Major FunctionWorld Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, seeks a Senior Research Analyst. The position leads strategic, proactive prospect development research that expands and strengthens WWF Development’s pool of principal, major, annual giving, planned giving, corporate, and foundation prospects. The position serves as a research partner and strategic advisor to frontline fundraisers, translating complex biographical, philanthropic, financial, and reputational information into accurate, actionable intelligence that supports donor strategy, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and risk-aware decision-making. The Senior Research Analyst maintains current information on priority prospects and donors and helps strengthen Development Research standards, tools, training, and data quality.Key ResponsibilitiesConduct proactive research projects that identify, qualify, and prioritize a pipeline of new individual, corporate, and foundation fundraising prospects, including relationship-mapping and special initiative research.Collect, evaluate, analyze, organize, synthesize, and disseminate information from public, subscription, internal, and vendor sources to support accurate and informed donor strategy development.Connect information across an individual’s personal, family, corporate, foundation, donor-advised fund, board, and other institutional giving vehicles to inform prospect strategy, relationship mapping, and engagement opportunities.Prepare high-quality written research deliverables, including donor and prospect profiles, executive briefings, event research, due diligence summaries, relationship maps, capacity and affinity assessments, and other research reports. Ensure materials are accurate, complete, source-grounded, well organized, and appropriate for leadership and fundraiser use.Serve as an embedded research partner and strategic advisor to principal, major gift, corporate, and foundation fundraisers, providing deep research support for high-priority prospects, donor meetings, special fundraising initiatives, and leadership engagement.Monitor news, market trends, philanthropic activity, business developments, nonprofit filings, legal and regulatory records, and other public information relevant to priority donors and prospects.Maintain accurate prospect and donor information in WWF systems of record, including CRM and affiliated document storage platforms. Donor information includes research notes, ratings, source documentation, relationship intelligence, and other data that supports portfolio strategy and prospect management.Assist with training, mentoring, documentation, and quality control for Development Research products, protocols, database use, due diligence standards, vendor resources, and research workflows.Maintain strong internal relationships with Development, Executive Office, Board and National Council Relations, Legal, and other WWF colleagues to support accurate research interpretation and use.Maintain productive external relationships with vendors, data providers, and peer organizations to strengthen research resources, practices, and benchmarking.May guide or coordinate project work by temporary staff, interns, consultants, or junior research colleagues as needed.Perform other duties as assigned.Key CompetenciesStrategic research judgment: Applies strong analytical judgment to identify what matters, assess source reliability, distinguish confirmed facts from interpretation, and produce actionable intelligence for fundraising strategy.Accuracy and evidence discipline: Maintains high standards for source verification, documentation, confidentiality, and careful interpretation of sensitive information.Collaboration and advisory partnership: Builds productive relationships with fundraisers and cross-functional colleagues, and communicates research insights clearly for different audiences.Project management: Manages multiple research projects and deadlines, balances urgent requests with proactive work, and keeps stakeholders informed of progress and priorities.Communication: Writes clear, concise, and audience-appropriate research products and presents research findings, methods, and guidance to colleagues.Mentorship and knowledge sharing: Supports consistent research practice by training colleagues, documenting procedures, and modeling strong prospect research standards.Adaptability and continuous learning: Stays current on fundraising research practices, data tools, philanthropic trends, and the evolving information landscape.
