Fundraising Manager

ABOUT US

Action Village India (AVI) is a small UK based organisation that since 1989, has been supporting Indian partner organisations who work alongside villagers in some of the most remote parts of rural India so they can improve their lives, livelihoods and resilience. We work towards an India which is just, fair and inclusive, where all people regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, caste, religion can benefit from the country’s economic development and lift themselves out of poverty.

At the heart of our work, are our partnerships; many of which have spanned decades.  Our partner organisations are led by Indians and whether these are large or small organisations, or social movements, all work directly at the grassroots level across rural India – from Bihar and Jharkhand in the North, in Odisha and down to Tamil Nadu in the South. The communities they work with, are some of the poorest in India. They are experts in their fields and work hand in hand with local people to design and inform projects to best serve their local communities and secure rights and social justice for women, men and children.

We accompany our partners for the long term, solidarity with our partners and their communities is at the core of how we work. This means we have developed relationships over the years, based on mutual respect, reciprocity and transparency. We are not governed by donor funding cycles and agendas but are led by our partners and the needs they identify and are committed to shared learning and collaboration. We keep our UK costs to a minimum with core staff and rely on an active and engaged set of Trustees, volunteers and supporters.  Both staff and Trustees of Action Village India have relationships with staff from our partner organisations, created through ongoing dialogue, partner and community visits and participation in learning forums.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title:                Fundraising and Partnerships Manager

Job Purpose:          To develop fundraising proposals and raise funds from trusts and foundations. To raise funds for Action Village India through our trading activities and events.

Reports to:              Executive Director

Salary:                     £30,000 pro rata

Hours:                      21 hours per week (equivalent to 3 working days) – ideally including Wednesday and Thursday.

By agreement there is an option to work an additional 11 events days over the full year. This is related to WOMAD and our other events. This is revised annually based on the agreed workplan.

Location:                 Dalston, London (5 Balls Pond Road, N1 4AX)

Contract:                  Permanent, pending a successful 6-month probationary period

Annual Leave:          25 days (pro rata)

Pension scheme:      Action Village India provides access to an auto-enrolment pension plan through the Pensions Trust for all staff who have completed 6 months of satisfactory service with 3% employer contribution.

In line with legal requirements this post is subject to a Right to Work check.

Accessibility: We would like to offer our sincere regrets that due to the location of our office this position isn’t suitable for anyone with additional accessibility needs. The Action Village India office is on the second floor with a narrow staircase and no lift. If this situation changes in the future, we will update the information for any future vacancies.

FUNDRAISING

1.1        Fundraising Management and Donor Liaison:

• In line with Action Village India’s project funding priorities, research and develop fundraising proposals for new and ongoing projects to be submitted to major donors, trusts and foundations as well as other appropriate sources.
• Keep up to date spreadsheets and databases tracking donor deadlines, the status of applications and reporting deadlines.
• Ensure that material from partners for monitoring reports is developed as needed and work to ensure that reports are submitted as required and to agreed deadlines.
• Support the Executive Director with fundraising and reporting to individuals and trusts.

1.2      Events

• Plan and manage, in collaboration with the Action Village India team, the events for the year
• Attend Action Village India fundraising events (evenings and weekends as agreed with the team)
• Attend WOMAD festival and support the Action Village India team with the successful running of the Action Village India stall and presence at the festival.

1.3       Individual Giving

• Planning and delivering our regular appeals and engagement communications.
• Develop new ways to engage our supporters’ base and grow income from Individual Giving products.
• Build engaging journeys to retain existing supporters and develop more supporters.

1.4        Communications and Development Management

• Create communications content that inspires supporter engagement and promotes loyalty.
• Contribute relevant material and content to Action Village India newsletters.
• To design and produce communication materials – Annual Report and Appeals
• Supply project information to support appeals to individual donors, and at public events including WOMAD; co-organise the exhibition at WOMAD.
• Work with partners to generate engaging communications and marketing materials about the progress of their work, including visual content.
• Work with partners to generate material on which to base awareness-raising and educational work in the UK, where appropriate.
• Manage the creation of the organisation’s content, for example, leaflets, webpages and annual reports.
• Work closely with the Communications and Administrative Assistant to support the creation of social media content and other customer relationship material, ensuring this feeds directly into the Communications Strategy.
• Support the Executive Director in monitoring and assisting with formal progress reports to funders, and any other work based on the organisation’s requirements.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Represent Action Village India as required.
• Abide by organisational policies, codes of conduct and practices.
• Support and promote diversity and equality of opportunity in the workplace.
• Keep confidential any personal, private or sensitive information.
• Cover for colleagues or undertake other duties commensurate with the accountabilities of the post as necessary.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

EXPERIENCE                                                

• Ideal minimum of three years proven experience in fundraising from trusts and foundations, events and individual giving.
• Proven experience in writing project proposals and reports for funders.
• Proven success in raising funds from trusts and foundations in the UK, working alone or perhaps as part of a larger fundraising team.
• Experience co-organising events and fundraising activities.

KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS

• Knowledge of Trusts and Foundations and institutional fundraisers particularly in the UK.
• Knowledge of the international solidarity and development landscape and/or familiar with funder processes, databases and requirements.
• Knowledge of Charity Law, Data Protection, Fundraising Code of Practice and other relevant marketing or fundraising standards in the UK.
• Ability to produce high quality written project proposals, narrative and financial reports and communications materials for a range of audiences.
• Ability to absorb, filter and re-present information for new audience

PERSONAL QUALITIES

• A passion to support humanitarian activities that benefit the most vulnerable.
• Excellent communication skills: presenting complex information clearly, concisely and persuasively.
• Proficiency in using Excel.
• Ability to stay focused and efficient in the face of changing priorities and multiple demands.
• Ability to self-manage your workload and be suited to working in a very small team, being flexible and able to take initiative.
• Excellent organisational skills, including ability to work systematically to deadlines.
• Demonstrable interpersonal and relationship building skills, including, if possible, building cross-cultural relationships and working remotely with organisations in other parts of the world.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Experience of working in partnership and solidarity with national and local NGOs.
• Ideally, experience of working in international development with a specific focus on Asia and India.
• Clean driving licence
• IT skills
• Photoshop and Indesign experience

OTHER REQUIREMENTS  

• Able to work some evenings and weekends and stay overnight where necessary (in particular, WOMAD festival which falls on the last weekend of July).
• Able to travel to rural India if required
• Commitment to equal opportunities, anti-racism and anti-discriminatory practices.
• Ability to apply awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion issues to all areas of work.
• Commitment to the values, vision and ethos of Action Village India.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 9 AM, Monday 16th September

Selection Process and timescales:

1. 9am Monday 16th September 2024
   Deadline for applications
2. Wednesday 18th September
   You will receive an email from us whether or not you have been selected for an interview. You will also be asked to complete a written exercise(s) before the interview.
3. Monday 23rd September 17:00
   Deadline for submission of written exercise(s)
4. Thursday 26th September
   Interviews
5. You will be informed of our decision on your application and interview as soon as possible after 26th
6. Wednesday 2nd October or when discussed and agreed
   First possible starting date or starting date when discussed and agreed.