Major Donor Lead

Salary: £55,939

Location:  Hybrid working with the expectation to work in the London office

Contract: Full-time with flexible working options

Job Description: Is located here

About Ashden

Ashden accelerates  climate solutions through the Ashden Awards and our programmes in the UK and Africa we support local organisations and enterprises to  bring clean energy to villages and refugee camps, to fix up cold and draughty homes, to make schools more sustainable and to help communities protect and restore the nature around them. But without our funders none of this would be possible.

As we look to 2030 and seek to go further and faster and create deeper impact through our work, we are seeking to grow our fundraising capabilities and bring in new talented people to open up new income streams and secure greater funding to power our mission. Could you be one of these talented people?

About the Role

We're looking for someone to lead, grow and develop Ashden’s major giving programme. Are you great at building and growing relationships with high-value donors? Are you a natural network builder? Do you thrive on successfully securing major gifts.

You will report to the Director of Business Development.

What you might find yourself doing:

·       Cultivate a portfolio of major donors and grow unrestricted and programmatic income for Ashden.

·       Manage and grow Ashden’s Changemakers programme of mid-level mission-aligned individual donors to a level of £300k by 2026.

·       Work alongside the Director of Business Development to cultivate and secure a portfolio of six and seven figure donations from individuals.

·       Lead, with support from the Fundraising Officer and Comms Team, on designing and implementing donor cultivation events. 

·       Produce compelling funding proposals for major donors.

·       Ensure a strong pipeline of individual major donors is developed, maintained and tracked. 

About You

You’ll thrive in this role if you:

• Have experience running effective donor stewardship programmes.

• Can build and strengthen relationships with donors.

• Thrive on pitching to funders.

• Can communicate the complicated work of a climate charity in a way that is compelling.

• Are experienced in financial monitoring and reporting.

• Are a natural networker.

• Highly numerate with strong financial management skills.

• Are willing to take accountability and work in a self-managed way.

• Would like to grow your experiences, skills and contribute to the organisation while doing so.

• Are not afraid to try new things and reflect on the successes and failures openly.

It is also desirable (but not necessary) for you to have:

·       Knowledge of grant management processes.

·       Knowledge of CRM systems (Ashden uses Microsoft Dynamics).

·       Experience with MS Office Suite systems.

Benefits

Here are some of our benefits:

• Flexible working hours and location.

• Pension – a sum equivalent of 12% of annual salary.

• 22 days annual rising by one day every year to 25.

• Office closed between Christmas and New Year.

• Maternity and Paternity leave.

• Volunteering policy.

• Interest free season ticket loan.

• Cycle to work scheme.

• Eye care.

• Annual occupational health check-up.

How to apply

Taking note: research shows that while men tend to apply for jobs when they meet around 60% of the criteria, women and marginalised people tend to only apply when they check every box. So, if you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still apply.

We use Applied, a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. You will be asked three work sample questions which will be scored anonymously by the recruitment panel. Once all the questions are scored, we will look at the CVs of the top scoring candidates and make a shortlist for interview.

First interviews will take place online on Tuesday 17 September and are 45-minutes long. Second interviews will take place in person on Thursday 19 September at our office in Victoria and are 1 hour long. We will reimburse candidates for their travel costs.

If you have accessibility needs and need assistance completing the application, please email us at people@sfct.org.uk

The aim of this approach is to make the opportunity as accessible as possible and ensure a diverse range of people are able to demonstrate their potential.

If you have any questions about the role or the process please contact people@sfct.org.uk

Questions

• Can people outside of the UK apply for this role?

No. We are unable to apply for visas and can only accept applications from candidates who have the right to live and work in the UK.

• Can I ask for feedback on my application?

Due to the volume of applications, we can only provide individual feedback to candidates who are invited to interview.