Fundraising & Partnership Specialist

Innovation Advance Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Innovation Advance Group seeks a Fundraising & Partnership Specialist to strengthen health and education systems in South Africa. You will lead grant prospecting, craft compelling proposals and manage budgets while ensuring donor alignment across multiple projects nationwide.

You’ll build data-backed narratives, maintain reporting cycles and help shape strategy that raises significant funding to improve facilities and schools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of proposal development and grant writing experience.
• Proven ability to raise R20 million+ per year within three years.
• Strong financial literacy and budget management skills.
• Excellent communication, influencing and presentation abilities.
• Strategic, impact-driven mindset with cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Grant prospecting and proposal development to align with donor priorities.
• Budget alignment and financial oversight with Operations and Finance.
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning systems to show measurable progress.
• Knowledge management, reporting templates and Board-level reporting.
• Donor analytics and trend tracking to inform strategy.
• Compliance and governance for confidentiality and responsible funding.

Skills

Grant writing

Proposal development

Donor analytics

Budget management

Monitoring and Evaluation

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Fundraising & Partnership Specialist – Health & Education

You’ll join an organisation working across 14 biodiversity landscapes and seascapes in Africa, Asia and South America, supporting communities who steward some of the world’s most culturally rich and ecologically significant areas. Your work will directly strengthen Primary Healthcare facilities, Early Childhood Development centres, Primary Schools and Secondary Schools in partner communities across South Africa.

This is impact at scale — not theoretical, not distant, not diluted. Real places. Real people. Real change.

What makes this role extraordinary

• You’ll cultivate strategic partnerships that unlock long-term, meaningful investment into health and education systems that need it most.
• You work with a leadership team that values excellence.
• Your expertise is not a “nice to have” — it is central to the organisation’s ability to deliver measurable, life-changing outcomes.
• You shape the narrative of impact.
• You’ll translate programme work into compelling, data-backed partnership propositions that inspire donors to act.
• Your fundraising strategy will help strengthen 15 healthcare facilities and over 200 education institutions in communities across South Africa.
• You join a mission-driven, multicultural team. Professional, passionate, collaborative — united by a shared commitment to people, planet, and purpose.

Your Role

You will lead:

• Grant prospecting & proposal development: Craft persuasive, strategic proposals that speak to donor priorities and community realities.
• Budget alignment & financial oversight: Work with Operations and Finance to ensure budgets are accurate, realistic, and aligned with impact narratives.
• Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning: Build results frameworks, theories of change, log frames and MEL systems that demonstrate measurable progress.
• Knowledge management & reporting: Maintain templates, coordinate reporting cycles, and prepare high-level fundraising insights — including Board-level reporting.
• Donor analytics & trend tracking: Maintain a live database of global and regional donors and monitor philanthropy trends to inform strategy.
• Compliance & governance: Ensure all partnerships meet organisational standards for confidentiality, ethics, and responsible funding.

Who You Are

You are already respected in the South African donor ecosystem — especially among funders focused on primary healthcare, ECD, and basic education.

You have:

• A proven ability to raise R20 million+ per year within three years
• 5+ years of proposal development and grant writing experience
• Strong financial literacy and budget management skills
• Excellent communication, influencing and presentation abilities
• A strategic, impact-driven mindset
• Cross-functional collaboration experience
• A passion for community-based development and conservation
• The ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment

And personally, you are:

• Professional, polished, and confident
• Tenacious, disciplined, and self-motivated
• Highly organised and able to manage multiple donor relationships
• Comfortable travelling to remote locations and working in diverse cultural contexts
• Deeply committed to social and environmental impact

Work Environment

This is an office-based role in Sandton, with extended hours and extensive travel across South Africa — including remote areas where the work is most needed and most meaningful.

If you’re ready for a role where your network, your expertise, and your passion can reshape the future of health and education in South Africa, this is your next chapter.