About Muskaan Dreams

At Muskaan Dreams, we believe that every child, regardless of where they are born, deserves the opportunity to thrive in an AI-enabled future.

Technology is reshaping how we learn, work, and solve problems. Yet millions of children studying in government schools remain at risk of being left behind. Our mission is to ensure they are not just consumers of technology, but confident problem-solvers, critical thinkers, creators, and future-ready citizens.

Over the last decade, we have partnered with state governments to transform public education through technology, innovation, and system strengthening. Today, our programmes have reached ~1 million students, 5,000+ government schools, 15,000+ teachers across 7 states, making us one of India's fastest-growing education nonprofits.

Our Flagship Initiatives

Digital Shaala

Digital Shaala transforms government school classrooms into engaging, technology-enabled learning environments.

Through Smart

Classrooms, curriculum-aligned digital content, teacher capacity building, and academic mentoring, the programme improves learning outcomes in Science and Mathematics 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 of work while enabling teachers to integrate AI meaningfully into classroom teaching.

As India prepares millions of young people for an AI-driven economy, we believe government schools must become the foundation of this transformation and not be left behind.

About the Role

This role is for someone who enjoys building meaningful relationships with foundations and institutional donors while translating ambitious ideas into compelling funding opportunities.

As the Manager – Strategic Partnerships, you will lead Muskaan Dreams' engagement with Indian and international foundations, family offices, philanthropic institutions, multilateral and bilateral agencies, donor collaboratives, and global grant-making organisations.

Working closely with the Director – Strategic Partnerships and the CEO, you will identify funding opportunities, cultivate donor relationships, develop high-quality grant proposals, coordinate cross-functional teams, and ensure excellent stewardship of existing partners.

This is not only a grant-writing role. We are looking for someone who is a strong communicator, a natural relationship builder, a thoughtful storyteller, and a partner advocate.

You should genuinely care about the experience our partners have with Muskaan Dreams—how well they understand the impact of their support, how effectively we communicate with them, how reliably we deliver on commitments, and whether the partnership creates value for both the partner and the children we serve.

We believe in partner success. That means treating every partnership as a long-term relationship built on trust, transparency, shared purpose, learning, and measurable outcomes.

Key Areas of Focus

50% – Institutional Partnerships &

- Donor Relationships:

- Build and manage relationships with Indian and international foundations, philanthropists, family offices, donor collaboratives, bilateral and multilateral institutions, and other institutional funding organisations.

- Develop a deep understanding of partner priorities, strategies, motivations, and expectations, and identify opportunities aligned with Muskaan Dreams' mission.

- Build relationships that go beyond individual grants and create pathways for long-term, multi-year collaboration.

- Act as a trusted point of contact for partners and ensure they experience Muskaan Dreams as responsive, thoughtful, transparent, and impact-focused.

20% – Grant Development &

- Proposal Management:

- Lead end-to-end proposal development, including concept notes, grant applications, budgets, presentations, logical frameworks, theories of change, implementation plans, and due diligence documentation.

- Translate programme design, evidence, field insights,



and impact data into compelling narratives for different institutional audiences.

- Coordinate closely with Program, Finance, MEL, Government Partnerships, Communications, and Leadership teams to develop strong and credible funding proposals.

20% – Donor Stewardship &

- Portfolio Management:

- Ensure high-quality engagement with existing partners throughout the grant lifecycle.

- Manage reporting, impact communication, review meetings, field visits, compliance, renewals, and partnership expansion.

- Proactively understand partner concerns and expectations and work internally to ensure commitments are delivered with quality and within timelines.

- Create opportunities for partners to stay connected with the work through programme visits, learning conversations, impact updates, and engagement with leadership.

10% – Research, Strategy &

- Knowledge Management:

- Track funding trends and identify emerging opportunities across India and globally.

- Maintain a healthy institutional fundraising pipeline, grant calendar, CRM, and proposal tracker.

- Build institutional knowledge around funders, grant cycles, thematic priorities, and partnership history.

- Contribute ideas and insights to Muskaan Dreams' broader fundraising and institutional partnership strategy.

What You Will Do

- Build and nurture long-term partnerships and relationships with Indian and international foundations, philanthropies, family offices, donor collaboratives, bilateral and multilateral agencies, and institutional funders.

- Research and identify new funding opportunities aligned with Muskaan Dreams' strategic priorities and proactively cultivate relationships with potential partners.

- Own proposal development from concept to submission, including concept notes, proposals, presentations, budgets, logical frameworks, theories of change, implementation plans, and supporting documentation.

- Translate programme design, evidence, impact data, and stories from the ground into clear and compelling funding narratives.

- Manage the complete partner lifecycle from initial conversations, proposal development, and due diligence to onboarding, reporting, review meetings, renewals, and partnership expansion.

- Work closely with Program, Government Partnerships, MEL, Finance, Communications, and Leadership teams to ensure partner commitments are understood and delivered with quality.

