About The Advocacy Project

We help marginalised and vulnerable people make effective choices about what happens in their lives. We support them to speak up and help improve important services we all need. We want to make sure people across all age and care groups – including learning disability and mental health – can:

• voice their concerns

• understand their rights

• make effective choices about what happens in their lives

We do this through advocacy services which support people individually, and user involvement projects that help organisations improve the services they offer.

About the role

Over the last three years we have grown our advocacy and user involvement service across London, taking on more public sector contracts in new London boroughs and offering a wider and more diverse range of services to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

We now offer services across low, medium and high secure forensic units including Broadmoor Hospital; we have London-wide NHS England services and are part of an exciting personal health budgets pilot project. We have built a solid reputation for delivering high quality services and have a strong track record of winning public sector bids.

Our new three year income plan builds on this success, with a focus on diversifying our funding streams. Our target includes growing our income from trusts and foundations by 17% over the next three years to £550,000. We are now looking for an exceptional and experienced trust and foundation fundraiser with a solid track record of winning new business from these funding sources.

You will work with our Head of Business Development to raise funds, generate income, making sure our fundraising activities meet annual targets, raise our profile and enhance our reputation in line with our values.

Key responsibilities

• Identify, qualify and develop income opportunities from trusts and foundations, in line with our income plan, strategy and values.

• Research, develop and maintain new relationships to secure funding.

• Write tailored, inspirational high quality applications and project reports addressing grant-making priorities or requirements,as specified.

• Identify gaps and niches in the market that are in line with our core strengths and competencies.

• Liaise closely with senior managers and staff to plan and develop the strongest possible proposals and build relationships.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of each application and make sure we embed a continuous improvement cycle into all fundraising activities.

• Evaluate, monitor and report back to donors in a timely fashion on projects which have been funded.

• Record details of applications made, funding pledged and forecast income.

• Input and update information on our CRM database.

General responsibilities

• Participate in team meetings and training.

• Participate in personal, team and organisational development.

• Make sure our corporate identity is kept to, all legal requirements and fundraising regulations are met.

• Keep to our policies, including health & safety, and risk regulations.

• Uphold our mission, vision, and values.

• Carry out other projects and tasks as needed.

Person specification

Essential:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Excellent interpersonal skills. Good at working with a wide variety of people including commissioners, service users and colleagues.

• Proven record of securing six-figure donations from trusts and foundations.

• Ability to combine seeing the big picture with an eye for detail.

• Solutions focused self-starter with an ability to thrive in a busy environment – focusing resources and prioritizing areas with the greatest impact.

• Commitment to working within The Advocacy Project code of conduct, equality and safeguarding policies.

• Ability to work as part of a team and on your own initiative, to plan and prioritise your own workload.

• Willingness to promote The Advocacy Project in line with our mission, vision and values.

• Commitment to ongoing professional development.

  Desirable:

• Relevant professional qualification and affiliation.

• Evidence or commitment to ongoing professional development.

• Understanding of the issues faced by vulnerable and disadvantaged care groups, such as mental health, learning disability, dementia.

Benefits of working for us

We’re committed to providing an empowering, flexible and supportive working environment for all our staff.

Our employee benefits include 30 days annual leave (including up to 3 days between Christmas and New Year), participation in a pension scheme with 6% employer contribution, access to a free confidential counselling service, and an interest-free travel/bike loan.

All our staff are supported to learn and develop in a variety of ways, including a monthly lecture series where we invite sector experts to talk to our staff on topical issues.

We are a Disability Confident and Mindful Employer.

How to apply

Send your CV and a supporting statement explaining why you think you’re the person we’re looking for and how your experience meets the person specification. In your supporting statement, please write a brief description of The Advocacy Project in no more than 500 words, as you would for a funding application.

Upload your application via our website: