Fundraising Compliance Officer

1. Background and Rationale
African Parks raises and manages funding from institutional donors, philanthropic foundations, corporate partners and other funding sources across a multi-country conservation portfolio. Each funding arrangement may carry distinct conditions on eligibility, expenditure, procurement, reporting, safeguarding, due diligence and records retention. Weak compliance can expose the organization to ineligible costs, delayed funding, recovery claims, operational disruption and reputational damage.
Compliance must therefore be built into funding decisions and maintained throughout the grant lifecycle, not checked only when a donor report or audit is due. Positioned within Assurance, Risk & Compliance (ARC), this role provides a distinct oversight and challenge capability while helping Fundraising, Finance and park teams translate donor commitments into practical, evidence-based controls suited to their operating environments.

2. Primary Purpose
Provide risk-based, second-line oversight of fundraising and donor compliance, from donor screening and proposal development through contracting, award implementation, reporting and close-out. Identify material compliance exposures early, assess whether obligations are understood and controlled, independently challenge weaknesses, and ensure exceptions and corrective actions are recorded, monitored and escalated.
The Fundraising Compliance Officer is a hands-on, cross-functional role: it combines donor-rule expertise, practical field and documentary reviews, compliance-data discipline, constructive advice to management and timely reporting through ARC. It does not replace management ownership of fundraising, grants, financial reporting or legal decisions.

3. Terms of Reference - Key Responsibilities
3.1 Donor compliance framework
• Maintain a controlled Donor Compliance Register and award-level obligations matrix that captures applicable donor conditions, deadlines, reporting requirements, key restrictions, accountable management owners, and supporting source documents. Update it for new awards, amendments, and material changes.
• Develop a proportionate, documented risk-based approach for prioritizing compliance reviews according to funding materiality, donor requirements, contractual complexity, operating geography, delivery arrangements, and previous exceptions.
• Review the implementation of approved Fundraising SOPs and related donor-compliance controls; identify unclear responsibilities or process gaps and recommend practical improvements to the respective policy and process owners.
• Monitor relevant changes to donor requirements and funding conditions, coordinating interpretation with Fundraising, Finance and Legal rather than issuing unsupported legal or contractual determinations.
3.2 Donor due diligence
• Coordinate a risk-based due diligence process for prospective donors, material renewals and relevant funding partners, in cooperation with Legal and other designated functions, before commitments are accepted under the applicable approval framework.
Assess and document applicable reputational, sanctions-screening, conflicts-of-interest, anti-corruption,
safeguarding and other integrity risks, using criteria appropriate to the donor, jurisdiction and transaction and
referring specialist questions to the responsible teams.
• Record due diligence findings, proposed safeguards, outstanding information and decisions; escalate material
concerns or unresolved conditions to the Head of Risk & Assurance and the authorized decision-makers without assuming the authority to accept or reject funding.

3.3 pre-award compliance and agreement review
• Undertake documented, risk-based reviews of material or higher-risk proposals, budgets and funding agreements before submission or signature, focusing on donor conditions, eligibility, cost restrictions, co-funding, reporting,audit and non-financial obligations.
• Maintain a traceable log of review conclusions, exceptions, conditions and referrals. Formal bid submission, contract approval and donor acceptance remain with the authorities defined in African Parks' approved delegations and procedures.
3.4 Grant implementation monitoring and donor reporting
• Check that newly agreed donor obligations are formally handed over to the relevant Fundraising, Finance, and park teams, with named owners, reporting dates, documentary standards and escalation points.
• Deliver a risk-based compliance monitoring program combining desk reviews and periodic park visits. Test selected controls and records relating to restricted use of funds, cost allocation, procurement, personnel costs, assets, delivery evidence and donor-specific conditions, where relevant.
• Perform targeted quality checks on selected management-prepared financial and narrative reports, including
traceability to contractual obligations and supporting documentation. Raise inconsistencies without taking over the preparation or certification of donor reports.
• Identify emerging non-compliance, missed deadlines, documentation gaps, and potential cost-recovery exposure early; distinguish isolated exceptions from systemic control weaknesses and propose risk-prioritized remedial action to the responsible managers.
3.5 Donor audits, corrective actions and risk escalation
• Maintain a donor-compliance findings and corrective-action tracker recording the issue, risk rating, management owner, required action, due date, supporting evidence and closure status.
• Prepare quarterly compliance reporting for the Head of Risk & Assurance, covering material exceptions, donor related risk trends, upcoming obligations, due diligence, audit results and status of corrective actions.
The position provides oversight, advice, monitoring, and credible challenge independently of Fundraising revenue targets. Material disagreements threatened objectivity and unresolved high-risk compliance exposures must be documented and escalated with reporting to executive or governance bodies as appropriate.

4. Key Performance Indicators and Deliverables
Performance area Indicator / expected result
Due diligence
All donor relationships and material renewals requiring vetting under the approved
process receive a documented, risk-based assessment before acceptance; unresolved
exceptions are formally escalated.
Pre-award reviews
Complete and document compliance reviews for 100% of high-risk or material
submissions referred under the agreed review gate before the relevant management
approval; maintain a decision and exception trail.
Donor obligations
Maintain a current register of funding arrangements within the agreed scope, with
documented obligations, owners, due dates and updates following agreement
amendments.
Monitoring quality
Deliver the approved quarterly risk-based monitoring plan with clear review scope,
supporting evidence, management responses and follow-up for identified exceptions

Key Relationships
• Director of Fundraising and Fundraising / Partnerships colleagues;
• CFO and Finance / Grants teams; Regional Finance Managers; Regional Operations Managers; Park
Managers,
• Legal, Procurement, HR, Safeguarding, Technology / Business Intelligence

7. Required Qualifications, Competencies and Experience
7.1 Education
• A relevant university degree in finance, accounting, law, international development, risk management or a related
discipline; a relevant postgraduate qualification is an advantage.
• Professional training or certification in compliance, grant management, audit or accounting is advantageous,
accompanied by evidence of continued professional development.
7.2 Essential practical experience
• At least seven years of relevant experience in donor compliance, grants management, financial controls, risk or assurance in an international NGO or comparable multi-jurisdictional environment, including demonstrable
responsibility for compliance reviews.
• Practical experience interpreting and applying complex grant conditions; familiarity with institutional donor
frameworks, including EU, USAID / US Government, FCDO and LLF where relevant, as well as philanthropic
and corporate-funding requirements.
• Evidence of hands-on monitoring or quality review of grant implementation, donor reports, due diligence, audit findings and corrective actions - not solely proposal development or donor relationship management.
• Ability to evaluate controls using incomplete, paper-based or fragmented records and to work productively with field teams across countries and cultures.
7.3 Other competencies
• Sound understanding of donor cost principles, restricted-funding conditions, compliance risk assessment, control design, evidence evaluation and escalation protocols; ability to distinguish donor requirements from internal policy or management preference.
• Strong analytical and writing skills, including disciplined use of spreadsheets and document-management systems; comfort with donor registers, structured data and approved compliance
• Professional independence, integrity and discretion, with the judgment to challenge senior stakeholders
constructively, distinguish fact from inference and communicate material issues with precision.
• Proven ability to engage culturally diverse teams, balance donor expectations with operational reality, and protect
sensitive donor and institutional information.
7.4 Languages and ethical conduct
• Full professional proficiency in written and spoken English is essential; French and Portuguese are advantageous.
Willingness and ability to travel periodically to remote parks and work with teams operating under practical resource constraints.
• Unwavering commitment to African Parks' Code of Conduct, Safeguarding Policy, ethical fundraising standards,confidentiality, and prevention of conflicts of interest.