Executive Director - Fund Raising - Ahimsa Trust

AHIMSA TRUST

- A philanthropic start-up founded by a group of Corporate leaders and philanthropists with the vision of creating a sustainable and humane world for all living beings.

- While one of our key motivations is to help the voiceless animals, we recognize that there are strong inter-connections between animal well-being, environmental sustainability and human health which must be explored to drive holistic solutions involving multiple stakeholders.

We aim to be a catalyst and our India-specific long-term goals over the next couple of decades are:

- Create 500+ leaders in the sector

- Reduce animal consumption and the consequential adverse environmental impact by 50%

- Create an Eco-system with 50+ partners from the Corporate sector

To deliver these goals, we will focus on the following themes:

- Explore the links between environmental sustainability, human health and animal protection, and create viable programs to deliver our vision.

- Increase impact through powerful partnerships with the Corporate sector, the government, environmental and animal rights NGOs.

- Attract significantly higher investment to increase capacity in the sustainability & the animal rights movement

Founder's commitment: 

- The founders have committed to investing USD 3m+ over the next 6-24 months in a portfolio of initiatives that need to be well-researched and brought to life. We are also committed to fully leveraging our networks to support the cause.

We are currently in the research phase, and the focus areas we are currently exploring include:

- Creating a capability building program to build leaders of today and tomorrow for the sector

- Driving a plant-based diet movement through direct consumer advocacy and corporate outreach campaigns

- Supporting the ongoing Regulatory Reform efforts to improve welfare, health & environmental compliance

- Acting as a collaborator and an investor in supporting the creation of an Eco-system for vegan/ethical businesses, and for the not-for-profit entrepreneurs.

- Ahimsa Trust is intended to have a lean team and will largely execute through partner organizations who will be expected to co-invest and own the execution. In specific instances the fund will intervene to directly drive initiatives for a certain period, particularly in the area of capability building.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

- The Executive Director is a key management leader of Ahimsa Trust. He/she will be responsible for co-creating and executing the strategy for Ahimsa on the ground. The position reports directly to the Board of Trustees. For an outstanding individual with passion and a well-rounded skill-set/experience, the founders would be open to according the co-founder status.

Purpose / Key Objectives of the Job

- The Executive Director shall be responsible for delivering the mission of the organisation by conducting research, initiating and managing partnerships, finding investors/donors to co-invest, managing the portfolio of initiatives to deliver the agreed KPIs, and the overall administration of the organization.

Responsibilities :

Board Governance :

- Work with the Board of Trustees in order to fulfill the organization's mission as defined by the Board.

- Responsible for communicating effectively with the Board and providing, in a timely and accurate manner, all information necessary for the Board to make informed decisions, seek their involvement in policy decisions, fundraising and other critical decision making.

Co-investment / FundRaising and scale up :

- Responsible for influencing potential investors to co-invest in the Ahimsa initiatives and developing other revenue streams necessary to support Ahimsa's mission and scale up impact in a significant way.

Execution of Strategy :

- Responsible for strategic planning to ensure that Ahimsa can successfully fulfill its Mission into the future.

- Responsible for the enhancement of Ahimsa's image by being active and visible in the community.

- Establish and maintain powerful partnerships with various organizations (implementation partners, Corporates, NGOs, government) and utilize those relationships to strategically enhance Ahimsa's Mission.

- Evaluate projects, recommend and make impact based grants, track impact.

Operations :

- Ensure Ahimsa operates effectively within budgets.

- Oversee and implement appropriate resources (achieving an optimal balance of insourcing and outsourcing) to ensure that the operations of the organization are appropriate.

- Responsible for the hiring, retention and supervision of talent both in sourced and/or outsourced.

Qualifications and skills required

- Graduate/PostGraduate in any discipline - must be passionate about animal rights & justice, and environmental sustainability.

- Strong work ethic with a high degree of energy, leadership, and administrative skills.

- 10-15 years of relevant experience, of which some experience in the social sector would be highly desirable.

- High level strategic thinking, planning and organizational skills. Ability to create and effectively communicate the strategy and the road map to potential funders, partners and the larger community.

- Proven ability to oversee staff and collaborate with people.

- Active fundraising experience. Excellent donor relations skills and understanding of the funding community.

- Previous success in establishing relationships with individuals and organizations of influence including funders, partner agencies and volunteers.

Preferred: Person who is a vegetarian or vegan.