Writer, Proposals and Report

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. Our 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across six core countries in Africa, we make farmers more prosperous by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. On average, the farmers we serve harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund. 

To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.

About the Role

By 2030, our organization will reach 10 million farm families annually. This growth will be fueled by fundraising, and at One Acre Fund our fundraising relies on industry-leading grant writing.

We employ a dedicated 14-person writing squad within our broader Business Development team to craft proposals and reports that are clear, data-driven, and farmer-centric. We now seek to expand this team by hiring new proven and passionate writers interested in a long-term career with One Acre Fund.

In this role, you will report to one of our senior writers and immediately take on a portfolio of reports and proposals for smaller grants. Following a period of intensive writing mentorship over the first 6-12 months, your work will then quickly ramp up in value, complexity, and independence. 

This is a career-track writer position. The tenure of our current writer squad ranges from 1 to 11 years at One Acre Fund, with an average of 6 years. We have a strong culture of mutual support and growth, with multiple pathways to management based on performance and preference

Responsibilities

• Write grant reports and proposals. Our writing team drafts hundreds of deliverables each year about One Acre Fund's work and customers, with emphasis on clear prose, clean structure, hard data, and farmer perspectives. This is a backend role; you will partner with our frontend fundraisers to tailor each piece to each donor through a collaborative drafting process.
• Manage complex projects. We expect writers to "own" all stages of a writing project, with support from colleagues and team leadership. You will set and manage timelines, coordinate input from multiple teams, and ensure error-free work, typically for 2-3 overlapping projects at any one time.
• Invest in program fluency. To be effective, writers must develop and sustain a deep working knowledge of One Acre Fund's operating context, model, results, and future plans. For individual projects, you will also often conduct additional research into potential donors or specific aspects of our work.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Bachelor's degree
• 2-5+ years of professional writing experience, with strong preference for past experience in grant writing
• Can share 2 writing samples that demonstrate ability to write concise, well-structured, jargon-free prose – you will be prompted to submit these alongside your application
• Can share concrete examples of having successfully led complex projects with multiple stakeholders
• Genuine commitment to rural communities. You are passionate about providing opportunity to the hardest-working farmers on the planet.
• Language: English

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

US (Major Cities in the US East Coast), Kenya, Rwanda, or the Netherlands

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya, Rwanda, Netherlands and the US

Application Deadline

24 October 2024

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.