The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is at the forefront of the movement to transform meat production in order to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, from climate change and global hunger, to antibiotic resistance and animal suffering.

We work with scientists, businesses and policymakers to make plant-based and cultivated meat (grown directly from cells) delicious, affordable and accessible. Please check out the rest of our website, our 2023 Year in Review and our 2023 Europe Highlights blog post to find out more about who we are and what we do.

We are at an exciting stage in our growth and are looking to recruit a new role to support GFI’s fundraising efforts in the DACH region. We are interested in candidates appropriate for either a Philanthropy Officer or Philanthropy Manager position, and will make an offer to the successful candidate at the level we deem best suited to the skills, aptitudes and experience demonstrated during the application process. The expectations of the role-holder will differ depending on the grade we appoint at, and are set out below. Appropriate support, training and growth opportunities will be provided to the role-holder, whichever grade we appoint at. 

How you will make a difference:

The work of GFI is powered by philanthropy. Reporting to our Senior Philanthropy Manager, you will be in a frontline fundraising role, building and sustaining relationships with our growing family of supporters. Your role will have high responsibility and high impact. Your performance in this role has the potential to make a significant impact on how quickly Europe and the world move to a more ethical and sustainable food system. 

Working closely with the GFI global development team, you will be responsible for securing essential philanthropic funds to power our work across the globe and help transform animal agriculture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve natural resources and prevent animal suffering on a massive scale. 

Focused on the DACH region, as either Philanthropy Officer or Philanthropy Manager, your work will include:

• Achieving ambitious fundraising targets. 

• Building strong, meaningful, long-term relationships with major donors and prospects (both individuals and foundations) to attract, maintain and expand their support.

• Identifying and qualifying new philanthropic prospects, in collaboration with our Prospect Research Manager.

• Crafting and presenting creative funding proposals.

• Helping to keep our supporters up to date with our activities and impact through compelling written reports, events and meetings.

• Accurate, timely and thorough correspondence, acknowledgement and record-keeping at all stages of the donor journey. You will use our CRM system (Salesforce) to manage prospects and supporters, enter and track gifts, pull reports, and analyse data.  

• Coordinating closely with colleagues including the Managing Director, Senior Philanthropy Manager, Head of Development, Foundations Manager and GFI development colleagues across our global affiliates. 

• Helping to coordinate tax-efficient giving to GFI from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

• Performing other relevant duties as required. 

If appointed as Philanthropy Manager, your work will also include:

• Strategic ownership and development of our Philanthropy function in the DACH region focussing primarily on Germany including identifying and leading on new philanthropic opportunities and strategies based on the philanthropic markets in the region (e.g. corporate fundraising)

• Building strong, meaningful, long-term relationships with donor advisors and charity evaluators, to help them understand GFI’s work and impact, giving them the information and confidence to recommend supporting GFI to their clients and the public. 

What We’re Looking For 

The Philanthropy Officer or Manager must have:

• A passion for our philosophy and mission.

• A proven track record of cultivating relationships with donors (individuals or foundations) and securing gifts. 

• A strong understanding of the philanthropic landscape of Germany and, ideally, the broader DACH region. 

• Exceptional communication and people skills: the ability to persuasively make the case for support for GFI and to represent GFI to our stakeholders, and an aptitude for building warm, collaborative, long-lasting relationships with donors and colleagues, across multiple cultures.

• Creative thinking: the ability to develop creative, thoughtful engagement strategies, updates and proposals.

• Initiative: self-motivation, a sense of ownership and responsibility to proactively identify funding opportunities and work to unlock them.

• Strong prioritisation and organisational skills: allocating time effectively to meet competing deadlines.

• Attention to detail: ensuring accuracy of information, for example when using a CRM database to record and track interactions with donors and prospects.

• Tech savviness: a good level of IT literacy and a willingness to learn new software packages (training in Salesforce, Asana, and Google Suite will be provided). 

• Integrity: a high degree of professionalism, confidentiality, discretion, and cultural sensitivity.

• Openness to DEI principles: an affinity with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and with maintaining our welcoming and supportive culture.

• Language skills: excellent written and verbal communication skills in German and English.

• A willingness to travel across the DACH region and potentially elsewhere in Europe in pursuit of philanthropic opportunities. 

• A willingness to occasionally work flexibly, including some evenings, weekends and public holidays.

The Philanthropy Manager must also have:

• Exceptional strategic thinking: the ability to see the big picture, and to envisage an ambitious goal and illuminate a path for achieving it.

• A proven track record of cultivating relationships and securing significant gifts from major donors (individuals or foundations).

We want the best people and we know that building a diverse, inclusive workplace leads to stronger, happier, more productive and resilient teams. We strongly encourage people of every ethnicity, orientation, age, gender, origin, socio-economic background, and ability to apply. Because we value a diverse workplace, we prioritise an inclusive culture absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

The Fine Print 

• Terms of employment: Full-time, 38 hours per week (flexible hours), permanent. Requests for part-time hours (26.5 hours/week or above) can be considered.

• Location: Applicants must be based in Germany or Austria. You will need to be willing and able to travel within the DACH region, every couple of months. You will mainly be working remotely from your home, or wherever you choose. We are happy to consider supporting costs for co-working to enable you to work from an office if you wish. You and the whole GFI Europe team will get together in person approximately twice per year for around 3-4 days at a time. Travel costs will be covered by GFI Europe within our travel policy.

• Salary and benefits: The salary and benefits package for all of our roles are researched and benchmarked based on similar nonprofit roles in the country/location of hire. Due to capacity, we cannot complete that research for more than one country in advance, but approximate indicative ranges (total annual amounts received in gross salary plus benefits including home-working allowance) for Germany are likely to be:

  For Philanthropy Officer €41,400 - €58,632

  For Philanthropy Manager €58,680 - 66,600

• Right to work requirements: The successful candidate must, by the start of the employment, have permission to work in the country where they are based, and to travel in the EU.

• Application Deadline: 29th September 2024, 11.59pm CET. We will get back to all candidates after that date, no matter the outcome of their application: you should expect to hear back from us within about a week of the deadline.

Application process

• Application (Deadline: 29th September 2024, 11.59pm CET)

Fill in the application form. You will have to answer three short work sample questions. Please note that we are not requesting a CV or a cover letter at this stage.

Expected Time Commitment: 1 - 1.5 hours

• Timed assignment (Beginning of October)

Three to four questions simulating the type of work you’d be doing in the role.

Expected Time Commitment: 2 hours

• Interview (Mid-October). We’ll aim to conduct one round of interviews, but might decide to conduct a second round if needed.

Interviews will be conducted remotely on Zoom.

We know that interviews can be especially stressful for candidates. We’ve put together this guide so that you know exactly what to expect from our process and, hopefully, have a more relaxed experience.

Expected Time Commitment: 1.5-2 hours

Dates and times of assignments and video calls can be arranged to fit around your commitments.

We want you to have every opportunity to shine and show us your talents – we are happy to make all the reasonable adjustments that we possibly can to make sure the assessment process works for you. Email us at europe-hiring@gfi.org.

Any questions? Check out the recording of our recent question-and-answer session here.

If you have any questions about this role, please do reach out to us at  europe-hiring@gfi.org. If you’ve read this far but decided not to apply, please share this job description with someone else in your network who you think might be a good fit for the role! Thank you.