The posting
Manager – Strategic Partnerships ( Institutional Grants & HNIs)
Location: Noida | Travel across India as required
Reports to: Director – Strategic Partnerships
About Muskaan Dreams
We believe where a child is born should never determine how prepared they are for the future.
Every day, millions of children walk into government school classrooms with the same curiosity, dreams, and potential as children anywhere else. But as technology and AI rapidly reshape how we learn, work, and solve problems, access to the skills and opportunities needed to thrive remains deeply unequal.
We exist to change that.
At Muskaan Dreams, our work begins with children and teachers. We spend time in classrooms, listen deeply to teachers, understand the realities of government schools, and design solutions that can work in the real world, not just in pilots.
We don't believe lasting change can be created by building parallel systems. We believe in strengthening the public education system itself. That means working alongside teachers, school leaders, district administrations, and state governments so that solutions can be adopted, sustained, and eventually reach millions of children.
Over the last decade, this belief has taken us from working with a handful of schools to reaching nearly 1 million children, 5,000+ government schools and 15,000+ teachers across six states.
But for us, scale is not simply a number.
- Scale means a teacher feels more confident in her classroom.
- It means a child in a government school beginning to see herself as a problem-solver and creator.
- It means an education system becoming capable of sustaining change long after a programme or funder has exited.
Our ambition is to ensure that children in India's government schools are not simply consumers of technology, but become confident problem-solvers, critical thinkers, creators, and future-ready citizens.
Our Flagship Initiatives
Digital Shaala
Digital Shaala transforms government school classrooms into engaging, technology-enabled learning environments. Through enabling existing interactive digital devices, curriculum-aligned digital content, teacher capacity building, and academic mentoring, the programme strengthens Science and Mathematics learning while nurturing students' curiosity, confidence, and interest in STEM education and careers.
AI-Saksham
AI-Saksham prepares students and teachers for an AI-enabled world. Through experiential, classroom-integrated learning, students develop foundational AI literacy, computational thinking, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and responsible AI practices.
The programme empowers young people with the skills and confidence needed to thrive in the future while enabling teachers to integrate AI and computational thinking meaningfully into classroom learning.
As India prepares millions of young people for an AI-driven economy, we believe government schools must be at the heart of this transformation, not left behind by it.
Our Next Chapter
Muskaan Dreams is entering a defining phase of growth.
Today, we manage an annual budget of approximately ₹20 crore, supported by leading corporations, foundations, philanthropies, and ecosystem partners.
Over the next 2–3 years, we aim to grow this into a ₹50 crore annual portfolio through a diversified and sustainable fundraising strategy built on long-term institutional partnerships rather than transactional grants.
Our larger ambition is to reach and impact 10 million children over the next five years while building one of India's leading organisations working at the intersection of AI, education, and government system transformation.
Achieving this will require more than funding.
It will require a coalition of corporations, foundations, philanthropists, governments, technologists, educators, and leaders who share our belief that every child deserves the opportunity to thrive in an AI-enabled future.
About the Role
We are looking for a Manager – Strategic Partnerships who can help us build and grow meaningful partnerships with foundations, philanthropies, family offices, institutional donors, and grant-making organisations in India and globally.
This is not simply a proposal-writing or grant-management role.
You will be expected to identify opportunities, open conversations, build relationships, develop compelling proposals, convert opportunities into partnerships, and nurture those relationships over time.
You will own a portfolio of prospective and existing partners and be accountable for moving relationships from:
Research → Relationship → Opportunity → Proposal → Partnership → Stewardship → Renewal & Growth
Working closely with the Director – Strategic Partnerships, CEO, Program, MEL, Finance, Government Partnerships, and Communications teams, you will help translate our ambitions, evidence, and stories from the ground into partnerships that enable impact at scale.
We are looking for someone who is a relationship builder, storyteller, opportunity creator, and partner advocate.
What You Will Own
1. Build New Institutional Partnerships | 50%
You will proactively identify and cultivate relationships with:
- Indian and international foundations
- Philanthropic institutions
- Family offices
- Donor collaboratives
- Bilateral and multilateral agencies
- Global grant-making organisations
- Other mission-aligned institutional funders
You will:
- Research and qualify high-potential funding opportunities.
- Build a healthy pipeline of prospective partners.
- Proactively initiate conversations rather than relying only on incoming opportunities.
- Understand funder priorities, strategies, geographies, grant cycles, and decision-making processes.
- Build relationships with relevant decision-makers.
- Identify areas of alignment between partner priorities and Muskaan Dreams' programmes.
- Move qualified opportunities systematically towards partnership.
The expectation is clear: you will not only manage opportunities, you will help create them.
2. Develop Compelling Proposals & Funding Opportunities | 15%
Once an opportunity is identified, you will help convert our work into a proposition that a partner can understand, believe in, and support.
You will lead:
- Concept notes
- Grant proposals and applications
- Partner presentations
- Budgets
- Logical frameworks
- Theories of Change
- Implementation plans
- Due diligence documentation
- Supporting grant documentation
You will work closely with Program, MEL, Finance, Government Partnerships, and Communications teams to bring together programme design, evidence, budgets, government context, impact data, and stories from the field.
