Global Director/VP, Resource Mobilization @ VisionSpring
zanna gilbert
In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the ‘Vision for Everyone’ resolution recognizing eye health and vision correction as a driver of multiple sustainable development goals. Member states at the 74th World Health Assembly agreed to increase the effective coverage of refractive errors with eyeglasses (or contact lenses) by 40% by the year 2030. With this new global consensus and VisionSpring’s 20-year track record of delivering vision access solutions, we are poised to scale up our most promising product and service delivery models, blending earned revenue with philanthropic capital to reach those living on less than $4 per day.
The global director/VP designs and leads the resource mobilization strategy for VisionSpring’s next growth stage, so we can double our impact to correct the vision of 2.5 million people annually by 2025. The person in this role raises at least $10 million a year, expanding upon a robust portfolio of leading foundations such as the Skoll Foundation and Mulago Foundation; bilateral donors, including USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures; a preeminent buy-one-give-one partnership with Warby Parker; and a growing cadre of global brands and local corporate social responsibility clients, particularly in India and Bangladesh.
The global director/VP skillfully leads all aspects of pipeline development and production of technically sound proposals, and engaging reporting on outcomes, that draw on inputs from functional and technical teams across eight market countries. They work closely with the CEO and founder to catalyze collective action and explore innovative funding and financing opportunities.
The person in this role is in a unique position to support market-based teams in realizing their strategic priorities, and foster an organizational culture that advances social equity, takes calculated risks, and learns together. They actively help team members thrive and develop as professionals.
This position reports to the CEO, leads a team of three fundraising professionals, collaborates with nine in-market business development representatives, and works closely with the communications team. The global director/VP must be based in the U.S. (Eastern or Central time zone) or one of VisionSpring’s eight key markets—Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, or Vietnam—and must be legally eligible to work in their country of residence.
ABOUT YOU- Mission evangelist: Your unique contribution to an organization is propelling its social impact by raising growth capital to fuel strategic expansion and achieve mission objectives.
- Goal oriented: Hitting targets fills you with a sense of drive and even inspires you to break out into song and dance. You build the processes that make objectives attainable.
- Relationship builder: You get others excited about what they are going to make possible. You bring stakeholders together to invest in collective action and build lasting, trust-based relationships.
- Skilled writer: You find it easy to get thoughts on paper. Colleagues consider you their editor-in-chief and turn to you for help in building cases for support.
- Inclusive player-coach: You mentor and develop people. In a diverse organization, you create opportunities for participation and increased responsibility. You model vulnerability, accountability, and roll-up your sleeves to deliver when needed.
- VisionSpring is creating access to affordable eyewear, everywhere. Clear vision creates opportunities for increased learning, work, safety, civic participation, and quality of life.
- As a social enterprise, social change motivates us first. Our focus on sales and revenue targets serves and advances our mission objective—to increase functioning, productivity, and income earning potential for our low-income consumers by correcting refractive error and presbyopia with eyeglasses.
- We are working to transform the systemic dysfunction of an optical market that has failed to deliver eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology—to 1.1 billion consumers 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 a high-quality and affordable product, and they will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
- By selling eyeglasses, we awaken new demand and seed a viable market. By selling new eyeglasses we are able to serve four times as many people per dollar input than the alternative of donating recycled ones. To efficiently scale, we must deliver each new unit with lower cost.
- We run our business on both sales metrics and social impact measures. We use a range of organizational forms and practices to get the job done.
- We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.
Resource Mobilization Strategy
- Develop a resource mobilization strategy that fuels VisionSpring’s aspiration to serve 2.5M people, with an anticipated annual fundraising goal of $12-15M by 2025.
- Prepare annual department goals and budget, and support the development and implementation of country- and program-specific business plans aligned to the enterprise strategy.
- Maintain VisionSpring’s high level of unrestricted grant support and continue to diversify and increase VisionSpring’s base of institutional philanthropy, corporate giving and contracts, and bilateral and multilateral agency support.
- Evaluate resource mobilization and stewardship activities for effectiveness and incorporate learnings into future initiatives and organizational capacity building.
- Work with the marketing and communications team to shape and elevate VisionSpring’s brand to attract and retain donors/clients.
- Ensure that donor/client messaging is compelling and consistent with VisionSpring’s values, voice, and strategy.
- Stay abreast of sector developments, demonstrating an in-depth understanding of issues pertaining to vision, livelihoods, education, and road safety, as well as deep knowledge of VisionSpring’s business models, evidence, and impact.
Fundraising
- Develop a dynamic portfolio of grants, contracts, and other financing vehicles, such as performance-based funds, that generate multi-year funding. Nurture a small network of individual and high-net-wealth donors.
- Position VisionSpring for strategic opportunities. Gain early intelligence on donor initiatives and capitalize on VisionSpring’s hybrid revenue model that combines earned income with philanthropic resources.
