Development Officer Jobs

At NoFit State, our mission is to create extraordinary work that changes lives. 

NoFit State is a dynamic creative organisation that thrives on challenge and is constantly seeking to learn and improve in all areas of everything that we do. We are inspired by the extraordinary things that ordinary people can achieve and celebrate the communal strength that comes from the traditional circus touring life and the incredible community around us.

The Development Manager is a senior manager role and key to supporting the strategic development of the company through designing and delivering the company’s overall fundraising and development strategy to define and achieve established financial targets.

It is a brilliant place to work where no two days are the same. There is a fantastic sense of support, interest and enthusiasm within the team, with others we work with and for the work we do.

For more information, please take a look at our website.

Role: Development Mananger

Hours: Full time (40hrs per week), permanant position

Location: Cardiff - office based with hybrid working available 

Key dates

Closing date for applications:  10am, Thursday 25 April 2024

Interviews:  Week commencing 29 April 2024

Indicative start date: June

Salary:  £30,000 – £40,000 per annum, depending on experience

Main Responsibilities

· Develop and implement the company’s development strategy including (but not limited to):

-  Public Funding (including both ACW and ACE)

-  Trusts and Foundations

-  Corporate supporters and sponsors

-  Private giving (individual donors and major givers)

· Research, identify and draft applications, pitches and asks to appropriate funders/supporters, cultivating relationships and securing support to achieve defined targets

· Manage and nurture the ongoing relationships with current and past supporters/funders

· Plan, manage and deliver a planned programme of development events

· Design and deliver reporting processes that are fit for purpose and satisfy funders’ and supporters’ requirements

· Support Finance Officer and Company Administrator in financial reporting of designated funds

· Manage development budgets

Position in the Company

The Development Manager will;

· Be line managed by the Executive Director and report to her

· Produce written updates for the Board of Trustees and report verbally to them as required

· Work in partnership with the company’s Communications and Marketing Manager to engage donors, prospects and key stakeholders with the company, moving from purely transactional relationships to ones based on emotional connection and commitment

· Work with the company’s Executive Team to cultivate new supporters and strategic delivery partners with which to develop and grow the company’s work both within the UK and Internationally

· Work with the company’s Community Programme Manager to cultivate new opportunities for support

· Manage the Development Officer

NoFit State is an Equal Opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Disabled, D/deaf and/or neurodiverse people, those from Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse backgrounds and people under 30 are currently under-represented in our team so we particularly encourage applications from people in these groups.

Please let us know if you need us to make any adjustments during the application or recruitment process and we’ll be happy to support you. 

How to apply

If you wish to apply for this post, please visit our website to view the Job Description, complete the Application Form, Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form and send together with a covering letter and a copy of your CV  by email or post to Development Manager Application, NoFit State Circus, Four Elms Road, Cardiff  CF24 1LE

Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK.

This is a great senior management role for someone eager to make a significant difference to an amazing arts and mental health charity. Our team expertise is in the field of youth work, therapeutic arts, mental health and community development.

We are looking for someone with a flexible and creative approach who is open and proactive in working with external partners to deliver high-quality work for the community.

Using the resources we have and the new ones we'll be creating, you will bring your own skills, creativity and passion, to make your own mark. 

If you are that person, then we can offer you an outstanding opportunity to develop your career whilst making the Ark-T Centre a beacon of excellence, ensuring a better, brighter and more prosoerous future for all those in Oxford and the wider community.

Specific Duties:

Strategic Planning and Development

Alongside the Board of Trustees and the Senior Management Team:

• Monitoring and updating the Business Plan
• Developing and implementing a financial strategy for the Business Plan
• Oversight and updating of organisational Theory of Change, ensuring KPIs for all programmes are in line with our vision and mission, and are achievable as well as ambitious
• Continued development and monitoring of the new Community Hub Programme in partnership with other local strategic partnerships
• Prioritising the articulation and communication of the Ark-T methodology and approaches to using the arts for improved wellbeing and mental health across our programmes and sharing best practice across the team
• Prioritising the reach and engagement of Ark-T programmes to a larger and more diverse audience representative of our surrounding communities
• Recruiting an increasingly diverse team of Trustees with the skills, contacts and time to contribute effectively to the running of the charity

Management of Staff, Freelancers and Volunteers

• Recruiting key staff and others.
• Leading, managing and developing direct reports and supporting them in managing their key workers – staff, freelancers and volunteers.
• Ensuring that processes for the recruitment and management of volunteers are developed and maintained
• Liaising with external HR consultants to update procedure and processes appropriately and managing staffing matters arising
• Enabling a safe, stimulating and supportive workplace where teams and activities can flourish and work standards and practices are maintained.
• Taking steps to ensure that staff and freelancers attain high standards of work.
• Ensuring that staff have, or can develop, the skills and abilities they need to carry out their jobs competently, safely and effectively.
• Maintaining and updating safeguarding standards and procedures and working with staff to ensure that staff and users are, and feel, safe.
• Acting as one of the two Safeguarding Leads for the charity and managing concerns from staff, users and visitors to the centres.

Finance & Fundraising

• Researching and writing funding bids to secure both restricted and unrestricted funds
• Exploring other possible sources of funding for programmes and core costs, including individual donors, corporate sponsorship and commercial opportunities.
• Working with the  Finance Manager, Treasurer, and external
Bookkeeper, including using Xero software, to monitor the finances of the charity to ensure that sufficient funds are attracted to run planned programmes, meet the commitments of the charity within agreed budgets, and produce regular reports.
• Maintaining adequate reserves for the charity in line with policy.
• Preparing the annual report and accounts for submission to the Charity Commission to be independently examined alongside the Chair and the Bookkeeper.

Management of the Buildings

• Overseeing relationship with Landlords and tenancy agreements
• Managing Centre Manager to ensure efficient and cost-effective operations.

Partnerships & Representing the organisation

• Represent Ark-T as a leader in arts for improved mental health and wellbeing, driving change, particularly diversity and inclusion through influencing and contributing to the key meetings.
• Maintaining relationships and strategic partnership agreements with OX4 Food Crew Alliance, Oxford Community Action, Donnington Doorstep, Safe! and Waste2Taste.

Communications

• Overseeing the marketing and communications for Ark-T.
• Ensuring that key stakeholders are kept informed of the progress of the charity,
including the publication of an organisational wide impact report in 2024.