3. Own Partner Relationships & Partner Success | 15%
Fundraising does not end when the grant is signed.
You will own relationships with a portfolio of existing partners and ensure that their experience with Muskaan Dreams is thoughtful, transparent, responsive, and impact-focused.
You will:
- Build trusted relationships with partner teams and leadership.
- Ensure timely and high-quality communication.
- Coordinate reporting and impact updates.
- Organise review meetings and field visits.
- Ensure commitments and deliverables are tracked internally.
- Surface challenges proactively and transparently.
- Create meaningful opportunities for partners to experience the work.
- Identify opportunities for renewals and expansion.
- Bring partner feedback and perspectives into internal conversations.
Our ambition is that partners don't simply fund Muskaan Dreams.
They should become champions of the impact we are creating together.
4. Build Strong Partnership Systems & Intelligence | 20%
Strong fundraising needs strong systems.
You will:
- Maintain an accurate fundraising pipeline and CRM.
- Track opportunities, conversations, next actions, and probabilities.
- Maintain grant calendars and submission deadlines.
- Build institutional knowledge about funders and previous engagements.
- Track philanthropic and funding trends.
- Develop intelligence around emerging thematic and geographic opportunities.
- Ensure partnership documentation is organised and accessible.
- Use pipeline data to support fundraising planning and decision-making.
Partner Success Is Central to This Role
We believe successful partnerships are built on trust, transparency, shared purpose, and measurable outcomes.
We want every partner to feel that:
- They understand the impact their support is creating.
- Communication is timely, transparent, and proactive.
- Commitments are honoured.
- Challenges are communicated openly.
- Their priorities and feedback are genuinely heard.
- They remain connected to the programmes and communities they support.
- Impact is communicated through both evidence and powerful storytelling.
- Muskaan Dreams thinks beyond one grant cycle.
Ultimately, we want partners to see Muskaan Dreams as an organisation they trust, value, advocate for, and want to continue working with.
What Success Looks Like?
Build a Strong Pipeline
Develop and consistently maintain a healthy pipeline of qualified Indian and global institutional funding opportunities aligned with Muskaan Dreams' priorities.
Convert Opportunities into Partnerships
Take ownership of moving qualified opportunities from initial research and conversations through proposals, due diligence, and partnership closure.
Build High-Quality Funding Propositions
Consistently develop compelling, evidence-backed proposals and presentations that clearly communicate the problem, our approach, expected impact, and case for partnership.
Grow & Retain Existing Partnerships
Build trusted relationships that result in strong partner satisfaction, timely renewals, multi-year partnerships, and opportunities for expansion.
Create an Excellent Partner Experience
Ensure partners experience Muskaan Dreams as responsive, transparent, thoughtful, credible, and committed to impact.
Strengthen Fundraising Discipline
Maintain accurate pipelines, CRM, grant calendars, documentation, and follow-up systems so that opportunities don't get lost because of weak execution.
Who We're Looking For
Experience
- 4-6 years of experience in institutional fundraising, philanthropy, partnerships, international development, grant management, programme development, or a related field.
- Demonstrated experience securing and/or managing institutional grants.
- Experience working with foundations, philanthropies, family offices, bilateral/multilateral agencies, or institutional donors.
- Strong experience developing concept notes, proposals, presentations, budgets, and donor reports.
- Experience directly engaging with external partners and senior stakeholders.
- Experience in education, technology, public systems, international development, or social impact would be valuable.
Capabilities
We are looking for someone with:
- Excellent written and verbal communication.
- Strong storytelling and proposal-writing skills.
- Excellent relationship-building ability.
- Strong research and opportunity-identification skills.
- Confidence initiating conversations with new partners.
- Ability to understand funder priorities and identify strategic alignment.
- Strong stakeholder and project-management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple proposals and relationships simultaneously.
- Strong cross-functional collaboration.
- High attention to detail and follow-through.
- Comfort with targets, pipelines, and fundraising accountability.
- Willingness to travel across India and internationally when required.
Who You Are Matters to Us
Experience matters. But so does how you approach the work.
We are looking for someone who:
- Deeply cares about children, education, and equitable opportunities.
- Is naturally curious about people and enjoys building relationships.
- Believes partnerships are built on trust and shared purpose, not transactions.
- Is comfortable reaching out, opening doors, and creating opportunities.
- Listen before proposing solutions.
- Can communicate complex ideas simply.
- Takes ownership rather than waiting for instructions.
- Is responsive and dependable.
- Is resilient—because fundraising requires patience and persistence.
- Shares credit and believes in collective success.
- Demonstrates integrity, humility, professionalism, and maturity.
- I am excited by the opportunity to help build something ambitious.
This role may not be right for you if:
- You see fundraising primarily as writing proposals.
- You prefer waiting for RFPs rather than proactively creating opportunities.
- You enjoy closing grants but not maintaining relationships afterwards.
- You prefer transactional fundraising over long-term relationship building.
- You are uncomfortable reaching out to new people or engaging senior stakeholders.
- You struggle to communicate ideas clearly and persuasively.
- You find follow-ups uncomfortable.
- You struggle with deadlines, details, or structured pipeline management.
- You prefer working independently rather than coordinating across teams.
- You are uncomfortable being accountable for fundraising outcomes.
