Manager, Partner Funding

Maliasili Initiatives

About The Position

Maliasili is a dynamic and innovative organization focused on driving locally-led conservation impact in Africa. We support outstanding local African conservation organizations by strengthening their organizational performance, leadership, and resourcing. Our partners work on wildlife conservation, land restoration, and coastal fisheries, often integrating community and indigenous land rights, generating economic opportunities from nature-based businesses, and restoring ecosystems. Since its founding over a decade ago, Maliasili has built a portfolio of roughly 55 partners working across over 64 million hectares in seventeen countries. We have helped our partners generate or leverage more than $27.3 million in funding, developed tools to improve organizational performance, and supported significant growth in partner impacts. Our goals are to build a portfolio of Africa’s best local conservation organizations, foster collaboration and learning among them, and scale up their community-based conservation work and leadership capacity. The Manager, Partner Funding oversees the internal administration of all CAF-related grants and leads the development of systems, methodologies, and tools to strengthen partner funding processes across Maliasili. This role ensures smooth grant cycles, effective internal coordination, timely deadlines, high-quality reporting, and accurate capture of funding flows. The Manager also builds operational infrastructure to improve visibility, coordination, and efficiency between CAF, Portfolio, MEL, Comms, and the FAD team. This is an internal-facing role focused on operational excellence, process and systems development, and translating the CAF strategy into consistent, reliable processes.

Requirements

Oversees the internal administration of all CAF-related grants.
Leads the development of systems, methodologies, and internal tools that strengthen partner funding processes.
Ensures grant cycles run smoothly.
Ensures fund internal coordination and tools are developed and disseminated.
Ensures deadlines are met.
Ensures reporting is high-quality.
Ensures internal dashboards capture accurate brokered, influenced, and direct funding flows.
Builds the operational infrastructure that improves visibility, coordination, and efficiency between CAF, Portfolio, MEL, Comms, and the FAD team.
Focuses on operational excellence, process and systems development, and the effective translation of the CAF strategy into consistent, reliable processes across the organization.
Requires strong internal systems that can manage scale, maintain quality, and provide real-time visibility to leadership and teams.
Anchors the operational backbone that links donor engagement, partner needs, Portfolio support, MEL learning, and FAD processes.
Provides systems and structure that allow the CAF pillar to function as a coherent engine for partner funding.
Enables Maliasili to deliver a trusted, reliable, and high-quality funding experience for both partners and donors.
Reports to: Senior Manager, Grantmaking and Partner Funding
Works closely with: FAD Senior Manager Grants, Portfolio Manager, MEL team, Comms team, Finance team

Nice To Haves

Grant cycles across all CAF mechanisms run smoothly, consistently, and on time, with high satisfaction from Portfolio Managers and partners.
All brokered, influenced, and direct funding flows are accurately captured and visible through reliable dashboards and tracking systems.
Portfolio Managers report increased confidence and capability in managing partner fundraising needs and triaging opportunities.
CAF internal systems are coordinated, clear, coherent, and well understood across Maliasili, with staff knowing what CAF offers and how to engage.
The organization has streamlined workflows, strong internal communication, and shared methodologies that support partner fundraising and grantmaking.
The Manager is a trusted internal resource, known for strengthening coordination, improving clarity, and creating structures that help teams work better together.

Responsibilities

Coordinate the end-to-end lifecycle of partner funding across CAF, from pipeline tracking to grant issuance and reporting.
Maintain a real-time overview of partner funding needs, commitments, and timelines in close coordination with Portfolio Managers and senior CAF staff.
Track grant agreements, reporting deadlines, renewals, and compliance requirements.
Prepare and coordinate grant letters, agreements, and related documentation.
Ensure partner grant files are complete, accurate, and audit-ready.
Work in tandem with the FAD Senior Manager, Grants & Funding Opportunities to align financial, contractual, and compliance processes.
Maintain, improve, and document internal systems, trackers, SOPs, and templates related to partner funding and grantmaking.
Support all process management including team and partner coordination on the new fund, including document production and internal communication.
Codify clear workflows that enable consistency, accountability, and efficiency across CAF and Portfolio teams.
Identify operational gaps, risks, and inefficiencies, and proactively propose and implement solutions.
Support the integration of fundraising, grantmaking, and reporting systems across CAF, FAD, and MEL.
Develop practical internal tools, guidance notes, and process documentation that strengthen team-wide understanding of CAF systems and services.
Consolidate and maintain accurate partner funding data across all CAF mechanisms, including brokered, influenced, and directly managed funding.
Maintain internal dashboards that track funding flows, grant status, reporting progress, and partner coverage.
Support MEL integration by ensuring funding data aligns with impact tracking and learning needs.
Prepare data inputs for internal decision-making, leadership updates, donor reporting, and Board discussions.
Improve visibility of funding flows that do not sit on Maliasili’s books but are brokered or influenced through CAF work.
Support due diligence, grant review processes, and documentation in coordination with senior CAF staff and FAD.
Track donor-specific reporting requirements and timelines.
Assist in the preparation of donor reports, funding summaries, and partner data synthesis.
Ensure that reporting processes reflect both accountability and learning, supporting Maliasili’s approach to trust-based philanthropy.
Serve as a coordination anchor for CAF internal processes, supporting alignment across team members and functions.
Support planning and logistics for CAF-related convenings, workshops, and internal engagements as needed.
Track actions, decisions, and follow-up items across CAF meetings and workstreams.
Contribute to building internal visibility and understanding of CAF work across Maliasili through clear systems, cadence, and communication.