Associate / Sr. Associate - Donor Relations (Pune)

Overview of the Team

The Development & Donor Relations team is responsible for raising funds for the operations of the

Akanksha Foundation. Development is one of the critical backbones of the organizations as the

organization is completely dependent on donations in its current form. The development team needs to

be abreast with everything happening in the organization and the education sector as a lot of time is

spent in creating and maintaining relationships with external stakeholders.

The team is divided into various work streams by different sources of funding that Akanksha receives.

Some of these include Corporates, Foundations, Individual Giving, Retail Giving, Online, Events, among

others.

Position Summary

The role will be responsible for supporting the Central Development and Donor Relations team to build

the donor relationshipand support operations and stewardship activities for the donors. However, the

role can go much beyond that including looking for creative and new avenues for engaging with donors

and employee engagement. The role will be given some ownership of projects and work allowing for a

lot of personal growth and satisfaction. This role is pivotal in strengthening our relationships with donors

& maintaining timeliness and accuracy in the management of paperwork and operations pertaining to

donors. The ideal candidate will combine excellent communication skills written and verbal with strong

relationship management and attention to detail.

Location: Pune

Reports to: Assistant Manager/ Manager or Director - Donor Relations

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Operations & donor stewardship

Coordinating the employees volunteering / engagement events with the school teams and

corporates & ideating on unique ways to build engagements.

Managing donor operations for donors in each work stream by processing donation documents

and ensuring due diligence support

By filing documentation for virtual records, updating donor systems for their reports as well as

the internal Akanksha system for all the data management.

Supporting the operations for any in kind donations received and the paperwork required along

with coordination with the school/ program and the internal finance teams.

Ideating & drafting proposals , one pagers and the reports for the donors.

Working with different functions internally and liasoning for smooth interactions

Independently managing donor relationships as a point person and managing the entire

stewardship including relationship management, documentation and operational management

activities. Understanding and working on Impact & financial requirements of the donor.

2.Reporting

Using netsuite/ other donor managementsoftware to run reports, creating development

organization metrics dashboard, analyzing trends in donations, identifying gaps, etc.

Liaising with Finance team to create donor reports in the formats suggested by the donors

Liaison with the program teams to take relevant information from them and update internal

trackers for reporting purposes.

Workingon partnership portals and tracking the donations and the operations pertaining to

them

3. Research

Prospect Research to gauge the strength of the prospects being considered

Support the manager/ director with additional research as and when required

Closely tracking the donors mapped for updates on the work they support and how the

engagement can be enriched further

Requirements:

Knowledge and Technical Skills

Strong Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills , Understanding of using tools like Canva etc.

Communication skills for both written and verbal

Interpersonal skills and Attention to detail

Key Competencies

Excellent time management and organizational skills

Relationship building

Commitment to excellence and accuracy

Ability to problem solve and express the work verbally and through writing

Values & Mindsets

Belief that every single child deserves an excellent education and that every single child has the

ability to be successful academically, despite their background

Excellent critical thinking skills and high sense of possibility

Willingness to learn

Adaptability (ability to work in unstructured environments with minimal supervision)

Perseverance

Ability to work in a high paced and challenging environment balancing multiple stakeholders.

Education & Experience:

1-3 years of work experience desired but not required

Bachelors degree in any discipline

Prior social work experience or studies preferred

Why Join Akanksha?

At Akanksha, you will be part of a passionate team working to reimagine public education in India. You

will have the opportunity to contribute to a reputed organization committed to transformative impact on

children and helping them overcome poverty. The role offers a challenging and autonomous work

environment that prioritizes holistic well-being, empowering you to be the best version of yourself. You

will also gain access to learning and career growth opportunities within a steadily growing organization,

along with competitive remuneration that is competitive in top one-third of Indian NGO scales and

benefits that include medical insurance (covering spouse + 2 children), provident fund benefit, paid

leaves.