Consultancy: Partnerships Lead (Bay Area)

Food4Education - Feeding The Future; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 78,000 - 112,000; Part time

Job summary

Food4Education is seeking a part-time consultant based in the Bay Area to map the donor landscape and generate warm introductions for philanthropic funding. The role is remote with regular in-person presence across the Bay Area, 15–20 hours per week, October 2026 to March 2027, with an option to renew.

The consultant will build the partnership infrastructure, deliver an ecosystem map and ongoing cadence, provide weekly written updates and a 45-minute weekly review, and log all contacts in

Qualifications

• Proven network in the Bay Area tech ecosystem with track record of introductions that led to funding.
• 7+ years in development, partnerships, marketing, sales or related field, including major gifts or sponsorships.
• Understanding of donor-advised funds (DAFs), appreciated stock gifting and philanthropic giving mechanics.

Responsibilities

• Map the Bay Area donor landscape for Food4Education and identify warm intro opportunities.
• Generate qualified warm introductions and build the partnership infrastructure to support funding.
• Convert donor fit into access and advance conversations toward funding.
• Deliver an ecosystem map and a monthly outreach cadence with documentation in Salesforce.
• Provide weekly 45-minute check-ins and a short weekly written report on progress.
• Prepare a closing report with a 12-month recommended plan and handover pack.

Skills

Bay Area relationships

Fundraising experience

Understanding of DAFs and gifts

Job description

Location: Must be based in the Bay Area, California

Working model: Remote, with regular in-person presence across the Bay Area ecosystem

Hours: 15–20 hours per week

Period: October 2026 – March 2027, with option to renew

Travel: Occasional domestic travel; one visit to Kenya anticipated

Fee: Flat monthly retainer

Start date: October 2026

About Food for Education (F4E)

Food4Education is an award-winning, African-led nonprofit tackling classroom hunger with a locally rooted, scalable model. Building on more than a decade of learning by doing, we are powering a new school-feeding industry and sharing our blueprint to scale sustainable, nutritious and affordable school-feeding programs across Africa.
We serve over 650,000 students daily in Kenya, but what we deliver goes beyond the meal. Each plate improves nutrition, fuels learning and creates jobs that uplift entire communities. We have served more than 220 million cumulative meals since inception, growing from 25 children fed daily in 2012 to over 650,000 students every day in 2026, across 2,000+ public schools and early childhood centers.
Parents pay for meals through a mobile money system linked to NFC wristbands, which children wear and “Tap2Eat” in under five seconds to access their meal. We are an experienced, trusted nonprofit partner that operates with the excellence of a global business, reinvesting the value we create into local economies.
Our goal is to sustainably reach 1 million students in Kenya by 2027, and at least another 2 million across Africa by 2030 through our new Center of Excellence and technical assistance arm.

About the Role

The Bay Area is one of the wealthiest metropolitan areas in the US, with a significant transfer of new wealth currently underway. A dense concentration of high-growth technology, venture capital and finance companies is moving through IPOs, acquisitions and other liquidity events at a scale and pace few other regions can match, creating an unusually large and fast-growing pool of newly liquid individual wealth.
Historical patterns suggest a meaningful share of that flows into charitable vehicles: in 2021, a $142 billion IPO year coincided with a 46.6% jump in contributions to donor-advised funds. Analysts project $12–32 billion in new DAF contributions from the current wave.

Objective of the Consultancy

To establish Food4Education as a known, credible, and well-positioned recipient of philanthropic capital within the Bay Area's wealthy donor ecosystem, by mapping the prospect landscape, generating qualified warm introductions, and building the partnership infrastructure required for F4E leadership to convert those relationships into funding.

Scope of Work

• The money moves late. Charitable capital is not nonprofit revenue. DAFs pay out at roughly 25% annually, and the steepest increases in actual giving occur 12–18 months after a liquidity event, not at the IPO itself. The organizations that receive this money will be the ones already known and trusted before the window opens. Food4Education’s task in the next six months is therefore to become known, not to close gifts.
• The donors are not only founders. The larger and more accessible population is several thousand newly liquid engineers, researchers, and early employees making gifts in the $10,000–$500,000 range, often through employer matching and DAFs. This is a materially different prospecting motion from institutional foundations, and one in which F4E currently has no presence.
• F4E has an unusually strong narrative fit. Tap2Eat, NFC wristbands, mobile money rails and a data-instrumented supply chain feeding hundreds of thousands of children daily at a few cents per meal is an infrastructure and systems story, not a charity story. It is credible to technically literate donors who are skeptical of traditional aid narratives, and it speaks directly to a segment of the Bay Area's newly wealthy who are actively looking to direct that wealth toward tangible, measurable human outcomes.

The consultant’s job is to convert that fit into access, before the giving window opens.

Deliverables and Timeline

Month 1 (October 2026)

• Inception note: the consultant’s reading of the opportunity, proposed prioritization, and any challenge to the assumptions in this ToR.
• Version 1 of the ecosystem map and the draft target list of 50 prospects.
• Agreed engagement calendar for the six-month term.

Month 2 (November 2026)

• Final prioritized target list with routes to introduction.
• Outreach underway; first introductions made.
• Draft US technology partnership offer.
• Readiness assessment for gift instruments and matching platforms.

Month 3 (December 2026) — Review Gate

• Joint go / adjust / no-go decision with Development Team Leadership on priority leads

Months 4–6 (January 2026 – March 2027)

• Sustained introduction and cultivation cadence at the agreed monthly rate.
• Final partnership offer and supporting materials in use.
• At least two substantive partnership or gift conversations advanced to a stage where F4E leadership can solicit.
• Closing report: the full mapped landscape, the state of every relationship, a 12‑month recommended plan, and a handover pack enabling F4E to continue without the consultant.

Reporting and Management

• A 45-minute one-on-one each week.
• A short written weekly report: pipeline, introductions made and their status, what is working, what is not, and what the consultant needs from F4E.
• All contacts, conversations, and next steps logged in Salesforce

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrable, current relationships within the Bay Area technology ecosystem, and a track record of converting those relationships into introductions that led somewhere. Candidates should expect to evidence this specifically.
• Seven or more years in development, partnerships, marketing, sales or an adjacent field, including experience with major gifts, corporate giving or sponsorship.
• Working knowledge of how technology wealth actually gives: DAFs, appreciated stock,