Director of Fundraising / Development

OpenFn; California; On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenFn is seeking a Director of Fundraising to build and lead our fundraising function from the ground up, targeting major donors, foundations, and mission-aligned funders. The role requires strategic leadership, strong donor engagement, and the ability to translate OpenFn’s mission into compelling funding cases.

You will work in a fully remote, globally distributed team, with travel 20-40% and a focus on Digital Public Goods, DPI, and tech-for-good funding opportunities.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of fundraising experience in international development or tech-for-good.
• Strong network with foundations and major donors.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead OpenFn's fundraising strategy across major donors and foundations.
• Cultivate and steward relationships with funders and build a multi-year pipeline.
• Write and coordinate funding proposals, narratives, and reports.

Skills

Fundraising strategy

Donor relations

Grant writing

Proposal development

Stakeholder management

Remote collaboration

English fluency

Project management

Strategic storytelling

Independent worker

Job description

Type: Full-time contractor (hours negotiable)

Location: Remote, based in the SF Bay Area, Seattle, New York, or Washington, DC (US time zones)

Travel: Expectation of 20-40% travel time between US, EU and India.

OpenFn is the Digital Public Good for public service automation & AI orchestration. Our platform automates data exchange and digital workflows so that governments and NGOs can deliver public services more efficiently, achieve interoperability across fragmented systems, and scale critical public services across health, humanitarian, and government programs.

Our team, Open Function Group, the primary steward of this open-source platform, is a lean, fully-remote team of integration specialists, solution architects, and implementation consultants working across 15+ countries.

We are not making marginal improvements to already comfortable lives. We are building the digital public infrastructure that allows governments to function, clinics to operate, and vulnerable populations to access services they depend on.

Supporting document (with ideas for fundraising against): https://www.openfn.org/blog/dpi-ai

The role

We're hiring OpenFn's first Director of Fundraising to lead our organization’s fundraising efforts with major donors, foundations, and mission-aligned funders who invest in Digital Public Goods, Digital Public Infrastructure, and social-impact technology. We will always act in the public interest, never for private profit. We want investment which is aligned as such.

To date, OpenFn's growth has come from delivering complex digital transformation and implementation projects, and from fundraising efforts our CEO has largely driven himself. As we invest more deliberately in philanthropic and institutional funding to complement our subscription revenue, we're looking for an experienced fundraiser to build this function from the ground up: developing a fundraising strategy, cultivating and stewarding relationships with foundations and major donors, and helping OpenFn secure the multi-year support it needs to keep expanding access to public service automation.

You already have a network of relationships with foundations, funders, and philanthropists active in international development, Digital Public Goods, and technology for social good, and you know how to translate a mission into a compelling case for support. You're comfortable being both the strategist and the one making the ask: this is a foundational hire, so you'll build the playbook as you go rather than inherit one.

We believe some of OpenFn's biggest fundraising opportunities sit at the intersection of philanthropy and policy, for instance helping governments understand why workflow and AI orchestration are essential to resilient digital public infrastructure or articulating the influence that open platforms have on the concentration of power in a market. Prior experience in policy conversations around Digital Public Goods or ICT for Development, and a passion for understanding and addressing the macroeconomic forces that shape wealth inequality is a requirement.

What you'll be doing

Build our fundraising strategy

• Develop and lead OpenFn's fundraising strategy across major donors, foundations, and other mission-aligned funders
• Establish the processes, systems, and reporting cadence a growing fundraising function needs, since you will be OpenFn's first dedicated fundraising hire (see helpful pointers from Wayan Vota!)
• Set and track fundraising priorities in partnership with the CEO and leadership team

Cultivate & grow major donor and foundation relationships

• Identify, cultivate, and steward relationships with foundations, family offices, and individual major donors aligned with OpenFn's mission
• Build and maintain a pipeline of prospective funders, from first conversation through multi-year commitment
• Represent OpenFn credibly and persuasively with senior funder audiences, translating our technical work into a compelling case for impact and support

Develop compelling funding proposals & materials

• Write and coordinate proposals, funding narratives, and reports that clearly connect OpenFn's work to funder priorities
• Partner with the CEO and program teams to gather the impact data and stories that anchor a strong case for support

Engage the policy & DPG ecosystem (a plus)

• Build relationships across the broader Digital Public Goods and Digital Public Infrastructure funding community
• Represent OpenFn in relevant policy conversations and convenings where doing so could unlock new funding relationships

Report on progress & sustain funder relationships

• Track and report on fundraising pipeline, commitments, and funder engagement to the CEO and leadership
• Ensure funders receive timely, high-quality communications and reporting that keeps them engaged for the long term

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in fundraising, development, or philanthropic partnerships, ideally within international development, global health, or technology-for-good organizations
• A demonstrated network of relationships with foundations, major donors, or other institutional funders active in social impact or technology for development
• A track record of securing significant gifts or grants and stewarding funder relationships over multiple years
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical, mission-driven work into a compelling case for support for a range of audiences
• Strong project management and organizational skills, comfortable building process where none exists
• Ability to work independently and as part of a small, fully-remote team
• Fluent, professional-level English communication skills (written and verbal), with the ability to work effectively across a distributed, multicultural team
• Reliable access to a quiet, dedicated remote workspace with strong, stable internet connectivity sufficient for daily video calls and cloud-based collaboration

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience engaging in policy conversations or advocacy related to digital public goods and digital public infrastructure
• Existing relationships with funders active in the DPG and DPI space
• Experience fundraising for a growth-stage mission-driven organization
• Familiarity with the DPGs, open source, or GovTech ecosystems
• A generalist mindset, comfortable wearing multiple hats in a lean organization

Compensation and Benefits

• Financial compensation includes a base salary plus a performance-based bonus tied to fundraising outcomes. Total pay is commensurate with experience, per OpenFn's Equal Pay for Equal Work framework; the detailed bonus mechanics are shared during the interview process.
• N.B.: Selling to NGO and government customers, we don't offer Silicon Valley pay scales, but high quality of life and fair, transparent, and competitive compensation is important to us.
• Flexible working schedule
• We're fully remote, with team meetups across Europe and Africa (our last three were in Kigali, Cape Town, and Dakar)
• Exposure to the hottest industry and technology trends and leading health, humanitarian, and government digital transformation interventions in the sector
• Opportunity for leadership and advancement; you will be a key contributor to our company's strategy and direction
• The opportunity to shape our strategy and impact millions of lives through our open source software in a small, mission-driven organization