Manager, Philanthropic Partnerships

Job Title: Manager, Philanthropic Partnerships

Location: Lusaka, Zambia; or remote in Africa, Europe or U.S. East Coast

Reports to: Senior Director, Philanthropic Partnerships

Employment Type: Full-time

ABOUT HEALTHY LEARNERS

Healthy Learners is an award-winning non-profit organization committed to improving the health of children in Zambia and beyond. We partner with the government and local communities so that school children can stay healthy, learn effectively and have a brighter future. Healthy Learners was the inaugural winner of the 2021 Duke F.M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact, the UBS Optimus Foundation COVID-19 Relief Prize, the 2025 Skoll Award for Social Innovation, and has seen strong, steady growth in philanthropic support over time.

School-aged children in low-resource settings suffer from a high burden of disease and often lack access to basic healthcare, which causes otherwise preventable and curable illnesses to frequently result in life-long health challenges or disability. In the short term, these illnesses contribute to school absenteeism, poor academic performance, and high drop-out rates. In the long term, they undermine physical, cognitive, and emotional development and hinder economic prosperity.

Healthy Learners is bridging this gap in Zambia through our unique model of school-based community health. By training teachers to be community health workers and making schools entry points into the public healthcare system, children now receive medical attention in substantially greater numbers, improving health outcomes and reducing absenteeism. We currently serve more than 1 million students and are working with the Zambian government to scale the program nationally to serve 3 million children by 2028.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Healthy Learners is built on a solid foundation of strong philanthropic partnerships, a capable team and a robust culture. As we prepare to enter an exciting period of growth, we are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Manager, Philanthropic Partnerships. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 5 years of experience building donor relationships, crafting compelling proposals and reports, and contributing to cross-functional development strategies.

The Manager will be a key member of the Philanthropic Partnerships team – with two primary responsibilities: 1) working collaboratively with senior leaders to draft proposals, donor reports and other donor-facing communications and 2) managing key team systems, including our CRM. The Manager will also contribute to other important development team functions, including proposal management, conducting research on funder prospects, and quarterbacking key initiatives. This position requires someone who loves to write collaboratively with others – and enjoys the iterative process of getting and giving feedback on writing.

We are looking for a teammate who willingly jumps in wherever needed to get things done, is proactive and can work with little direction, and displays a can-do attitude.

IN AN AVERAGE WEEK, YOU MIGHT:

Write a progress report for a donor, liaising with colleagues to collect updated data and stories, and present an accurate description of current challenges and opportunities. You like the process of working with others to come up with a strong written product.
Copyedit a response to a donor inquiry. You read carefully, and like to find ways to better highlight key messages.
Spend time organizing and updating our CRM system, collaborating with others on the team to update entries, research donor prospects, and map out next steps. You naturally enjoy building and refining systems – making sure we “document what we know” – and supporting your team to make progress on priority pursuits.
Create a proposal outline or a pitch deck. You enjoy thinking through how to best frame a persuasive argument, and working with others to refine it. You sometimes think in slides.
Create a calendar for a proposal or another team project, thinking through the workflow to get to a finished product, and determining the best sequence and timing given schedules and team availability. You think in to-do lists, and logical sequences.
Put together a meeting brief with draft talking points, helping senior leaders be as prepared as possible for an important donor interaction.
Go down a few rabbit holes when researching donor prospects. You think philanthropy is fascinating – and you like documenting and sharing what you learn.
Help out on an urgent deliverable. You like the feeling of not really knowing what your day is going to look like, and enjoy the rush of focusing on pitching in to help the team deal with an important and urgent task.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Proposal and Report Development

Draft high-quality, tailored grant proposals and donor reports that align with foundation priorities and organizational impact. Incorporate feedback from colleagues, working on iterative drafts
Manage proposal teams – coordinating inputs from program, finance, and M&E teams to ensure accurate and compelling content.
Develop outlines, calendars and other tools to help teams stay on track.
Optimizing Organizational Use of CRM and Other Knowledge Management Systems

Maximize Healthy Learner’s use of its CRM systems to track donor interactions, proposals, and reporting requirements.
Maintain an accurate pipeline of institutional prospects. Track relevant next steps and milestones.
Ensure data integrity and generate reports for internal use
Maintain a repository of boilerplate language and organizational data points

Research and Pipeline Development

Conduct prospect research to identify and qualify new foundation funding opportunities.
Prepare briefing documents and backgrounders for senior leadership ahead of donor meetings.
Support strategic donor cultivation, engagement, and stewardship plans.
Serve as project manager for key departmental efforts.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

The ideal candidate is a strong team player, has impeccable attention to detail and follow-through, and is deeply passionate about the mission and vision of Healthy Learners. S/he is a clear, precise and confident communicator, with strong verbal and written skills; is highly comfortable working in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment; thrives in a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and collaborative environment that demands and rewards innovation and creativity.

The ideal candidate will be excited to join on the ground floor of a new department in a rapidly growing organization. S/he approaches that opportunity with humility, hunger, and a “no job too small” commitment to meeting the needs of the organization. In addition, the ideal candidate brings:

A minimum of 5 years of experience in fundraising for nonprofits, with a focus on institutional donors/foundations.
Proven success in writing proposals and reports that resulted in funding.
Strong project management and organizational skills.
Excellent research, writing, and editing skills.
Proficiency with CRM platforms, Google workspace products, and other collaboration tools.
Experience managing knowledge banks and content libraries a plus.
Familiarity with social media strategies for donor engagement a plus.
Proven experience working with diverse, cross-cultural teams; ability to develop strong working relationships at all levels, especially via virtual meetings across time zones
Knowledge of international development and global health issues.