Individual Giving Officer  

Location: Flexible remote with regular presence at our office in Horsham, West Sussex for team meetings 

Salary £28,000 

Level Band 4B 

Full time 35 hours per week 

About the Charity   

Born Free works tirelessly to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and can live according to their needs. As a leading wildlife charity, we oppose the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and campaign to keep them where they belong – in the wild.   

We promote Compassionate Conservation to enhance the survival of wildlife, especially threatened species in the wild, and to protect natural habitats while respecting the needs and safeguarding the welfare of individual animals. We seek to positively impact animals in the wild and protect their ecosystems in perpetuity for their own intrinsic value. For the critical roles they play within the natural world.  

Set up initially as Zoo Check in 1984 by Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, and their son Will Travers, Born Free works tirelessly to prevent captive animal suffering and phase out zoos.  Will continues to lead the organisation as Manager President. Virginia remains active on the Board of Trustees, working closely with the team to share our vision and programmes on public forums.    

The Opportunity  

We are looking for an Individual Giving Officer to become an integral member of the fundraising team as we look to diversify and grow our individual giving programme.  

Individual giving is a key income stream for Born Free, and this new role is the next step in building a high-performing fundraising team. You will be supporting the Head of Individual Giving to grow income from new and existing supporters, including through existing products and testing new ways for people to give. The successful candidate will be involved in areas such as our adoption programme, lottery, supporter acquisition, retention, stewardship, and digital fundraising.  

You will be highly motivated and passionate about the mission of Born Free and bring the experience of working in a fundraising or marketing team to help grow and diversify the individual giving programme. 

The Role   

Working collaboratively with the Head of Individual Giving to develop and implement the Individual Giving strategy for income growth and supporter retention. The successful candidate will be detail-orientated, a team player, creative and able to work collaboratively as well as independently.  

Resourceful, organised and a proactive team player, with excellent communication and interpersonal skills, you will need to juggle both creative and data tasks with drive and enthusiasm, be able to work with minimum supervision and show good judgement and initiative.  

Key tasks will include:  

• Supporter acquisition: work with Head of Individual Giving to develop, project manage and deliver an integrated multi-channel rolling supporter acquisition across the individual giving portfolio. 

• Supporter retention, journeys, and engagement: work with the Head of Individual Giving, Database and Insight Manager, and Communications team to project manage, and deliver a successful supporter journey to reduce attrition across the individual giving portfolio. 

• Digital Marketing: project manage and champion digital fundraising for individual giving, supporting the Social Media Manager and the Marketing Manager with the development of content. 

• Manage suppliers and stakeholders: Ensuring high standards of delivery and collaboration are maintained within budgets and procurement requirements. 

• Data insight: Work alongside the Head of Individual Giving and Data and Insight Manager to ensure the selection and segmentation maximise results. Use campaign data to track and report on the effectiveness of activity, attrition levels, and inform decision-making and future planning.  

• Strategy & Planning: Work alongside the Head of Individual Giving and Director of Fundraising to produce and execute an effective and sustainable individual giving plan to grow income from new and existing donors.   

• Budgets: Support the Head of Individual Giving with compiling budgets, phasing and monitoring Individual Giving income and expenditure. 

• External trends and regulation: Keep up to date with fundraising trends and legislation in relation to public fundraising, and ensure compliance with the Charity Commission, fundraising regulation and data protection requirements, including the General Data Protection Directive; Ensure all individual giving activity complies with the appropriate regulation and legislation and delivers an excellent experience for supporters.   

The successful candidate should ideally demonstrate the following attributes:    

• Minimum one year of experience in fundraising, marketing or supporter care, with a demonstratable understanding of delivering individual giving acquisition or retention programmes.  

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to quickly build effective relationships with colleagues, donors and external suppliers.  

• Proven experience in working with Microsoft Office, Excel, and relational databases (including data input), ideally with knowledge of Raiser’s Edge or equivalent CRM.  

• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, with the ability to communicate effectively to both external and internal audiences.  

• Excellent organisational and administrative skills and an ability to prioritise work, manage time effectively, and meet deadlines, with good attention to detail.  

• Proven ability to manage relationships with third party suppliers including creative agencies, printers and fulfilment house. 

• A team-minded approach - taking others on the journey with you and sharing knowledge / expertise for the benefit of the wider fundraising team and organisation.  

• Celebrates success. 

• Solutions-focused. Resilient in the face of setbacks and challenges. 

• A strong empathy and engagement with the work of Born Free and the desire to drive it forward, bringing energy and determination to its mission.  

The candidate will report directly to the Head of Individual Giving and has no direct line management responsibilities.       

Note: This job description outlines the roles, duties, and responsibilities of the post. It is not intended to detail all specific tasks. Born Free reserves the right to alter the content of this job description to reflect the changing needs of the organisation but is a correct reflection of the main duties of the post at the time of writing.  

Our excellent benefits package includes opportunities for continuous professional learning, a generous annual leave entitlement, working from home with regular team meetings to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, wellbeing support, and a competitive pension.  

Born Free is an Equal Opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates, regardless of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital/civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity. We welcome requests for flexible working.  

The closing date for applications is 09:00 on 30th of November 2023. Born Free politely requests no contact from recruitment agencies or media sales. We do not accept speculative CVs from recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.  

If you do not receive an invitation for an interview by the 8th of December 2023 then you have unfortunately not been shortlisted. Interviews will be scheduled to take place week commencing 11th December 2023 on Teams. Thank you for your interest.