Tara Climate Foundation is a philanthropic climate foundation dedicated to fostering a future where Asia’s unwavering commitment to climate action paves the way for just, thriving and resilient societies. Tara operates in East, Southeast and South Asia, excluding India and China.

Our mission is to support a diverse group of partners in accelerating Asia’s energy transformation and championing climate action. Tara plays three main roles in the region:

• Grantmaker: Tara works closely with mission-aligned foundations and philanthropists to pool resources and grant funds to organisations working to accelerate Asia’s energy transition and climate action (excluding China and India).
• Convenor: Tara cultivates networks that facilitate the exchange of ideas between business, civil society, and government throughout and beyond Asia.
• Local and regional expert: With strong networks spanning civil society, businesses and government, Tara funds thorough research and analysis to address knowledge gaps, stay abreast of emerging trends, and craft evidence-based strategies to advance our mission.

Since establishing its headquarters in Singapore in 2021, the foundation has provided grants to more than 300 organisations across 13 countries and jurisdictions. Our team of over 55 experts is spread across the Asia-Pacific region, working to combat climate change in this decisive decade.

Over the last 2 years, Tara has significantly increased its funding base and currently has more than twenty philanthropic funders supporting our work. This strong and growing support creates an exciting opportunity to build even more effective systems, processes, and team capacity – enabling us to deepen relationships, streamline reporting, and scale our fundraising efforts with greater impact.

The Head of Institutional Partnerships will help lead Tara’s next phase of growth by deepening and expanding institutional relationships that are key to the organisation’s long-term sustainability. The role will report to the Head of External Affairs, and work closely with the CEO, leadership team, and colleagues across the foundation to:

1. Cultivate current institutional funders and seek partnerships with new funders,
2. Lead proposal development and grant reporting,
3. Manage funder relations and communications,
4. Partner with the finance and program teams to ensure timely, accurate donor reports and proper allocation of funds in accordance with donor requirements, enhancing accountability and stewardship.
5. Support and manage a small team, while leading efforts to strengthen internal systems, processes, and capacity for effective relationship management, reporting, and fundraising workflows.

Key Responsibilities

Cultivate and grow the funding base:

• Co-develop and co-own Tara’s fundraising strategy and donor portfolio, working closely with the CEO and ensuring it is shaped by strong stakeholder input and designed to meet funding targets while building long-term financial sustainability.
• Develop and execute an ambitious funder stewardship plan to meet the needs and expectations of a diverse and committed group of institutional funders.
• Establish fit-for-purpose systems and streamlined processes for the management of funder relationships and track progress towards fundraising goals.
• Collaborate across Tara teams to identify and expand the number of new high value individual donors and philanthropic foundations, including Asian philanthropies interested in climate action.

Proposal development and grant reporting:

• Lead the development of funding concept notes, proposals, and grant reports in collaboration with Tara teams, ensuring they clearly reflect Tara’s strategy and impact.
• Maintain a central calendar of proposal and reporting deadlines, ensuring timely, coordinated, and high-quality submissions across the portfolio.

Funder relations and communications:

• Coordinate funder engagements, including meetings and field visits, and support internal teams through briefings and preparations ahead of engagements.Debrief CEO, Regional Program Director and other senior program members to funding opportunities when they arise
• Strengthen internal communication systems and processes to ensure timely program team updates and input into donor-facing materials.
• Develop tailored communication and stewardship materials, including PPT presentations, regular updates, annual reports, and other collaterals.
• Ensure timely responses to funder queries and ad-hoc needs.

Donor Fund Management & Compliance:

• Oversee a diverse portfolio of 30+ institutional funders, driving effective renewal and reporting cycles, and working closely with the finance team on revenue forecasting and fund allocation.
• Develop systems to track progress towards fundraising targets, grant deliverables, and reporting deadlines using tools such as Microsoft List, CRM, Excel and others.

People Management & operational responsibilities:

• Manage and mentor a small team, including external proposal writers and a Strategic Partnerships Officer, ensure efficient resource allocation and high-quality deliverables.
• Promote a culture of excellence, stakeholder responsiveness, high performance, and continuous improvement.
• Demonstrate Tara Values in every action.
• Abide by Tara’s policies, procedures and practices.

As and when required other responsibilities and projects will be allocated by line management in consultation with the post holder.

Person Specification

Excited by the prospect of working for a dynamic and fast-growing international organisation with a mission to solve the climate crisis, the ideal candidate will have at least 10 years of experience in a funder relations role or an account management role in the fields of public relations, CSR or fundraising and development. Experience either working for or interacting with philanthropic foundations or international NGOs is a bonus.

In addition, the ideal candidate will possess the following skills and attributes:

• Strong track record in developing and executing fundraising strategies and stewardship plans.
• Superb verbal and written skills in English, other Asian languages are an asset
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including the ability to interpret and work with program budgets, revenue forecasts, and grant-specific financial and reporting requirements.
• A systems-oriented mindset, with experience designing and maintaining fundraising pipelines, managing CRM platforms, and using reporting dashboards to support strategic decision-making.
• Strong presentation skills for communication with individual donors, senior executives of trusts, foundations, business and opinion leaders, including ability to create visual compelling Presentation materials (e.g. PowerPoint decks) for high-level meetings.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and project management, with the ability to coordinate across internal functions and work with multiple stakeholders from diverse nationalities and backgrounds, time zones, and remote settings.
• Experience working in energy and climate change issues is not a must, but there must be genuine interest in the issue and a demonstrated ability to learn quickly
• Strong ability to consolidate information and data and present them in a concise and compelling manner.
• Proven track record of working in an environment that demands professionalism, discretion and confidentiality.
• Able to solve problems resourcefully, efficiently and independently with a proactive, “can-do” attitude to challenges and changes.
• Ability to travel nationally and internationally as and when required.
• Embraces Tara’s mission and identifies with and is committed to living the Tara Values.

Education

• Advanced degree or relevant expertise in a relevant field such as public policy, communications, environmental management, business administration, economics, sustainable development or related discipline or equivalent professional experience and expertise.

What Tara Foundation can offer

• The unique opportunity to work as part of a highly dynamic, international team who combine their passion to make a difference with a rigorous and results-oriented approach to work
• A flexible work environment
• Opportunities for career develop and challenge yourself
• Competitive compensation and benefits
• A collaborative, fun and thriving team, driven by our mission and live our values

To Apply:

Please submit an A4 covering letter outlining your skills and achievements against the role responsibilities, why you would like to join us and your salary expectations, along with your up-to-date CV at Recruitment@taraclimate.org. Please use the job title: Head of Institutional Partnership as the subject in your email. Applications without a cover letter will not be assessed.

Tara is committed to building leadership capacity within Asia. This position is based in any of the following countries/geographies: Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or Thailand. Applicants must have the right to work status if they are based in any of these countries.

Applications are open until a suitable candidate is found.