Challenges Lead

The Vacancy

Islamic Relief UK (IRUK) is actively recruiting for the position of ‘Challenges Lead’ to be based from anywhere in the UK that Islamic Relief has an office. These office locations include; London (Whitechapel/Waterloo), Leicester, Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Glasgow.

Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) is a faith-based humanitarian relief and development organisation working to save and transform the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.  Established in 1984, with an active presence in over 45 countries, we strive to make the world a better and fairer place for those affected by poverty, conflict and natural disasters. IRUK’s focus is strengthening effective funding, mobilising for change through advocacy and awareness-raising, and strengthening programme development and delivery. IRUK works with various partners and institutions, from governments, non-governmental organisations and local authorities to grassroots communities.

Job Purpose:

• To coordinate the development and delivery of Fundraising Challenges Events, nationally and internationally, with the objective of engaging the community on a grass-roots level in line with the IRUK fundraising strategy
• To work closely with the Community Fundraising team to promote the mass participation of events that will lead to participation and fundraising
• To deliver stewardship journeys for participants and supporters
• To successfully project manage multiple national fundraising initiatives.

The successful candidate must have:

• Proven experience in challenges coordination and/or management
• Significant experience of fundraising through organising and delivering challenges, and/or mass participation activities
• Experience of the development, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of plans and budgets
• Experience of delivering exceptional donor/customer care
• Experience in supporter stewardship
• Experience of using a range of effective communication channels to promote fundraising activities
• Experience in negotiating and managing contracts with vendors and suppliers
• Experience of managing own workload effectively, planning and organising work to meet deadlines
• Experience of working effectively without close supervision dealing with problems as they arise
• Experience and comfortability of working within a fast-paced environment
• Experience working with and supervising volunteers
• A thorough understanding of the different types of fundraising challenges
• Good understanding of charity law, policy and regulatory environment within the charity sector
• Knowledge of the Fundraising Regulators code of practice
• Able to work flexible hours (including unsociable hours and weekends)
• Proficient use of Asana, Trello or other project management tools
• Excellent event/challenge management skills – from conception, promotion to production and delivery
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to produce correspondence to a high standard
• Creative thinking skills
• Able to exercise diplomacy where required
• Excellent communication skills – written, oral and listening with the ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with a diverse range of individuals who may be supporters, participants, donors or volunteers
• Strong project management and team coordination skills, including the ability to use planning tools
• Strong networking skills
• Proven organisational skills with the ability to work on multiple activities at one time
• Excellent administration skills – able to keep thorough, accurate and up to date records
• Competent user of Raisers Edge, Microsoft D365 or other relationship management databases
• Understanding and experience of health and safety regulations and risk assessments in relation to organising events and challenges
• Educated to ‘A’ level or equivalent
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office software in particular, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook

For more information, please click on the Documents tab above to view the full Job Description.

If you are talented, reliable, service-minded, resilient and a highly motivated professional looking for a meaningful career, with a strong commitment to IRW’s mission and values of sincerity, excellence, compassion, social justice and custodianship, please apply by completing our online application form.

For more information on the excellent company benefits we offer our employees, please visit our website.

PLEASE NOTE: Interviews are expected to take place on an ongoing basis until a suitable appointment is made. We therefore may close the advert sooner than the advertised date.

Pre-employment Checks:

Any employment with Islamic Relief will be subject to the following checks:

• screening clearance
• proof of eligibility to live and work within the UK
• receipt of satisfactory references

Please note, for UK-based roles, we are only able to accept applications from candidates who are eligible to work in the UK. We are unable to progress applications which would require sponsorship.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

IRW is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom IRW engages. IRW expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records checks. IRW also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.

In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Islamic Relief is an equal opportunities employer