Digital communications officer jobs in manchester, greater manchester

Title: Fundraising Manager

Reports to: Fundraising Director

Contract Type: Full-time, Permanent

Location: Based from one of our RTS offices with the expectation of at least 2 days a week in the office, with some flexibility to work from home, subject to business requirements and line manager approval. 

Hours: 5 days per week (37.5 Hours) Worked between Monday- Friday

Salary: £44,261 - £47,868 (5% employer pension contribution, Medicash and group life assurance, 27 days annual leave per annum for FTE plus bank holidays)

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Role Summary

We are looking for a motivated and dynamic individual who is passionate about collaboration and community-led change. If you believe in the power of strong, connected communities, this role is for you. You will need good organisational skills, energy and the ability to listen, build relationships, and inspire collaboration, which is essential in creating positive, lasting change.

As a Fundraising Manager, you will be responsible for managing a mixed portfolio of supporters with a view to growing this pool to deliver a mixture of revenue which can sustain and grow our ambitions and work. This will involve taking responsibility for nurturing and growing an existing philanthropic pool of funders whilst identifying, cultivating and mapping new high value opportunities, in excess of £75k. For your portfolio you will manage donor acquisition strategies, proposal writing and stewardship and supporter journey planning. 

The role involves securing funding from various sources, including trusts, corporations, and individuals, to support the charity’s mission. This includes developing and maintaining strong donor relationships, managing a portfolio of donors, and managing fundraising pipelines.

The ideal candidate will therefore be proactive, results-driven, and skilled in developing insight-led strategies, managing solicitations, along with the ability to create processes, gather insights, and propose budgets. You’ll be passionate about continuous improvement, have a proactive attitude and be comfortable in suggesting new and/or better ways of working. You’ll enjoy a challenging and fulfilling environment, working with a supportive and forward-thinking team.

Key Objectives:

• As a member of the Fundraising team, you will work across all parts of the fundraising process, from prospect research all the way through to the fundraising ask.

• You will work collaboratively within the Fundraising team and the wider organisation to develop compelling fundraising proposals for corporate donors, high net worth individuals, community appeals and trusts and foundations. 

• You will seek out and identify patterns of prospect and funder data and behaviours which inform our growth and generate ideas and solutions

• You will problem solve with others enabling planning and anticipation of challenges and opportunities

Fundraising Objectives:

• Develop a high value pipeline of prospects and funders which has a balanced approach across acquisition, retention and uplift to meet team targets and which provides the best supporter experience.

• Manage a personal portfolio through all stages of the fundraising cycle, within an overall fundraising team target, demonstrating an understanding of how to mitigate risk, maximise return on investment and give a focus to unrestricted income generation.

• Manage and cultivate prospect and funder relationships in their entirety, with responsibility for planning briefings, proposal writing, stakeholder engagement, reporting, stewardship, delivery, and evaluation.

• Research, prepare, and submit high-quality grant applications to charitable trusts, foundations, and other funding bodies utilising different funder approaches including bids, applications, proposals and EOIs, all delivering high-quality experiences and materials to secure funding. 

• Monitor and report on the progress of fundraising activities and grant applications, providing regular updates to the management team.

• Plan and write bespoke engagement plans (e.g. stewardship reports), including report-writing and impact analysis, and coordinating event and PR milestone activities.

• Work with internal & external stakeholders to develop new projects and ensure donor requirements and engagement opportunities are met.

Team and Operational Objectives:

• Help colleagues and supporters overcome any challenges and maximise their fundraising efforts.

• Manage your time and workload, and utilise our given processes, systems, and parameters to overcome barriers

• Support funder account management and compliance through planning, financial budgeting, and record keeping. 

• Ensure that systems and processes are effective, and that our database is updated and utilised as the central source of information for recording income, supporter interactions and reporting. 

• Ensure all supporters are appropriately thanked and help develop specific supporter journeys.

• Identify potential funding opportunities and contribute to philanthropic discovery exercises across new territories and themes

• Build and maintain relationships with a range of stakeholders from corporate partners through to community groups.

Please note the key responsibilities of this role are described above. They may be subject to reasonable changes from time to time in line with business needs. 

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Person Specification

Experience (essential)

• Experience in a charity fundraising role.

• A successful track record of building strong internal and external relationships and generating income from a broad range of funders

• Experience in fundraising preferably from Trust and Foundations; both family, corporate and individual, and partnership bid development.

• Experience in all aspects of donor cultivation (research, writing, follow-up, and stewardship), required

• Experience closing gifts at the six-figure level, including complex gifts using a variety of giving vehicles

• Pipeline development and management thereof, to ensure multi year planning and team financial target contributions are reflected.

• Proven track record in achieving financial and non-financial targets and in forecasting/ setting KPI’s

• Experience in identifying and acquiring new business opportunities and creatively retaining long term funder relationships

• Knowledge of prospect research techniques

• Maintaining a library of templated materials

Experience (desirable)

• Knowledge of place-based fundraising

• Experience working with under-represented communities 

• Enthusiastic “all hands-on deck” style team player; able to operate and collaborate across multiple teams and thrive in a fast-paced culture

• Advancing or building digital capabilities to support work activities

• Managing relationship milestones in collaboration with colleagues to include performance tracking, solicitations and reporting 

Skills (essential)

• Commitment to the aims and ethos of Right to Succeed and a genuine desire to bring about positive change for children and young people. 

• Knowledge or experience in a broad range of high value income generation practices and legislation

• Highly proactive and organised, with strong project management skills including multitasking and attention to detail

• An ability to identify, research and qualify potential donors and explore networks.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt messages to different audiences and craft compelling grant proposals

• Ability to nurture, develop and promote effective relationships and communicate with colleagues, community members and funders

• Strong cross team planning and organisation skills ensuring lead time processes for tight deadlines, consultation and proofing 

• Experience in utilising a range of printed and electronic resources and in working with databases to build a strong pipeline of funding and diverse portfolio of supporters

• Confident networker and relationship builder with excellent interpersonal, presentation, and negotiation skills

• Understanding of financial planning and business plans, ability to analyse accounts and data to inform funder activities, decision making and forecasting.

• Demonstrable IT skills and the ability to learn detailed processes quickly and accurately.

Qualifications & knowledge (desirable)

• Awareness of local areas, key challenges and understanding of current contexts 

• In-depth knowledge of education improvement and community development

• Demonstrated experience with Google Suite, fundraising CRM, project management tools

• CIOF or equivalent sector membership or qualification

• Sector Peer Network Participation and knowledge building 

• Fundraising compliance knowledge – inc Data Protection and Due Diligence

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Timetable 
Applications invited by 12:00pm Monday 19th May 2025
First Stage Interviews: Ongoing as applications received
This will be a two-stage interview process with a task to be prepared for stage 2.

Please note we will be interviewing candidates as applications are received and may close the vacancy earlier if a suitable candidate is identified. Candidates are advised to apply as early as possible.
These dates may be subject to change.