Associate, Acquisitions

Teach For India is on a journey to reach an India free of poverty and filled with love by ending educational inequity in our country. Fifteen years into our journey we are a movement of ~5000+ Alumni working at all levels of the education system, who are reaching 1 in 10 children across the country. These Alumni have graduated from our two-year Fellowship Program where they taught in under-resourced classrooms to put ~33,500 low-income children on a different life path. Today, we have ~1000 Fellows and are the largest pipeline of driven, skilled talent into the educational ecosystem in India. Over 16,000 Teach For India students have appeared for the 10th grade board examinations till date, with an impressive 95% pass rate across cities as of November 2024.

In 2022, we embarked on Phase 4, our fourth strategic phase. We have a bold and ambitious ten-year journey ahead of us that aims to grow 50,000 leaders, who will work collectively, and with love, to transform the lives of 1 in 10 low-income children in our regions, through an education that unleashes the potential of self, others and India. In this decade, five key priorities will lead us to this vision.

Our work will only be completed when we have built a movement of leaders that is large enough to ensure that every child in India attains an excellent education.

We pride ourselves as being a passionate, idealistic, mission-driven team of individuals. We’re committed to learning and excellence in our roles, and to being deeply rooted in our core values.

The Development team’s mission is to build lifelong champions for Teach For India’s cause and mobilise financial resources to advance our work at scale. As one of the most external-facing teams, we build high-impact, long-term partnerships across corporates, foundations, high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), and innovative financing mechanisms.

The Associate, Acquisitions will support the Development team in identifying, cultivating, and stewarding new donors across multiple fundraising streams. This is a generalist role, ideal for someone who enjoys research, storytelling, relationship-building, and project execution across diverse donor types. The role offers strong exposure to end-to-end fundraising, cross-functional collaboration, and donor engagement.

We are seeking a proactive, detail-oriented individual with strong communication skills, a learning mindset, and a deep belief in Teach For India’s mission.

Teach For India embarks on a bold vision – to create a pipeline of 50,000 leaders by 2032 on the path to developing their own leadership and working towards educational equity in India. This ambitious growth needs to be supported by financial resources which the Development team will help secure in addition to building partnerships that go beyond providing only financial support to fuel this growth.

The Development team's mission is to create lifelong champions and secure financial support for the cause. We focus on building impactful partnerships and champions through engagements with students, Fellows, Staff, and the Board. As one of the most external-facing teams, we have adapted fundraising efforts by establishing strategic partnerships, exploring new giving channels, and enhancing resilient systems. Our fundraising sources include Corporate CSR, with plans to engage High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs) and cultivate Foundations as our medium-term priority.

The opportunity - What’s in it for you?

Being a team that works mostly with external stakeholders, our work takes us through a huge learning curve both professionally and personally on relationship management strategies and networking in the sector. We work directly with the Senior Leadership of TFI and our partners are the finest in their respective sectors.

The skill sets - communication, building relationships, data analysis, representation, comfort with systems like Salesforce, etc. - acquired in the role are transferable skills in any domain/sector or for higher education.

Responsibilities of the Associate, Acquisitions will include, but are not limited to:

1. Fundraising & Donor Acquisition

• Support identification and research of potential donors across corporates, foundations, HNIs, blended finance, and alternative funding sources.
• Assist in developing tailored value propositions grounded in Teach For India’s vision, programs, and impact.
• Support end-to-end donor cultivation efforts,from initial outreach to proposal submission and follow-ups.
• Contribute to drafting and editing donor-facing materials, including proposals, concept notes, pitch decks, impact reports, and high-stakes emails.
• Proactively service incoming leads and support relationship-building with connectors, partners, and senior stakeholders.

2. Donor Engagement & Stewardship

• Support planning and execution of donor engagements such as meetings, events, program immersions and site visits.
• Coordinate with internal teams (Programs, Impact, Communications) to gather data, stories, and insights for donor conversations.
• Help ensure timely reporting, renewals, and stewardship touchpoints for existing donors.

3. Portfolio & Systems Management

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date donor records on Salesforce and shared drives, including meeting notes, proposals, and correspondence.
• Track progress against fundraising goals and support preparation of pipeline updates and summaries.
• Support creation and upkeep of proposal repositories, donor trackers, and learning documents to strengthen team efficiency.
• Participate in regular team learning and reflection spaces to share insights, challenges, and best practices.

5. Additional Responsibilities

• Assist during the selection of new Fellows.
• Volunteering in classrooms is highly recommended to keep in touch with why we do what we do.
• Providing other administrative support and working on special projects on an as-needed basis.
• As a part of the Development team, you will make several external contacts. You will need to duly share these with the Recruitment, Alumni, and Communications teams who also deal with external stakeholders.

As a Development Team member, you will need to

• Partner with other Vertical Heads and teams (e.g. Recruitment, Alumni, HR, Training & Impact) to stay abreast of all essential programs and updates.
• Work closely with the Director, Development for planning and strategizing yearly fundraising goals and operations plan, team hiring and stepbacks.

• Baccalaureate (in any stream) with 2+ years of full-time work experience, preferably in an external-facing role that requires writing proposals and reports
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent critical thinking skills and ability to analyze and draw conclusions, create narratives and communicate impact to external partners and the uninitiated
• Ability to manage time and thrive in a fast-paced environment requiring multi-tasking
• Mastery of Microsoft Office and Google Suite
• Excellent project and time management skills
• Strong interpersonal skills to build meaningful relationships with diverse stakeholders & ensure efficient collaboration across internal teams
• Commitment to Teach For India’s mission and values
• Commitment to excellence, innovation, accuracy, and attention to detail
• High on integrity, accountability, and drive

• Previous work experience in writing, editing, and drafting roles
• Entrepreneurial & innovative approach to work
• Teach For India Fellowship experience is preferred

Note: We want to hear your unique voice and perspectives through the process, hence all applicants are expected to personally author statements of purpose/essays in the application form. Any use of AI or Chat-GPT based tools may lead to disqualification from the process.