Business Intelligence Analyst

Purpose of the job

The Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst generates, analyses, and interprets both quantitative and qualitative data from internal and external sources relevant to fundraising. They transform this data into strategic insights that enable evidence-based decision-making, data-driven actions, and the development of effective fundraising tactics and strategies. By delivering predictive analytics, automated reporting, and actionable fundraising performance insights, the BI Analyst drives a data-driven fundraising culture that maximises MSF Southern Africa's private fundraising results through the identification of emerging opportunities, risks, and challenges. As the fundraising data and systems expert, the BI Analyst provides technical and analytical leadership across Salesforce, marketing automation platforms, digital fundraising systems, and business intelligence solutions. They leverage statistical techniques, predictive modelling, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and continuous optimisation to improve fundraising performance, guide strategic investment decisions, and increase private income.

DUTIES AND REPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy & Planning:

• Develop and present actionable insights, strategic recommendations, and business intelligence from analytical outputs to support strategic decision-making and fundraising investment priorities.

• Develop long-term fundraising forecasting models covering income, donor growth, retention, return on investment (ROI), and donor Lifetime Value (LTV), providing data-driven recommendations to inform strategic decisions.

• Support the annual strategic planning and budgeting process by developing comprehensive budget models, calculation methodologies, and financial and non-financial scenario modelling to evaluate future opportunities and risks.

• Produce investment modelling and business cases to support new fundraising initiatives, optimise resource allocation, and maximise fundraising performance.

• Develop strategic donor segmentation models and continuously optimise fundraising performance through data analysis, predictive modelling, and ongoing evaluation.

• Conduct predictive analyses to identify future fundraising opportunities, emerging risks, and trends that inform strategic planning and fundraising investment.

• Participate in benchmark studies and lead the strategic evaluation, interpretation, and translation of benchmark findings into actionable recommendations.

• Develop, maintain, and continuously enhance the fundraising technology and business intelligence ecosystem, including data integration, data warehousing, reporting, predictive analytics, and dashboard solutions to support long-term planning and decision-making.

• Evaluate emerging fundraising technologies, analytical tools, and business intelligence solutions, recommending scalable innovations that improve fundraising effectiveness and operational efficiency

Reporting & Analysis:

• Establish and monitor fundraising key performance indicators (KPIs) across acquisition, retention, digital, and one-to-one fundraising channels, providing comparative analysis against previous years, MSF movement performance, and the South African fundraising market.

• Design, develop, automate, and maintain real-time reporting solutions, dashboards, and business intelligence tools using Power BI, Salesforce dashboards, and other reporting platforms to support fundraising operations and strategic decision-making.

• Develop executive dashboards for the Senior Management Team (SMT), Board, Fundraising Director, and Fundraising Managers, providing clear visibility of fundraising performance and strategic priorities.

• Produce weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual fundraising performance reports, translating complex analyses into clear visualisations, written insights, and strategic recommendations for stakeholders at all levels.

• Build automated KPI monitoring and early warning indicators to proactively identify performance trends, risks, and opportunities requiring management intervention.

• Measure and analyse fundraising effectiveness using key financial and fundraising metrics, including Return on Investment (ROI), Cost per Acquisition (CPA), Lifetime Value (LTV), Payback Period, Net Income, revenue performance, and expenditure.

• Support fundraising revenue forecasting, budget reviews, financial reconciliations, and variance analysis, identifying the causes of actual versus forecast deviations and recommending corrective actions.

• Analyse MSF Southern Africa fundraising performance and benchmark results against the wider fundraising sector and other MSF offices to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

• Train and support campaign managers and fundraising staff in the effective use and interpretation of dashboards, KPIs, and campaign analysis, promoting data literacy and evidence-based decision-making across the fundraising department.

Donor behaviour:

• Develop strategic analyses of donor segments and portfolios, providing actionable recommendations to optimise acquisition, retention, reactivation, upgrades, cross-selling, and overall fundraising performance.

• Develop and maintain donor segmentation models using behavioural, demographic, digital engagement, and giving history data to improve targeting and personalisation across fundraising programmes.

• Develop donor profiles and propensity models, working with external service providers where required, to identify donors' likelihood to acquire, retain, upgrade, reactivate, or make additional gifts.

• Build statistical and predictive models to forecast donor cancellations, retention trends, donor Lifetime Value (LTV), and other key fundraising performance indicators, sharing insights with fundraising channel and campaign owners.

• Analyse donor journeys across all fundraising channels, identifying key drivers of donor acquisition, engagement, retention, cancellation, and long-term value, and recommend improvements to the donor experience.

• Analyse digital engagement behaviour and campaign performance to identify opportunities for optimisation and increased donor conversion and retention.

• Provide data-driven recommendations to improve donor journeys and fundraising strategies through the analysis of revenue generation, donor engagement, and retention activities.

• Assist in rating donors and prospects according to their propensity, inclination, and capacity to give, providing strategic insights to the fundraising team during cultivation, solicitation, and pipeline management activities.

Data, processes and systems:

• Lead the development and continuous enhancement of the fundraising business intelligence (BI) architecture and technology stack, ensuring scalable, integrated, and data-driven solutions that support fundraising strategy and decision-making.

• Act as the fundraising business lead for Salesforce reporting and analytics, developing and maintaining Salesforce reports, dashboards, fundraising performance metrics, and analytical solutions that support operational and strategic decision-making.

• Work closely with the Database/CRM Manager and external vendors to improve CRM functionality, data quality, reporting capabilities, and overall data usability across fundraising systems.

• Develop and maintain data models, data warehouses, and analytical datasets that support reporting, dashboard development, predictive analytics, and advanced data visualisation.

