Head of Business Development & Marketing

WWF South Africa is a solution-driven organisation that constructively engages with government, companies and individuals to meet our goal of a future that is sustainable and equitable where both people and nature thrive.  In almost 50 years of conservation work in South Africa, WWF has increasingly played a leading role in aligning the attitudes of people, business and government towards the environment which has resulted in tangible and lasting conservation outcomes.

The Head of Business Development & Marketing will play a key role in ensuring WWF’s financial viability through bringing existing and ongoing fund-raising initiatives to their full potential, establishing novel pilot fund-raising initiatives, and phasing out unviable income streams. The Head will also lead a coherent and integrated marketing plan in direct support of organisational fundraising objectives. The Head will engage closely with the Heads of Communications, and Environmental Programme, and work cooperatively with senior business development staff and resource mobilization professionals in South Africa and in the wider WWF network.

The Head of Business Development & Marketing requires significant strategic, leadership, marketing, fundraising, relationship and team management skills as the incumbent’s primary responsibility will be to give strategic direction and to develop WWF South Africa’s relationships with financial supporters; including individuals, the business sector, public sector partnerships, trusts and foundations.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Maximize the full power of WWF’s brand to support programmes and advancement of WWF’s environmental work and integrate the broad marketing objectives with a coherent and innovative fundraising plan in order to mobilise financial resources:
  
  • Build goodwill for WWF across society, but in particular among identified broad target groups, in order to broaden WWF’s constituency of supporters
  • Convert goodwill into financial support (from individuals, corporates, trusts & foundations, social enterprises).
  • Develop and/ or grow innovative annuity income streams in support of WWF’s work, with a focus on unrestricted income generation.
  • Develop, promote and execute a coherent marketing plan in direct support of organisational fundraising objectives.

• Integrate the corporate fund-raising plan within the broader integrated organisational strategy (i.e. including communications, marketing and brand outcomes).
• Lead on the implementation of an effective and innovative fundraising plan/strategy that supports the conservation mission of WWF.
• Mobilise broad support for WWF’s work among students at tertiary institutions.
• Drive further growth and improved retention in WWF’s face-to-face supporter recruitment programme.
• Working closely with the Head of Environmental Programme, develop an in-depth understanding of how partnerships with responsible corporates can enhance delivery of effective outcomes of the conservation goals of WWF-SA.
• Provide strong leadership to, and management of, the corporate relations staff who will be responsible for managing the full range of relationships with the corporate sector; i.e. from corporate membership, licensing, project sponsorships, in-kind donations, product partnerships, to transformational conservation partnerships.
• Liaise with the WWF International Fundraising, PSP and Corporate Engagement teams and other WWF Network Offices to ensure alignment, learning and application of best-practices.
• Develop (in close consultation with the above initiatives) innovative means that will incentivize private sector engagement with WWF-SA.
• Coordinate, manage and monitor all corporate engagement between the WWF corporate relations staff, conservation specialists and corporate funders to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
• Provide leadership and oversee the activities and performance of the team that manages individual giving, specifically in the area of high net-worth individual relations, building a bequest pipeline, as well as direct-marketing initiatives such as Face-2-Face fundraising.
• Jointly oversee the activities and performance of the teams that are responsible for resourcing WWF’s core as well as its environmental programmes and projects.

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