Head of Partnerships
Full-time | Remote | Global | Reports to: COO & Founder | Start: ASAP
The Earth Foundation runs The Earth Prize, the world’s largest environmental competition for teenagers. Each year, thousands of students across seven global regions develop real solutions to real environmental problems. The best reach our Scholar phase, where they receive mentorship, resources, and a platform to take their ideas further.
We are launching a country sponsorship programme: a first-of-its-kind model where organisations and individuals sponsor a country’s participation in The Earth Prize. Students from 169 countries and territories have taken part so far, and we want our supporters to be just as global. Your job is to build that community of funding and strategic partners (companies, foundations, family offices, philanthropists and institutions) country by country and region by region, and to establish the regional advisory boards that will sustain and grow it long-term.
Country sponsorship is the flagship, but it is not the only way in. Some partners will sponsor a country; others will fund a region, back the programme over several years, or bring expertise, influence and access. This is a new revenue stream, a new product, and a genuinely new kind of partnership. It will require someone who can sell a vision before the results exist, match each partner to the right way of supporting us, build boards of committed regional advocates, and care about the mission as much as the close. As Head of Partnerships you will own the programme end to end, reporting to the COO & Founder.
Responsibility 1: Partnerships & Country Sponsorship
Build a diversified partner community
Own the full partnership cycle, from research and first contact to signed agreement and on to renewal. Year 1 is about breadth: bringing partners on board across as many countries and regions as possible, learning which kinds of partner respond best where, and building the relationships that make them want to stay.
- Research, map and prioritise prospective partners across five groups: companies and corporate foundations; family offices and private foundations; philanthropists and high-net-worth individuals; selected institutional partners, such as embassies, delegation offices and development agencies in the countries we serve; and influential individuals introduced through the regional advisory boards
- Build and manage a single global pipeline across these groups, matched to specific countries and regions
- Lead conversations with senior decision-makers: CSR and sustainability leads, foundation directors, family-office principals, philanthropists, and diplomatic and institutional representatives
- Tailor the offer to the partner: a country sponsorship for one, regional or multi-year funding for another, expertise or advocacy for a third
- Develop compelling proposals combining Earth Prize participation data, Youth Changemaker programme completion rates, and the partner’s own mission and narrative
- Steward partners through the annual cycle: reporting on the impact of their support, and building towards renewal and longer-term commitments
- Work with the COO & Founder on due diligence, so that every partner is a credible fit for the Foundation’s mission and for the country or region it supports
- Maintain the public register of country sponsors accurately across each cycle
- Feed partner intelligence back to the programme team: what drives participation in The Earth Prize, what helps students complete the Youth Changemaker programme, and what stories land with which partners
Year 1 objectives: agreed with the COO & Founder on joining, covering the number of countries sponsored, total income raised across all types of partner, and the breadth of the pipeline. The right person will understand that a first sponsor in a smaller country can matter as much as a headline name in a major economy, and that a well-placed ambassador or family office can open more doors than a single cheque. If it moves student participation, it builds the case for everything that follows.
Responsibility 2: Regional Advisory Boards
Pilot, then scale
The Earth Prize operates across seven global regions. Over time, each region will have an advisory board: a small group of committed, connected individuals who drive the Foundation’s mission in their part of the world by opening doors to funding, lending their influence and expertise, and speaking up for young people’s environmental leadership. You will launch the first one or two boards as pilots in Year 1, learn what works, and roll the model out to all seven regions in Year 2, with additional support as the programme grows.
Board members are not passive figureheads. Every member must contribute in at least one of three ways:
GIVECONNECTCONTRIBUTEPersonal donation, sponsorship of a country in their region, or support through their family foundation or officeIntroduction to a funding or strategic partner (a company, foundation, family office, philanthropist or institution): their relationship, their doorExpertise, mentoring, advocacy or influence that directly benefits students and schools in the region, or raises the Foundation’s profile there
The ultimate measure of a board’s success: are funding and partnerships growing across the countries in its region, and are the two student benchmarks moving in the right direction — participation in The Earth Prize and completion of the Youth Changemaker programme?
- Select the one or two pilot regions with the COO & Founder, based on funding potential and the strength of our existing networks
- Identify and recruit 4–7 board members per region: varied backgrounds, genuine regional networks, fully aligned with the Foundation’s mission
- Convene quarterly board meetings: light touch, high signal, clear agenda and follow-up
- Track each board member’s contribution: partners introduced, donations made, expertise and advocacy offered
- Ensure every board has at least one member with deep local knowledge of the education and environmental landscape
- Work with the Foundation programme team to connect board members directly with students, mentors, and schools in their region
- Manage board member onboarding, renewal, and graceful rotation where needed
- Document the pilot model (expectations, agendas, onboarding) so it can be rolled out to the remaining regions in Year 2
Each board should be self-sustaining within two years of launch, generating introductions, funding and influence without requiring heavy management. Your job is to recruit the right people, set the right expectations from day one, and create the conditions for that to happen.
Who You Are
Background and skills
- Proven track record in partnerships, fundraising or B2B sales, ideally across more than one type of funder: corporate partnerships, major donors and philanthropy, trusts and foundations, or institutional and government funding
- Able to research and map a funding landscape from scratch: which companies, foundations, family offices, individuals and institutions are worth approaching in a given country, and how to reach them
- At ease in very different rooms: a CSR pitch, a family-office conversation, a philanthropist’s dinner and an embassy meeting each need a different approach, and you adapt
- Experience recruiting and managing volunteer boards, advisory groups, or senior stakeholder networks
- Comfortable selling something that does not yet have a full track record — you have sold vision before
- Experience working across multiple countries or cultures — a pitch that works in Germany may not work in Kenya, and you know that instinctively
- Strong written and verbal communication — you can write a proposal and run a boardroom conversation with equal confidence
- Fluent English; additional languages such as French, Spanish, or Arabic are an advantage
- Organised enough to run a global pipeline across several types of partner and the first advisory boards simultaneously without dropping threads
- Genuine interest in environmental education and youth empowerment — partners and board members will sense if it is not there
- Comfortable working remotely and independently — the Foundation team is small and you will own both of these programmes
Be Honest With Yourself
What this is not
This role will not suit someone who needs a mature product with established pricing, a large supporting team, or a short sales cycle. Country sponsorships are a new concept, and the wider partner mix around them is still being mapped. Advisory boards are being built from scratch. Some days you will be doing both at once across multiple time zones.
It will also not suit someone motivated purely by the numbers. The mission is real, the students are real, and the board members and partners who stay long-term will be the ones who feel that — because you made them feel it first.
Compensation
BASE SALARY ANNUAL BONUS CONTRACT LOCATION
Competitive Bonus potential Full-time Anywhere
Depending on experience and location
Against agreed annual objectives
Employed, remote
Strong overlap with CET preferred
Apply
Please send your CV, a cover letter, and a one-pager presenting your plan for Year 1 — how you’d approach building a diversified global partner community and piloting the first regional boards — to info@earth-foundation.org. References will be requested at the final stage.
This position was originally posted by the Earth Foundation and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link on the side. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.
