Director of Organizational Development

Family Empowerment Media seeks a dynamic generalist who will focus on raising funds and leading organizational operations as we strengthen our model and scale to new locations


Position Summary
Application Deadline: Rolling applications
Duration: Long term 
Hours: Full time
Location: Remote (offices available in London and Oslo)
How to apply: Fill out this form

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About Family Empowerment Media
Family Empowerment Media (FEM) is an evidence-driven non-profit that enables informed contraceptive decisions through clear, compelling, and accurate communication. 
 
Enabling couples to access modern contraceptives may be one of the most cost-effective ways to avert maternal deaths, in addition to providing a host of other benefits. Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive effect that radio-based social and behavioral change campaigns can have in empowering women and men to realize their contraceptive intentions. 
 
Established in September 2020, FEM is an early-stage organization with significant potential for growth. Since our founding, FEM has come a long way. We have:

  • Broadcast ads 140 times on two radio stations in northern Nigeria

  • Reached up to 2-3 million listeners

  • Conducted extensive listener research, including interviews, surveys, and focus groups with over 300 women and men 

 
Our plans for the next year are ambitious. Key highlights include:

  • Conducting a six-month pilot campaign in northern Nigeria, in partnership with the state Ministry of Health

  • Administering a survey to 900 respondents to assess our impact before and after our campaign

  • Expanding our campaign to a second state in Nigeria

 
Our efforts have been recognized by experts in philanthropy and entrepreneurship. In September, Charity Entrepreneurship extended its largest-ever seed grant for a global health-focused organization to FEM. In June, the Distribution Foundation awarded FEM a D-Prize in recognition of our work. In addition, numerous individuals have made contributions, ranging from US $5 to US $100,000. 
 
The Director of Organizational Development will join us directly after the launch of our pilot, supporting us as we look ahead to our post-pilot activities and scale our organization further.  
 
About the role

Family Empowerment Media seeks a dynamic generalist who will focus on development and organizational operations. The Director will become a central part of the senior management team and spearhead FEM’s fundraising efforts. We expect the Director to spend about 50% of their time on Development, 25% on Operations, and 25% on Strategy and other tasks. 
 
Responsibilities may include: 

 

Serve as a senior leader, contributing to FEM’s overall strategy and implementation:

  • Contribute to annual and quarterly strategy setting and work planning.

  • Contribute to key organizational decisions, such as choosing expansion locations and hiring.

  • Manage interns, one-on-one and in teams, working on a range of research and analytical projects.

  • Engage in weekly leadership meetings.

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Lead FEM’s fundraising and communications efforts

  • Identify new opportunities for funding and partnership such as BMGF, Big Bang Philanthropy, and USAID, and manage relationships with existing supporters.

  • Draft proposals, concept notes, pitch documents, and other communications and marketing documents.

  • Draft content aimed at target donors and key stakeholders (e.g., annual report, newsletter, blogs, website development, social media).


Lead FEM’s legal and financial operations: 

  • Ensure appropriate compliance with government authorities for all countries in which FEM has operations (including Nigeria, the US, and Norway). 

  • Oversee our financials, including our cash position and net balance, develop financial statements, and file necessary taxes.

 
How you will have an impact with FEM
The Director of Development will join us at an exciting stage. We are currently conducting a pilot in one Nigerian state and plan to bring our model to 1-2 additional states within the next year. By 2025, FEM plans to reach six million women with our programming. The Director will enable this growth, and thus, the expansion of a proven model to millions of new listeners. 
 
Qualifications
We’re looking for a sharp, accomplished go-getter. The successful candidate must be inspired by our mission and demonstrate a commitment to our core values of ambitious altruism, rigor and evidence, cultural sensitivity and humility, and transparency.

 

The Director will also possess some or most of the following qualifications:

  • Strong generalist: Fast learner who enjoys a challenge and is able to independently progress on important projects throughout our organization. 

  • Skilled at communications: Skilled in creating powerful, compelling written communications for fundraising. Able to convey complex ideas through brief, simple materials. 

  • Detail-orientated: Able to spot and correct details in proposals and other deliverables. 

  • Process-oriented: Able to follow organizational processes and find ways to improve them.

  • Strong entrepreneurial spirit: Takes initiative and actively seeks to deepen current donor relationships and forge new ones.

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The ideal Director will be experienced in fundraising in the global development space. 

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Please apply even if you don’t meet all the criteria. If you think you are a good fit for two of the three key areas of responsibility (strategy, development, operations), we would still love to see your application.

 

Benefits of working at FEM

  • High impact: Enabling the successful scaling of our model can improve the lives of thousands of mothers and children. Our intervention was chosen for its high cost-effectiveness and strong evidence base from 188 ideas evaluated by Charity Entrepreneurship[1].

  • Influence: As an early-stage hire, you will contribute to shaping the future of our organization by participating in strategy development. 

  • Personal growth: You are guaranteed to be challenged with a wide range of tasks. Feedback loops are also short, and we can provide feedback very quickly. 

  • Work Environment: You will join a team of really involved and committed entrepreneurs with aligned values and goals. We care about continuous improvement, and we listen and take the ideas and viewpoints of all our team members seriously.

  • Community: You will have the opportunity to become a part of the Charity Entrepreneurship community and connect with experts in the field.

  • Job satisfaction: You will experience a high level of freedom and autonomy, and you have the opportunity to work from anywhere. 

  • Entrepreneurial experience: You will experience working with a start-up and gain insight into the entrepreneurial process. 

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Further details

  • The Director should be capable of working in a remote environment.

  • We strive to recruit talented leaders while maintaining a cost structure that allows us to be highly cost-effective.

  • This role has a 6-month probationary period. 

  • After the 6-month probation period, we may bring the Director on as an additional organization co-founder, depending on the fit of the successful candidate.

  • We respect your time, and we have designed our application process to reflect this. The first step of the application process should only take about 15 minutes, and we only ask for more time from applicants we think would be an excellent fit for our organization. 

  • If you have any questions about applying, please reach out to acthorsheim@familyempowermentmedia.org. I am happy to have a conversation!