This is our most critical role. You will ensure long-term sustainability so that everyone else can focus on their day jobs. Yours is the position every funder wants to see in the organisation. Unfortunately, none of them want to pay for you.
You are the person we bring in to make it “like the private sector” and ensure a smooth transition once the founder retires or takes a less active role. Which will happen… one day.
12A, 80G and FCRA. Who cares what else you do?
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You will demonstrate our credibility to institutional funders. You will be adept at making logframes in cursive and calligraphy, and talking poignantly about the finer points of outcomes versus outputs. You will be equally adept at steering the conversation away from discussing our actual impact.
This is the most critical role in our organisation. The right pictures, thoughtfully placed callout boxes, sensitive fonts – you will ensure that everyone loves our reports without reading them.
You will be great at making our programmes sound “innovative”, “impactful”, and “scalable” to each funder. You will be able to relate each funder’s unique theory of change to our programmes and demonstrate a perfect fit, no matter the approach.
You will be great at making the senior management believe that your ideas are their suggestions, and therefore have a chance to see them implemented. Alternatively, you will be great at convincing yourself that you agree with their decisions.
Can you figure out a way to make us go viral every week?
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The genius nonprofit (see also: jugaad; stingy) solution to the no-money-for-staff conundrum. “Let’s get interns to do this!” Because why pay someone a living wage to execute a critical task when we could get someone else with no training to do it?
You will convince the government to scale up our program after we have completed one evaluation study. Also, you will speak on lots of panels about how challenging working with the government is.
You are the only sales pitch the organisation needs– the personal story, the gravitas, the ethnic clothes, the white hair. Until you want to (or are begged to) retire, and then everyone else suddenly remembers institution building.
You will steer the organisation towards sustainability, and the adoption of sound, ethical, and legally-compliant policies. Also, please convince everyone in South Mumbai/Delhi/Bangalore to donate to us.
