should be able to maintain a minimum floor strength on any given day
• Should be able to derive productivity from the telecallers
• Should manage telecaller level review, be a quality analyst overhearing their pitch, suggest correction, develop telecalling pitch with objection handling, Product knowledge test, refreshers
• Should be able to plan fundraising contests, incentives, RNRs etc
• Should be able to forecast attrition and plan backfill
• Should ensure ethical fundraising without any aggressive commitment to donors.
• Should be able to drive discipline in the team on issues like attendance, late coming, leaves, team bonding and harmony

C: Face to Face (F2F):

Background: Smile Foundation does not prefer to raise funds on street. Street fundraising is prohibited completely. We believe in permission-based fundraising. Malls, though done but generally not preferred due to the rise in costs after covid. Hence, this requires negotiating low cost or perhaps free of cost permissions in RWAs, malls, cafeterias of corporates, IT parks, office spaces, shared co-working spaces etc.

• Should be able to build a directory of permission based RWAs, malls, cafeterias of corporates, IT parks, office spaces, shared co-working spaces etc so that no permission is repeated frequently
• Should be able to negotiate lowest possible costs for the premises mentioned about. The endeavour should be to get free of cost spaces.
• Should be able to build profitability in each permission /outreach undertaken
• Should be able to take stock of promotional material used by the facers. Should advocate judicious consumption yet not compromise on the quality
• Train facers. Monitor their performance.
• See the quality of signups bet it One Time or NACH (Monthly Giving)
• Should be able to hire facers / team leaders from the open market.
• Should be able to maintain a minimum team strength on any given day
• Should be able to derive productivity from the facers
• Should manage telecaller level review, be a quality analyst overhearing their pitch, suggest correction, develop facers pitch with objection handling, Product knowledge test, refreshers
• Should be able to plan fundraising contests, incentives, RNRs etc
• Should be able to forecast attrition and plan backfill
• Should ensure ethical fundraising without any aggressive commitment to donors.
• Should be able to drive discipline in the team on issues like attendance, late coming, leaves, team bonding and harmony

Qualification & Experience:

• Should atleast be a graduate.
• MBA in marketing is preferred and ideal
• Should have a minimum of 10 years of experience out of which atleast 7 should be in Individual Fundraising
• An Ideal candidate will be the one who has started as a fundraiser himself and has grown in ranks / designations
• A minimum of the last 3 years should have been into team handling. This has to be both in telecalling/ telefacing as well as Face 2 Face
• Should be able to drive targets at a fundraiser level amounting to the target achievement for the region
• Should be able to recruit a team of telecaller and facers

Other Pre-requisites:

• Should know local language
• Fluency in English is appreciated
• Should be a peoples person yet smoothly navigate them towards fundraising objective
• Should be able to build a culture of health competition, team spirit, harmony and ethical stands of working
• Should be a great motivator and a go getter himself
• Should lead by example when the team feels low or de-motivated
• Willingness to travel to other work locations
• Working Days: Monday through Saturday

Competency Required:

• Contributes to Team Performance: Is an engaged and integral member of a group, recognizing the need for group collaboration, empathy, consensual decision-making and respect for others.
• Persuasive Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills. When writing or speaking comes across as persuasive, credible, and polished with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Energy and Enthusiasm: Consistently maintaining high levels of activity or productivity; sustaining long work hours when necessary; operating with vigour, effectiveness, and determination over extended periods of time
• Creates External Strategic Alliances: Develops and uses collaborative relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals
• Initiating action: Taking prompt action to accomplish objectives; taking action to achieve goals beyond what is required; being proactive
• Negotiation: Effectively exploring alternatives and positions to reach outcomes that gain the support and acceptance of all parties.
• Creates Internal Partnerships: Works to achieve business goals by identifying and building strategic relationships between areas, teams, departments, units, and organizations.
• Creative thinking: Discovering new opportunities and solutions for problems by looking beyond current practices and using innovative thinking.

How to Apply:

Share your CV/Profile with a brief note (cover letter) telling why you find yourself a right fit for the role, with the subject line {Your Name}- Position Applied at jobs@smilefoundationindia.org

Smile Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer however preference will be given to women candidate

Please Note: Only shortlisted candidates would be contacted by the Human Resources Team