- Act as a partner advocate within Muskaan Dreams, bringing partner expectations, feedback, and perspectives into internal conversations.

- Create meaningful partner engagement opportunities through field visits, learning sessions, impact updates, programme reviews, and leadership interactions.

- Maintain an accurate institutional fundraising pipeline, CRM, grant calendar, proposal tracker, and partnership documentation.

- Represent Muskaan Dreams at partner meetings, philanthropic forums, conferences, field visits, and ecosystem convenings in India and internationally.

Partner Success Mindset

We believe successful fundraising does not end when a grant is signed. The Manager – Strategic Partnerships will take ownership of creating a strong partner experience by ensuring that:

- Partners clearly understand the impact their support is creating.

- Communication is timely, transparent, thoughtful, and proactive.

- Commitments are honoured and challenges are communicated openly.

- Partner priorities, feedback, and perspectives are genuinely heard.

- Partners remain meaningfully connected to the programmes and communities they support.

- Outcomes and learnings are communicated with both evidence and strong storytelling.

- Every partnership is approached with a long-term mindset rather than as a one-time grant.

- Partners see Muskaan Dreams as an organisation they trust, value, and want to continue working with.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role will mean:

- Building a robust pipeline of high-quality Indian and global institutional funding opportunities.





- Converting relevant opportunities into meaningful, mission-aligned partnerships.

- Consistently developing compelling, competitive, and high-quality proposals.

- Building trusted relationships that extend beyond individual grant cycles.

- Delivering an excellent experience for existing partners throughout the partnership lifecycle.

- Achieving strong partnership renewals and identifying opportunities for expansion.

- Strengthening Muskaan Dreams' institutional fundraising systems, processes, and knowledge.

- Ensuring strong coordination between fundraising and programme teams.

- Becoming a trusted relationship owner for partners and a dependable collaborator for internal teams.

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Who We're Looking For

Experience

- 5–8 years of experience in institutional fundraising, philanthropy, partnerships, international development, grant management, programme development, or a related field.

- Demonstrated experience securing or managing grants from foundations, philanthropies, family offices, bilateral or multilateral agencies, or institutional donors.

- Experience developing concept notes, proposals, budgets, presentations, and donor reports.

- Experience directly engaging and managing relationships with institutional donors.

- Experience in education, social impact, international development, technology, or public systems is preferred.

Capabilities

- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to articulate ideas clearly and confidently.

- Strong storytelling and proposal-writing skills, with an ability to turn complex programme ideas and evidence into compelling narratives.

- Excellent relationship-building and stakeholder-management abilities.

- Natural ability to connect with people, listen deeply, understand different perspectives, and maintain relationships over time.

- Confidence engaging with senior funders, philanthropic leaders, leadership teams, and external stakeholders.

- Strong project-management and cross-functional coordination skills.

- Ability to manage multiple proposals, partnerships, and deadlines simultaneously.

- High attention to detail and strong follow-through.

- Willingness to travel across India and internationally for partner meetings, conferences, field visits, and ecosystem engagements.

Personal Attributes

We are looking for someone who:

- Is deeply passionate about children, education, and creating equitable opportunities.

- Is a people person who genuinely enjoys building and sustaining relationships.

- Believes that partnerships are built on trust and shared purpose, not transactions.

- Strongly believes in partner success and takes ownership of the partner experience.

- Is empathetic and able to understand both the partner's perspective and Muskaan Dreams' priorities.

- Demonstrates high ownership, responsiveness, and reliability.

- Is curious, proactive, and constantly looking for ways to improve.

- Believes strongly in teamwork and collective success.

- Shares credit, supports colleagues, and collaborates effectively across functions.

- Demonstrates integrity, humility, professionalism, and maturity.

- Is resilient and patient while navigating long funding and relationship-building cycles.

- Is comfortable operating in a fast-growing, entrepreneurial organisation where systems continue to evolve.

This Role May Not Be Right For You If

- You see fundraising primarily as writing and submitting proposals.

- You prefer transactional fundraising over building long-term relationships.

- You do not enjoy meeting people and maintaining relationships over time.

- You are uncomfortable engaging regularly with partners and senior external stakeholders.

- You struggle to communicate or articulate ideas clearly.

- Storytelling, writing, and proposal development are not areas you enjoy.

- You struggle with deadlines, attention to detail, or structured project management.

- You prefer working independently rather than collaborating across teams.

- You are uncomfortable travelling frequently or representing the organisation externally.

- Your focus is primarily on securing funding rather than ensuring partner success, experience, and long-term engagement.

Important Note:

Location: Noida | Travel across India and internationally, as required

Reports to: Director – Strategic Partnerships

📌 Manager – Strategic Partnerships || Foundations & Institutional Grants (Gautam Buddh Nagar)
🏢 MUSKAAN DREAMS
📍 Gautam Buddh Nagar