This is an exciting time to join The Diana Award in a brand-new leadership role within our small fundraising team as we look to build on the success of our current partnerships with well-known funders and corporate partners to enable us to achieve our mission.

As the Senior Fundraising and Partnerships Manager, you lead on delivering our fundraising strategy and will be responsible for generating £800k new income (additional to total current 2.2million annual income) through direct income and business development activity. 

You will lead a range of income generating activities (mostly high value: corporate, trust and foundations and statutory) and work closely with the Deputy CEO, the Senior Leadership Team and Management Teams to submit high quality, innovative funding proposals . You will be responsible for the end-to-end process of development from identifying opportunities and cultivating leads; developing high quality proposals; and building relationships with prospective partners to ensure fundraising success. 

You will be a skilled and confident writer and communicator with a track record of successful income generation and creating powerful partnerships, be passionate about supporting young people and thrive working in a dynamic and ambitious creative organisation.

You will also line manage Fundraising and Partnerships Manager who joined earlier this year and support the future growth and development of the fundraising team

JOB DESCRIPTION

Fundraising and Partnership Development 

• Use your skills, creativity and experience take responsibility for the implementation of our fundraising strategy in response to the evolving funding landscape

• Responsibility for developing and growing the pipeline, identifying opportunities for funding from a range of sources including (but not limited to) trusts & foundations, statutory sources, and corporate partners.

• Develop ideas for creative sponsorship and funding opportunities and lead the development and submission of high quality, compelling funding proposals and tender documents to unlock funding. This will also involve identifying suitable partners; presenting proposals and closing deals; drawing up and negotiating contracts and ensuring delivery.

• Work with the stakeholders, our internal researchers and policy team to scope and develop exciting new project proposals. 

• Develop fundraising and donor relationships in order to increase unrestricted income.

• Devise and implement arrangements for our work with corporate partners, including recruiting and managing relationships with corporate partners 

• Maintain a thorough understanding of financial targets and progress, liaising with the Finance Manager.

• Maintain an accurate fundraising database and analyse data to ensure that our fundraising is insight led.

Strategic Leadership

• Work alongside the Deputy CEO on the development of the fundraising strategy in line with the changing landscape. 

• Produce regular update reports for the Leadership Team, Trustees and others as required on the activities and status of business development across the organisation. 

• Research and analyse data and trends to inform strategy, contributing lessons learnt into the business planning processes and continuous learning approach.

• Working closely with the Leadership Team and Management Team in the development of Organisational Strategy and Business Plans.

• Working with the Director of Programmes, embed all successful projects within delivery teams in a clear and efficient manner to allow them to start delivery in line with expectations.

Management

• Contribute to overall leadership and management of Fundraising and Business Development team

• Build a cohesive and engaged Fundraising and Partnerships team ensuring the team has clear shared and individual work plans in place with measurable KPIs and regular supervision, appraisals and team meetings to monitor progress.

• Develop clear lines of accountability, set priorities, and establish robust and timely reporting mechanisms within the team

• Encourage and support the team to engage in continuous professional development, signposting and seeking opportunities as relevant

• Contribute to the wider management of the organisation, ensuring effective business partnering relationships are in place with key functions eg. comms, operations, I&I, fundraising etc.
  

Other responsibilities

• Represent the organisation externally as required.

• Undertake any other reasonable duties as may be required including occasional travel around England necessitating overnight stays

PERSONAL QUALITIES

• Passion for social justice and supporting young people to reach their full potential

• Entrepreneurial, innovative, personable, collaborative and good at working both in a team and under your own initiative 

• Flexible and dynamic, with an ability to adapt and respond quickly to a fast-changing environment and varied projects.

• Ability to quickly build trust and credibility both internally and externally.

EXPERIENCE

• Experience of successful income generation and development activity, including writing proposals and funding applications, managing key partners, supporting with development of and delivering on income generation strategy, leading income generation initiatives on time and within budget to the satisfaction of all parties.

• (not essential but desirable) Management of a team, including volunteers and interns.

SKILLS

• Leadership skills: motivating and developing a cohesive, high performing small team.

• IT and database management skills including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and using databases.

• Excellent organisational, planning skills and ability to set and meet deadlines.

• Excellent written and verbal communication kills including confident presentation and influencing skills, and the ability to write persuasive and engaging content 

• Excellent decision making and the ability to exercise sound judgement

• Excellent interpersonal and relationship building skills across multiple internal and external stakeholders and funders, including at senior level

KNOWLEDGE

• Good knowledge of the third sector

• Knowledge of budget and financial management, including setting, monitoring and reporting

If you are interested in applying but aren’t sure that you have all of the skills and experience, please do still apply. We are open to learning on the job and supporting the development of the successful candidate so that they are able to do the job to the best of their ability.

Hybrid and flexible working options can be explored and the successful candidate must have the right to work in the UK.

We will be keeping this role open until we find the right candidate. All applicants can expect to hear from us within 1 month of submitting their application.

The Diana Award is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all. This is a responsibility that is shared by all members of staff the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS or equivalent police check.

The Diana Award is committed to building and developing a workforce which reflects the diversity of the young people we support. We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer that values and respects the people who work for us. We seek to ensure all job applications are treated fairly, with respect and without bias.