• Conduct advanced data modelling, mining, and statistical analyses, in collaboration with internal teams and external service providers, to address key fundraising business questions and identify growth opportunities.

• Support digital fundraising analytics by analysing website performance, donor conversion funnels, campaign attribution, and digital engagement, integrating web analytics, CRM, and fundraising data to provide a complete view of donor performance.

• Identify and implement opportunities to automate recurring reports, fundraising workflows, campaign management processes, and marketing automation reporting to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual effort.

• Develop, implement, and continuously improve data governance frameworks, including data quality standards, coding structures, validation processes, integrity monitoring, and regular data quality audits to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of fundraising data.

• Collaborate with the Database/CRM Manager to optimise database structures, coding standards, and data processing methodologies that enhance reporting, analysis, and fundraising performance measurement.

• Develop and maintain analytical guidelines, reporting standards, and best practices to ensure consistent interpretation and use of fundraising data across the organisation.

• Evaluate emerging business intelligence, analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, recommending and implementing scalable solutions that enhance forecasting, donor segmentation, reporting efficiency, and fundraising decision-making.

• Implement AI-assisted forecasting, predictive analytics, and machine learning techniques, where appropriate, to improve fundraising performance, donor insights, and strategic planning.

• Ensure the accuracy, integrity, security, and quality of fundraising data, reports, and analytical outputs by implementing robust quality assurance and validation processes.

• Extract, prepare, and provide data for internal stakeholders, external vendors, and strategic projects, ensuring that information is timely, accurate, and fit for purpose.

Technology & Innovation

• Evaluate emerging fundraising technologies, analytics platforms, artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, and business intelligence tools, recommending scalable innovations that improve fundraising performance and operational efficiency.

• Lead the testing, evaluation, and implementation of new reporting solutions, analytical methodologies, and technology enhancements to support continuous improvement.

• Identify opportunities to scale fundraising operations through technology, automation, systems integration, and data-driven innovation.

• Support digital transformation initiatives by collaborating with internal stakeholders, external vendors, and technology partners to implement new fundraising capabilities.

• Drive the continuous improvement of fundraising systems, reporting platforms, and business intelligence processes to ensure they remain effective, scalable, and aligned with organisational objectives.

Financial & Business Analysis

• Conduct financial and non-financial analyses to evaluate fundraising performance, identify trends, and provide strategic recommendations that support decision-making.

• Analyse fundraising investments and initiatives to assess effectiveness, return on investment (ROI), and overall business impact.

• Produce campaign profitability analyses by evaluating income, expenditure, donor acquisition costs, Lifetime Value (LTV), payback periods, and net fundraising performance.

• Support the annual budgeting, forecasting, and business planning processes through financial modelling, scenario analysis, and evidence-based recommendations.

• Forecast fundraising income and expenditure, monitor performance against budget, and perform variance analyses to identify risks, opportunities, and corrective actions.

• Monitor fundraising efficiency by tracking key financial and operational performance indicators and recommending continuous improvements to maximise sustainable fundraising growth

Leadership, Governance & Collaboration

• Lead business intelligence projects and analytical initiatives from planning through implementation, ensuring delivery of high-quality, business-focused outcomes.

• Develop, document, and maintain reporting standards, analytical methodologies, data definitions, and governance processes to promote consistency and best practice across the fundraising function.

• Maintain comprehensive documentation for dashboards, reports, business intelligence processes, and analytical models to support knowledge sharing and business continuity.

• Mentor and support fundraising colleagues in developing data literacy, enabling effective interpretation of reports, dashboards, and analytical insights to strengthen evidence-based decision-making.

• Represent MSF Southern Africa within MSF international Business Intelligence and fundraising analytics Communities of Practice, sharing knowledge, contributing to best practices, and adopting innovations from across the movement.

Qualifications/job requirements

Education and experience

• A college or university degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics or related fields

• 5+ years working in statistics or business data analysis

• Demonstrate proficiency with BI and stats tools and systems

• Demonstrate proficiency with data modelling and segmentation

• Demonstrate proficiency with reports and dashboards development

• Must possess knowledge of direct marketing and statistical principals as well as data management software

• Experience in vendors management

Skills and competences

• Results and quality oriented, with a strong commitment to continuous improvement and operational excellence.

• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate complex data into actionable business insights and fundraising strategies.

• Strong data storytelling skills with the ability to communicate complex analytical findings through compelling reports, dashboards, visualisations, and presentations tailored to different audiences.

• Strong stakeholder management, collaboration, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence decision-making across multiple levels of the organisation.

• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills, with the ability to train and support colleagues in interpreting data and using business intelligence tools.

• Highly organised with strong project management skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities while meeting deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

• Advanced financial modelling, business forecasting, predictive analytics, and statistical analysis skills.

• Advanced knowledge of database management, data extraction, transformation, data modelling, segmentation, and Business Intelligence platforms.

• Experience designing intuitive dashboards and performance reporting solutions using modern Business Intelligence tools.

• Knowledge of digital fundraising analytics, donor behaviour analysis, marketing performance measurement, and campaign optimisation.

• Knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), automation technologies, and their application in analytics, forecasting, reporting, and fundraising optimisation.

• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Power BI, and PowerPoint.

• Strong data processing, data governance, and information management skills with meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to data quality.

• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams while performing effectively under pressure.

• Knowledge of fundraising principles and donor lifecycle management is highly desirable.

• Familiarity with and an interest in international aid, humanitarian action, medical relief, social justice, and global political issues.

APPLICATION DETAILS

• The vacancy closing date is 29 September 2026

• Start date: 1 November 2026

• By applying to this position, the applicant confirms they have read, understood and agreed to fully comply with MSF Charter and MSF Behavioural Commitments and Data Privacy Policy.