Organization Background
Rare is a fast-growing, international conservation organization that runs state-of-the-art communications and outreach projects in more than 50 countries around the world. Named to Fast Company Magazine’s list of “Top Social Capitalists” for four consecutive years, Rare is committed to bringing a spirit of entrepreneurship and creativity to solving one of this century’s great challenges – building public support for conservation.
Rare works through local partnerships to tangibly reduce threats to the environment, often in collaboration with global partners like The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and the United Nations Environment Programme. Pulitzer Prize winning conservation leader E.O. Wilson described Rare’s value as follows: “In an original manner, Rare attends to conservation where it has ultimately the most lasting effect, through education tuned to the culture and needs of local people.”
Rare’s record of conservation success rests on its “Pride” program, a powerful blend of environmental conservation outreach, social marketing, behavior change, and local capacity building that has been empowering local conservation leaders since 1988. Rare Pride focuses on building support for conservation at the local level and is centered around 2-year campaigns launched in collaboration with partners around the world. Some of the world’s most important sites for biological diversity are threatened by a lack of awareness and local community support. By catalyzing in-country private and public sector funding, shifting public behavior toward more sustainable practices, and focusing public attention on critically threatened ecosystems and species, Rare’s Pride campaigns dramatically build momentum for conservation by creating the constituencies necessary for initiating legislative reform, creating new protected areas, and saving the habitats of multiple species on the brink of extinction.
In 2010, Rare is shifting its strategy. Effective this year, every Pride campaign in each regional cohort will be aligned around a similar problem and solution (“thematic cohorts”). For example, in Latin America, Rare will launch 12 campaigns in the Andes to safeguard endangered endemic species by motivating farmers and local governments to protect the watersheds that harbor these one-of-a-kind birds and amphibians. In Indonesia and Malaysia, Rare will launch 12 campaigns that inspire coastal fishers and their communities to create No Take Zones that will enable sustainable harvesting in perpetuity. The Director, Program Development will work with the CEO, COO, Regional Vice Presidents, and Senior Vice President for Growth and Strategy to determine the theme, approach, and recruiting strategies for the English-speaking tropics and China regions in 2010 and then all regions for 2011 and beyond.
Position Background
Rare is seeking a dynamic and professional Director, Program Development to help build the organization by developing a key program from the ground-up and to interact with a vast network of partners around the world. A new position at Rare, the Director will be responsible for identifying key conservation threats and trends around the globe, establishing an internal structure to support that work, filling our training centers with high quality campaign manager applicants (up to six locations with 12 campaigns per year), as well as increasing Rare’s brand awareness and credibility with our target audience through conferences, workshops, meetings, and networking with alumni and regional staff.
Rare is seeking a seasoned, entrepreneurial leader to play a key role in helping the organization achieve these ambitious objectives for growth and impact.
Responsibilities:
- Identify new cohort opportunities in each of Rare’s regions of operations (currently English-speaking developing world, Latin America, China, and Indonesia-Malaysia and develop a deep understanding of the landscape regarding conservation strategies, partnerships, and fundraising centers of gravity
- Provide strategic guidance to regional recruiting staff on lead generation to drive applications and development of thematic cohorts
- Conduct thorough research and engage with thought leaders in the conservation/development communities to better understand priorities, opportunities and threats particularly around Rare’s chosen key threats
- Incorporate feedback from both internal and external stakeholders into product improvement and development
- Manage Rare’s strategic global partnerships including international conservation NGOs, multilateral organizations, international funding and grant-making organizations
- Act as DC-based representative for regional VPs in partner relations and program negotiation
- Support programmatic and fundraising initiatives by playing significant role in deal negotiation and closing with donors
- Oversee and improve global systems and processes that support cohort development and partner recruitment
- Manage contractors for market research, solutions contests, case studies, and RarePlanet-based communities of practice
- Work in close collaboration with leadership in the areas of strategy, marketing, sales, product development, and regional management
Qualifications
- Minimum of 8 years of related experience, preferably in international development and/or conservation contexts
- Demonstrated record of success in building partnerships
- Significant prior success in marketing, sales, recruitment, pipeline development and management, and/or business development
- Written and spoken proficiency in English; Spanish proficiency strongly preferred; French, Bahasa Indonesia, or Mandarin also a benefit
- Strong systems approach to management, with experience using CRM software
- Strong knowledge of key players in the national, regional and international nonprofit, environmental, and academic community preferred
- Experience managing remote teams across state or international borders
- Excellent project management skills
- Intercultural/multicultural experience and attitude
- Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree preferred with an international focus in marketing and sales, recruitment, international work, or related field
- Note that willingness for significant international travel is required (up to 30%)
Benefits
Rare not only inspires conservation, we also inspire our employees. In addition to fully covered health insurance, a retirement savings plan, and generous vacation/holiday leave time, Rare’s benefits include an annual training budget for continuous learning and growth, a bonus plan that ties to individual and organizational performance, and a flexible and fun work environment. And to make sure no one gets cabin fever, there’s an annual staff retreat that brings every staff member together to support our work around the world.
