UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF globally.

For every child, prosperity.

UNICEF South Africa, there for every child.

We believe that ensuring a child is happy and healthy begins before birth: from ensuring their mother has access to good health care to reaching adulthood as a healthy, empowered and informed young person of the next generation. This journey relies on every child having access to quality health care, good nutrition, education, and growing up in a safe environment free from violence. Read more…

UNICEF South Africa Coutry Office

We receive donations in creative and inspiring ways. From school cake sales to birthday celebrations, payroll donations in the workplace, to simply inviting your friends via social media to become donors. Every contribution is valued and we are grateful to the many fundraising volunteers whose efforts ensure that our work never stops.

How can you make a difference?

Through the Communication and Partnerships section, UNICEF South Africa works to strengthen advocacy and fundraising to achieve its programme priorities and improve the lives of the most disadvantaged children.

The Partnerships team is responsible for establishing and maintaining strong relationships with external stakeholders, working collaboratively to generate income from individual donors, corporates, and foundations. The team also works closely with National Committees abroad and UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division to drive income growth for the South Africa Country Office.

In this position, the Senior Fundraising Associate will play a key role in supporting the partnerships team, serving as a channel coordinator and project administrator. This will require strong organizational and operational expertise, coupled with the ability to demonstrate tactical execution. Furthermore, this role will work closely with enabling functions (legal, compliance, IT, social media etc.) in South Africa Country Office (SACO), Regional Office (RO) and the Private Fundraising and Partnership division to optimize local execution of key partnership activities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Partnership Coordination
  • Work collaboratively with internal Finance & Account Associate and Quality Assurance lead to track and monitor movement of donor funds into Private Sector Fundraising (PSFR) accounts and SACO more broadly.
  • Conduct and catalogue resource mobilization reporting across all channels monthly.
  • Analyze fundraising trends using forecasting tools and suitable data management systems.
  • Contribute to proposal development and reporting by helping to manage deadlines, compile submission packages, and applying a strong attention to detail.
  • Apply clear understanding of partner strategies and priorities to identify linkages with UNICEF programmes and campaigns that create/produces fundraising opportunities.
• Fundraising and Relationship Management
  • Enable the most suitable digital and traditional mechanisms for UNICEF to engage individual donors in South Africa taking into account cost-per-acquisition per channel.
  • Monitor the PSFR budget, compiling UNICEF rep0rts as required, performing clerical office duties such as research background material, direct mail/call to the Manager’s attention, arrange and take minutes/notes at meetings, draft and/or prepare general correspondence of a non-technical nature on issues relating to PSFR.
  • Regularly liaise with PFP and RO colleagues on diversifying giving channels and enabling systems upgrades to fast-track ease-of-giving.
  • Devise and produce appropriate regular fundraising reports, including for finance unit.
• Donor Relations and Coordination
  • Perform the development and maintenance of an appropriate donor database to ensure the good management of donor data and donation processes from various fundraising activities and maintain the PFP database software program (currently ‘Donor Perfect’ and ‘Salesforce’).
  • Attend to daily donors’ queries such as on cancellation, up/downgrade etc. of donations or donor details; escalate queries beyond prescribed types to supervisor.
  • Manage donor retention processes and compile reports of results.
  • Offer and activate secondary individual giving fundraising channels for UNICEF through institutional partners.
  • Facilitate outreach to donors on the preparation of partnerships surveys and donor follow-ups.
  • Actively mobilize partners and supporters to activate omni-channel giving options.
  • Continuously seek out ways to improve the partner journey and the individual giving experience.
  • Maintain up-to-date contact database for individual givers and support online and print promotion of partnership and giving activities.
• Event and Project Management 
  • Lead in planning strategic partnership meetings and managing stakeholder correspondence.
  • Direct the end-to-end logistics of fundraising and partnership activities (pledge uptake, security, registration, room set-up, event services, maintenance, catering, bookmark sales, etc.).
  • Support co-ordination of partnership site visits (venue, sponsorship, travel, catering, security management etc.).
• Administration and Operational Support 
  • Record and manage all partnership interactions and engagements on UNISON, uploading and tracking contracts, MOUs, and partner agreements.
  • Prepare donor invoices, donor certificates and tracks incoming partner payments and transfers.
  • Manage vendor relationships with partners’ and operational focal points.
  • Track and oversee the central partnerships action log and works to resolve open cases.
  • Oversee administrative and operational issues emerging across corporate, major donor and individual giving channels.
  • Provide project assistance and operational support to Partnerships team, such as tracking project timelines and schedules, mapping priorities and managing data entries.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education

• Completion of secondary school as well as university-level courses in at least one of the following fields: Public Relations, International Relations, Political Science, Communications, Marketing, international Development, Business Studies, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience

• At least 7 years of relevant work experience in individual-giving and resource mobilization.
• At least 5 years project administration experience in one or more of these areas: public/business administration, private sector partnership, stakeholder management, hospitality, resource mobilization, fundraising and/or external relations.
• Background in fundraising and multi-stakeholder project administration.
• Proficiency in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and telemarketing.
• At least two years in a client facing and/or account management function strongly preferred.

Critical Skills and Experience

• Proven track record in fundraising and donor management
• Experience in organizing and managing external stakeholder events
• Experience managing multi-stakeholder relationships and coordinating information across internal (inside the organisation) and external (external to the organisation) stakeholders
• Proven experience in organizing, facilitating and managing meetings and events.
• Skill in the identification and establishment of new partnership and fundraising opportunities
• Ability to reconcile or match the needs of the organization with those of the account
• Good negotiation skills with experience across different cultures and educational backgrounds
• Proven ability to deal with multiple tasks in a service-oriented manner under tight deadlines
• Proficiency in the use of CRM software for the management of donor accounts and donor data

Language Requirements

• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English, working knowledge of other South African languages an asset.

The following desirables:

• UN agency work experience.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

UNICEF shall not facilitate the issuance of a visa and working authorization for candidates under consideration for positions at the national officer and general service category.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.