Fundraising Officer

Universify Education is looking for a passionate and motivated Fundraising Officer to deliver the charity's fundraising activities and engage Universify’s community to enable the ongoing running of our transformative programmes. This is a great opportunity for someone experienced in fundraising to gain a deeper understanding of charity fundraising, finance, impact reporting and governance.

THE ROLE

As the Fundraising Officer, you will plan and deliver the charity’s income generation strategy, covering Trusts and Foundations, Individual Giving and Public Fundraising. You will work with the programme team to create integrated charity communications to increase awareness of the charity’s impact. You will also work in collaboration with the CEO on the charity’s financial management and governance.

There is flexibility within the role to try other aspects of the charity’s work, including programme delivery and working with young people. Please see our job description for further information about working at Universify.

THE CHARITY

Universify exists to create a fairer, more equal society where every young person can fulfil their potential regardless of their background. We work primarily with Year 10-11 students (aged 14-16) to increase their aspirations, improve GCSE attainment and to gain a greater understanding of post-18 pathways, particularly university, to make a more informed decision about their future. Our main Oxford programme includes a week-long residential in summer of Year 10, a 3-day GCSE-focused revision residential in the spring of Year 11, and regular online coaching. 

Main Duties  

• Plan and deliver the charity’s income generation strategy, including Trusts and Foundations, Individual Giving, and Public Fundraising campaigns
  • Identify new opportunities and maintain a database of fundraising prospects
  • Create funding bids, project budgets and grant reports
  • Track and report on fundraising progress to the CEO and wider staff team, with development opportunities to report to the board of trustees
• Deepen engagement with existing stakeholders through stewardship
• Collaborate with the programme team to create and manage integrated charity communications to increase awareness of the charity’s impact
• Alongside the CEO, contribute to the charity's financial management including payments and payroll
• Support the team in one ad hoc function (based on candidate’s preferences and skills)
  • Volunteer and tutor recruitment and onboarding, or
  • Impact reporting and CRM maintenance, or
  • Charity governance, filing duties, and financial management, or
  • Safeguarding support.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Required skills and characteristics

• Clear communicator, able to adapt written communication to suit a range of audiences
• Ability to work independently, organise a pipeline of work and communicate progress to a team
• Ability to create and maintain relationships with a range of external stakeholders
• Able to think creatively and identify opportunities to raise funds
• Proactive, adaptable and self-motivated
• Basic understanding of trusts and foundations fundraising processes (prospecting, application cycles, stewardship)
• Basic understanding of project budgets and data analysis; attention to detail and accurate with handling information
• Works well in a small team and is interested in working in a small organisation

Required experience

We are looking for candidates with the following experience:

• Experience prospecting and writing bids in a charity or commercial setting
• Experience in stakeholder management and stewardship
• Experience working flexibly across multiple projects
• Experience in managing a large project independently; ready to take the initiative to deliver a project to a high standard
• Experience and confidence in using MS Office and Excel

Desirable experience and skills

Ideally, candidates would have experience in some of the following areas:

• Track record of fundraising success across multiple income streams and identifying new opportunities to raise funds
• Experience preparing fundraising budgets
• Experience in using Canva or other design tools
• Experience of using the basic functions of a CRM and a willingness to build this knowledge
• Previous experience working within the UK secondary education sector and knowledge of the UK university access and outreach sector
• Some data analysis skills