Partnerships Associate

Partnerships Associate

The New Foreign Assistance · Washington, D.C. · Part-time (30 hours)

The New Foreign Assistance is a conservative aid reform advocacy group. We believe that the end of USAID creates a unique opportunity to build a better approach to American aid. Stripped of the bureaucratic barnacles that inhibited USAID, the system being created at the State Department can draw on principles of private sector-led development, cost-effectiveness, flexible procurement, and government accountability.

We believe development happens organically by supporting those making change on the ground; not by parachuting in programs designed from behind embassy walls and implemented by outsiders. We support the Trump Administration’s direction of travel on foreign assistance to simplify program design and procurement and use commercial diplomacy to unlock productive bilateral relationships. Our work centers on supporting authorizing and appropriating committees, foreign assistance leadership and staff at the State Department, and relevant White House officials as they work to establish this new approach.

To learn more see: thenewforeignassistance.org

About the role

We seek someone to help build partnerships with supportive organizations, individuals and funders. The incumbent will identify targets and engage entities in outreach. The Director of Partnerships will advise the Executive Director on promising partnership initiatives and lead implementation as appropriate. This is a representational role. The candidate should be tenacious and firmly dedicated to America having an excellent foreign assistance system. That system will take the best of the old approach and jettison the rest.

The ideal candidate has the ability to thrive in a startup environment, have the ability to network and liaise with a wide variety of people and organizations. The right person could come from a think tank, the private sector, the aid world, or the advocacy world. We care more about whether you can build, write, organize, and follow through than whether you have a conventional résumé.

In practice, that means you will:

Develop our partnerships roster

• Identify organizations and individuals with the ability to influence the design on the next foreign assistance system

• Create outreach materials

• Track and vet potential partners

Manage partnerships

• Once promising partnerships are identified, the Director of Partnerships will lead ongoing engagement alongside the Executive Director and other team members as appropriate
• Work with other advocacy organizations to build bipartisan support where possible

Fundraising

• The Director of Partnerships will identify and engage potential new funders particularly from the private sector

Requirements

You are a proven networker. Success in this role requires the ability to identify supportive partnerships without an existing playbook.

You can represent the organization well. The Partnerships Associate does not need to be a foreign assistance technical expert, they need to be able to independently reflect TNFA’s values and priorities.

You can operate comfortably in a wide variety of professional cultures. Productive partnerships can come from the government, both sides of the congressional aisle, the private sector, Silicon Valley, the non-profit community, etc. The Partnerships Associate must be able to operate authentically and smoothly in these diverse work cultures, and adjust their style appropriately without losing the substantive agenda.

You move quickly. The role requires balancing moving fast with moving strategically and appropriately.

You are at home in the conservative and Republican policy world. We enthusiastically work with reform-minded Democrats but don’t hide our core conservative values.

You are comfortable with ambiguity, a small team. The New Foreign Assistance exists to exploit a tight window for policy impact. We plan to staff up over the next 6 months. Comfort with strategic pivots, opportunistic flexibility and rapid decision-making required.

Benefits

$60,000–$100,000 commensurate with experience as well as a full benefits package.

The role is based in Washington, D.C., with in-person work expected several times per week, generally along the Orange Line. Candidates may live outside the D.C. area but must be able to get to D.C. on short notice. There will not be fixed in-person and work from home days. We are not covering relocation. Regional and international travel is expected to be 10% or less.