- Manage the fundraising pipeline with leads originating from across the enterprise using a metrics-driven approach. Guide teams to maintain and use accurate data and information in Salesforce to plan and track progress against fundraising goals.
- Facilitate highly collaborative proposal development processes that draw upon the technical and contextual knowledge of VisionSpring team members.
- Refine technically sound program design and proposal and reporting development processes, tools, and templates (including measurable objectives, logic models, work plans, and detailed budgets). Guide fundraising staff in using them.
- Support the CEO and founder in developing prospective donors/clients to raise new revenue and participating in industry forums.
Donor/Client Retention and Relationship Growth
- Effectively engage and connect VisionSpring’s funders with the impact they make possible through succinct reports, use of multi-media, quarterly briefings, site visits, joint participation in conferences, and helping donors/clients share their experiences with internal and external stakeholders.
- Cultivate and sustain strategic partnerships, including through long-term collaborations such as alliances or research consortia. Lead joint-funding submissions and develop opportunities for co-investment among funders.
- Proactively work with market-based teams to provide donors/clients with timely and accurate information about successes, challenges, and remediation.
- Serve as an ambassador who draws new people to the cause of solving uncorrected refractive error, not as a health intervention, but as a livelihood, education, and road safety intervention.
Development Team Management
- Manage the philanthropic development team and, through a matrixed structure, guide the work of in-market business development team members.
- Empower team members to contribute to the resource mobilization strategy and sponsor their professional development.
- Evolve the composition of the team with a diverse staff to best support organizational resource mobilization needs as VisionSpring grows.
- Promote a team culture of integrity, meaningful collaboration across cultures, risk-taking, and accountability where we challenge each other and learn from our mistakes.
Cross-enterprise Leadership
- Contribute to evolving VisionSpring’s strategic framework and business models, offering insights regarding donor/client strategies and funding trends, as a member of the leadership team.
- Actively champion, model, and advance the organizational commitment to racial, gender, and geographic equity and inclusion.
- Foster the development of all VisionSpring staff to participate in organizational fundraising by leading internal training sessions, informal staff coaching, etc.
- Contribute to the creation and implementation of organizational policies, and facilitate collaboration and information sharing across the organization.
- Support the governance mandate of the board of directors through transparent, timely information sharing regarding VisionSpring’s fundraising position and plans.
- 10-plus years of professional experience forging funding relationships with foundations and governments, raising philanthropic capital, and managing donor/investor relations.
- Demonstrated success in managing a global philanthropic portfolio with revenue performance of $8 million or more.
- Finely tuned organizational and management skills. Solution oriented. Experience developing systems and processes to meet deadlines and managing multiple initiatives effectively.
- Exceptional skills in proposal writing and meeting facilitation.
- Proven ability to work across diverse contexts and cultures. Commitment to anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Must meet the highest standards of ethics and personal integrity, with demonstrated discretion in handling confidential information.
- Must be legally authorized to work in your chosen country of residence for a minimum of five years.
- Willingness to travel to locations with limited infrastructure.
- Extra Credit—Preference will be given to
candidates with any of the following areas of experience:
- Living and working in a low-income setting in a low- or middle-income country;
- Deep knowledge of VisionSpring’s subject areas—vision, global health, livelihoods, road safety, and/or social entrepreneurship;
- Multi-stakeholder fundraising, i.e., developing a pooled fund, alliance, or other collaboration among philanthropic investors;
- Leadership role in a successful capital campaign;
- Working in a high-growth or start-up environment; and/or
- Master’s degree in business, international development, economics, political science, journalism, communications, sociology, or another relevant field.
- VisionSpring offers competitive benefits, including a performance-based bonus, health insurance, and five weeks of paid time off.
- Salary range will be disclosed to candidates invited to interview.
- We want to know more than just what you have done. We want to know who you are. What are the passions and talents that draw you to this role?
- Please update your CV/résumé to include a phrase or sentence describing the business of each organization where you have worked. Applications without this information are disadvantaged in the process.
- Please submit a complete application, including a thoughtful cover letter and CV/résumé, to https://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/Details/944170/VisionSpring-Inc/Global-DirectorVP-of-Resource-Mobilization.
- Please note, only candidates invited to interview will be contacted.
At VisionSpring, diversity, equity, and inclusion are directly aligned with our core value to advance equity. Our mission is predicated on removing a fundamental barrier to full economic and social participation—uncorrected blurry vision. The values that underpin our mission energize our commitment to a diverse and inclusive team. A diverse team also allows VisionSpring to approach problems with nuance and develop unique insights that drive an outsized positive impact in the world. We actively recruit, develop, and retain talented people from diverse backgrounds and support everyone in being exactly who they are. VisionSpring is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.