Business Development Manager at VisionSpring

ABOUT YOU

• You love generating funds for great missions.
• You enjoy the teamwork and project management associated with developing (and managing) large, programmatically complex grant proposals for corporations, foundations and governments.
• You are deeply curious about social enterprise models, field operations, and the experience of partners and customers. That makes you an exceptional organizational ambassador.
• You view funders as integral partners and foster rich relationships with donors that are much more than transactional.
• You shine when communicating with funders, derive satisfaction in finding a shared agenda with others, are upbeat, and can get others excited about what they are going to do.
• You enjoy creating structure, have exceptional focus and follow-through, and prioritize before you act.
• You operate with integrity; you take pride in going above and beyond even when no one is watching. Nothing feels better than exceeding fundraising targets.

ABOUT US

• VisionSpring increases lifelong earning, learning, safety, and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty. We believe in the wonder of clear vision for everybody.
• We sell and deliver radically affordable optical products and services and develop markets for eyeglasses. This 700-year-old technology has failed to reach 1 billion people in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect quality, affordable products and eye care services, and will spend their limited discretionary income on the immediate, tangible benefits of vision correction.
• As a social enterprise, we are purpose first. We blend philanthropic and earned revenue, draw on nonprofit and business practices, and use sales and efficiency metrics, as well as social impact measures, to bring vision correction to ever more people.
• We catalyze collaborative action in an expansive, multisector partner network and use our evidence and experience to influence systems change and close the global clear vision gap.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.
• Our big goal: Everyone who needs eyeglasses will have them by 2050.

Job Requirements

• A minimum of 10 - 15 years of professional experience.
• Demonstrated success managing a portfolio of funders with increasing responsibility and revenue performance.
• Prior experience with relationship management, including working with diverse and sophisticated thinkers.
• Prior experience with programmatically complex proposal writing (preferably international development proposals focused on Africa), pitch deck development, or business plan writing.
• Demonstrated interest in social enterprise models and desire to learn how to articulate and share VisionSpring’s unique approach.
• Extraordinary follow-through, attention to detail and deadlines, and a strong personal sense of accountability.
• Must meet the highest standards of ethics, with a demonstrated capacity for discretion and for handling sensitive information with care.
• A strong commitment to respectful collaboration with colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
• Experience developing budgets.
• Aptitude in Microsoft Office, especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• The ability to travel 30-40% of your time, across Nigeria and occasionally across Africa
• Experience synthesizing program updates from to generate evocative and compelling reports.
• Proficiency with CRMs such as Salesforce.

Job Responsibilities

Sales Management, Donor Engagement & Fundraising

• Drive strong sales growth by actively promoting and selling eyeglasses through retail, outreach, and institutional channels, consistently meeting and exceeding monthly and quarterly targets.
• Ensure prudent management of client credit lines, maintaining a healthy balance between sales growth and risk, while guaranteeing timely payment from all creditors and adherence to credit policies.
• Cultivate and nurture a portfolio of funders, including governments, institutional foundations, corporate and individual donors, by expanding long-term relationships with VisionSpring’s philanthropic investors and building new partnerships with prospective donors.
• Support the continual improvement of our organizational donor stewardship practices to maintain the effectiveness and integrity of VisionSpring collaborations. Proactively communicate with donors and look for ways to engage philanthropic investors in order to keep them connected to our work.
• Ensure donors receive timely, comprehensive, and accurate reports.
• Prepare thoughtful and what can be complex and multi-layered proposals and requests for renewal funding, working collaboratively with program/field staff on proposal writing, objectives, indicator development, and budgeting.
• Develop and monitor the opportunity pipeline and calendar for punctual execution of proposals, reports, trips to the field, and other forms of engagement.
• Leverage VisionSpring’s Salesforce customer relationship management system to track written communications, meetings, submissions, and gift processing, with strict attention to data integrity.
• Process incoming donations (via check and online giving) and ensure all donors receive timely acknowledgement.

Strategic Planning

• Actively participate in departmental strategy development and execution.
• Work with the Africa team and Global development team to design and implement annual business development plans and budgets.
• Report on key metrics to the VisionSpring executive leadership and other stakeholders.