Program Background

The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is the leading global alliance of conservation practitioners and organizations with the mission of promoting awareness, expertise, and innovation in conservation finance globally. The CFA is managed through its Secretariat hosted by Conservation Strategy Fund. The CFA Executive Director, David Meyers, is based in the USA and the CFA’s work and support are global. The CFA has more than 2500 individual members and more than 40 institutional members. 

The CFA Incubator is a recurring program of the CFA and has run two rounds with a total of over 22 projects and companies supported through a combination of finance, technical support, and mentorship. Past CFA Incubator partners have included Conservation International Ventures, Mirova, BNP-Paribas, and others. The third round of the CFA Incubator will run during 2025 with financial support from the Nature Transformation Fund run by Milkywire, in collaboration with Klarna.  

Consultancy Summary

The CFA Incubator Manager is a part-time consultant position supporting the Conservation Finance Alliance on the implementation of the CFA Incubator program. The Incubator Manager will be responsible for coordination, management, and technical support for the CFA Incubator, in close collaboration with the CFA Executive Director, including providing strategic, business, and financial modeling support to the 10 projects or companies that will be selected for round 3. The CFA Incubator will conduct a global open call for proposals in two stages. The first stage involves providing rapid feedback for ideas at the concept level. The second stage is the full proposal submissions. Proposals are reviewed by a Technical Review Committee. Five projects will receive incubation with subgrants and five additional projects will receive incubation only - a combination of technical support and mentoring. The mentorships will occur over the course of 2025 with mentors coming from the CFA membership and partners. Projects will conduct final presentations to potential donors and investors as well as the CFA members and partners.  

Principal Responsibilities

Calls for Proposals and Review of Calls

• Management of CFA Incubator Call for Proposals
• Management and support of Technical Review Committee (TRC)
• Initial concept review and advice
• Consolidation of review results in coordination with the Executive Director and the TRC

Subgrants and Support Program

• Support establishment of milestones with projects
• Manage CFA Incubator support program

Mentorship Program

• Provide technical, strategic, and practical expertise to Cohort 3
• Manage mentors
• Share lessons learned

Presentation and Promotion

• Support Cohort with the development of their presentations
• Review and provide feedback on interim and final reports

Other Tasks

• Provide input for all CFA Incubator communications
• Track overall progress of the projects and the Incubator program
• Assure effective communication with donor including monthly media updates
• Draft Final Report to donor in collaboration with the CFA Executive Director

Qualifications 

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in an area related to conservation finance: e.g. business, management, economics, sustainability, or biological sciences. 
• Four years post-graduate work experience in appropriate field or with an international organization; or business degree at the Masters level or above. 
• Fluent English language skills (writing and speaking) and ability to communicate well with a globally-located, culturally-diverse team. 
• Very strong writing and communication skills as documented by examples.
• Detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills; ability to set and follow priorities and meet deadlines
• Ability to work independently and without daily instruction and monitoring. 
• Proficiency with standard productivity software such as Microsoft Office, Google applications, etc.
• Passion for nature finance or conservation.

Highly desired qualifications 

• Masters of Business Administration (MBA) or equivalent 
• Working knowledge of a second UN language in addition to English. 

This is a part-time, remote consultancy for up to 100 days over 12 months. This position will report to David Meyers, Executive Director, CFA. Preference for some working hours overlap with US East Coast.

How to Apply
Submit your resume or CV and cover letter with your daily rate and confirmation of English fluency to [email protected]. Please include a link to your LinkedIn profile. Early applications are encouraged as we will review submissions on a rolling basis.

Application Deadline: January 10, 2025