Philanthropy Advisor

The India Climate Collaborative seeks a Philanthropy Advisor to guide high-net-worth individuals in funding climate initiatives. The role involves building relationships with donors, developing strategies for engagement, and collaborating with the climate intelligence team. Candidates should have a background in fundraising and donor advisory work. The position is based in Maharashtra, India, and focuses on mobilizing philanthropic capital for impactful climate action.
About The ICC
The India Climate Collaborative (ICC) was established in 2020 to coordinate and support Indian philanthropists scaling corporate and family philanthropy in India for climate impact. We unlock philanthropic capital, identify catalytic climate priorities, and create connective infrastructure. We were founded by some of India's pre-eminent corporate and philanthropic leaders, including Rohini Nilekani, Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Nadir Godrej, and others.

The ICCs key priorities include building a cohort of visionary climate philanthropists (India Climate Leaders), helping corporate philanthropy scale community-led climate solutions (Earth Exponential), pooling grant funds to achieve system climate action (Funds Advisory) and enabling cross-sectoral investments to accelerate climate action (Sectors Catalyst). You can learn more about us at indiaclimatecollaborative.org.

About India Climate Leaders
The India Climate Leaders (ICL) program aims to empower and cultivate climate leaders among high net-worth individuals in India. The role of ICL is to direct funds towards those climate priorities that are aligned with Indias ambitious mitigation targets, development goals and to advocate for accelerated climate funding and more integrated action. The ICC plays the role of an advisor to these India Climate Leaders, it does not charge its services, nor does it pool grant capital the funds flow directly from philanthropists to climate solutions and organisations.

Philanthropy Advisor

The Philanthropy Advisor is a key member of the ICL team andis responsible for guiding and advising philanthropists. These strategic advisors proactively help bring new donors to climate, and once they are interested, help engage them while building strategies to support their giving at the speed and scale the climate sector needs. They will have to manage high and ultra-high-net-worth individuals while working in close partnership with the climate intelligence team within the ICL to guide where their funding should flow.

The Philanthropy Advisor must be passionate about the impactful role that philanthropy can have on one of the most critical issues of our time. Operating as a credible champion for the climate sector and a trusted advisor to philanthropists, the Philanthropy Advisor will be working to move millions into climate action in India in the coming years. To be successful, candidates must understand how donors operate, how to build relationships with them that are authentic, and how to spur them into action with the speed and scale this issue requires through engagement, learning, listening, and advising.

The ideal Philanthropy Advisor has a background in fundraising and has done a significant amount of partnership and HNI or donor advisory work in the past. They will report to, and work in close partnership with the ICL Lead to determine how to build a cohort of highly committed and passionate India Climate Leaders who are ready to give significant philanthropic capital to catalytic, systems-oriented climate action.

Specific responsibilities include:
Develop strategies to engage new donors for funding climate solutions, including evaluating key networks and other options for helping families of means recognize the importance of climate and begin to engage. This includes managing strategies to meet and engage donors and to help them begin to give and scale their climate giving
Work cross-functionally to develop content and strategy for philanthropy-focused events and experiences to find and engage new donors for climate
Design and implement creative and comprehensive donor plans for cultivating philanthropic learning and action on climate for assigned donors/prospective donors
Conduct comprehensive research to understand potential donors, including their priorities, starting points, and giving styles, to effectively align the engagement strategies and proposals with their interests and preferences
Partner with colleagues with climate intelligence to source ideas for philanthropists (e.g., interest in giving in specific regions or to integrated climate issues such as food systems), or to help draw in multi-interest donors with multi-solution projects
Develop and manage materials to support engagement, including tailored tools for new philanthropists, presentations, proposals, letters of inquiry, meetings, portfolio materials, and special events
Support assigned philanthropists through a process of learning from the first gift to fully scaled giving for climate. This could include designing learning sessions, portfolio creation, connection to peer ambassadors, and helping determine first criteria or other touchpoints as needed
Coordinate and track activities, proposals, commitments, and reports using ICC's donor engagement database (Salesforce). Use and contribute to ICC's knowledge management system for solution materials as well
Support philanthropists" long-term commitment to climate philanthropy and maintain ICC's professional relationships and visibility with key donor and partner NGO networks; mobilize these networks to identify new donors for climate and scale their giving
In collaboration with the full ICL team, set strategies annually to meet yearly and five-year goals; iterate based on learnings

Skills and Experience:
10+ years of relevant work experience in non-profit, climate consulting, policy research and/or field-based/ implementing organizations
Expertise in principal development work or donor advising is critical for this role. Proven success in cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding eight-figure gifts from philanthropists, especially ultra-high-net-worth donors
Proven track record of exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with convening capabilities
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with a persuasive and attentive approach
Strategic mindset with the ability to read between the lines, translating priorities into operational reality
Prior experience working with customer relationship management systems is a plus, as is previous climate experience

Personal Traits and Competencies:
Able to influence without power, advance complex strategies with agility
Collaborative and respectful, but unafraid to take decisions
High emotional intelligence, and the ability to approach difficult conversations with grace
Patience and a strong learning mindset, while encouraging that in others
Strong work ethic, intellectual curiosity and a sense of humour
Is deeply mission driven and passionate about climate action
Loves to build and embraces ambiguity

Timeline: Prospective candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible and will be interviewed on a rolling basis. Due to the small capacity of our team, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

The India Climate Collaborative, registered as the Council of Philanthropies for Climate Action, is an equal opportunity employer.,