Seeking a Fiscal/Legal Agent

The Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS is calling for proposals from organisations interested in being its fiscal / legal trustee. The deadline is 5pm GMT on 28th February 2020 and interviews will be held in the week of 2nd March. We are aiming to appoint by 13th March 2020, and for the fiscal / legal trustee to take up this role by 27th March 2020.

The fiscal / legal trustee must:

• Be of high global reputable standing and aligned with the Coalition’s mission and values.
• Be well known to and have strong relationships with major funders in the HIV sector and / or other sectors relevant to the work of the Coalition including health, children and families, early childhood development, poverty reduction, equity, child rights, gender, and community-led development.
• Fulfill all legal, tax and regulatory requirements of philanthropic and charitable non-profit organisations, compliant with all applicable laws, and be formally registered as such, with 501c3 status or or equivalent in their own country.
• Have a track record of fiscal integrity, effectiveness, transparency, efficiency, accountability, and financial prudence managing and implementing international operations. The Coalition’s accounting will have to be kept on a separate ledger from the fiscal / legal trustee in the case of an independent audit.
• Have previous experience of serving in a fiscal agent / trustee capacity.
• Have the capacity to provide the Coalition with the following core services (see below) provided by a range of staff and departments within their organisation.
• Have a strong set of organisational policies and procedures already in place, including around human resources, travel, safeguarding, non discrimination, and decent working conditions.
• Have the capacity to appoint one manager-level staff member to be a permanent central point of contact between the Coalition and the fiscal / legal trustee. We anticipate this will be equivalent to two hours per week and will be clustered around periods of activity. We acknowledge that many more people may be involved in  delivering the services, but expect there to be one central point of contact. We also expect that this role not be dependent on any one individual’s availability, and that they be replaced in cases of absence or travel.
• Be able to support the Coalition to operate under its own identity, and to make decisions independently from the trustee, but in line with the trustee’s own policies.

The fiscal / legal agent will provide the following services:

• Fiscal Services, including accepting and disbursing funding for the Coalition’s core activities (as determined by the Coalition Secretariat); providing accounting services to support transparent reporting by the Secretariat to the Coalition’s governing bodies, including monthly budget Vs actual reports; and ongoing contracting and paying for all items and services used by the Coalition in its operations. This includes, but is not limited to, consultancy fees and expenses, hotels, flights, local airport transfers, catering, printing, data storage, webex and website hosting fees. The Coalition will operate under the trustee’s own financial procedures, procurement policies and audit requirements. However, the agent must also grant the Coalition Manager full direct access to the Coalition’s own credit card (and/or or other means of payment) in order to make ad-hoc payments, approved by the Coalition Executive.
• Administrative Services, including identifying, negotiating and booking hotels, flights, local airport transfers, venues, catering, printing and other products and services associated with Coalition operations; as well as consulting with any person that the Coalition sponsors on their travel requirements. Where possible, providing ocassaional back-end’ supports such as meeting / office space, admin and IT support, printing and design services etc.
• Fundraising Services, including facilitating outreach to potential funders, inputting financial information into funder proposals and reports, managing a schedule of donor reporting, and invoicing and pursuing payment from the Coalition’s funder members. 
• Human Resources Services, including the provision and renewal of contracts, and hiring and management of personnel in multiple locations and remote workers. This includes providing sufficient payroll arrangements to ensure that any legal and tax liabilities associated with hiring international service providers are fully addressed.
• Legal Services, including advising on contracts associated with the Coalition’s operations.

The Coalition will pay reasonable host-negotiated administration fees and / or grant management fees. These may vary depending on the requirements of the donors providing funds to the Coalition, regarding the allowed administration fee within a grant budget or the trustee’s established and audited rates. The fee paid by the Coalition – whether via an indirect cost payment or an administration fee – is expected to cover all services provided by the trustee.

Please provide a letter of interest, no more than three pages long:

• Address the criteria described above.
• Explain your organisation’s interest behind applying; what can it bring and contribute, how will it benefit?
• Include information about any other experience your organisation has of providing similar trustee services.
• Include specific administrative and / or grant management fees and indirect costs.
• Include any questions or concerns not expressed in this call for proposals.
• Include information about the role and seniority of the proposed central point of contact.
• Include individual contact information for the person leading your application.
• At least one reference of someone in an organisation for whom you have provided similar trustee services.

Please provide links to any additional information that will enrich the Coalition’s understanding and appreciation of your proposal. This includes, for example, your web page, annual report, and financial or administrative information.

For more information please contact Corinna Csaky, Coalition Manager.