Bid and Fundraising Officer

Do you work in Fundraising or Bidding and are ready for a step up ?

We're looking for someone with drive, initiative and experience of supporting the submission of funding proposals to join our Development team as a Bid and Fundraising Officer, (internally known as Development Senior Associate) on a permanent basis.

You'll be responsible for efficiently and effectively supporting the work of the team to diversify Ambition Institute's income across multiple funding streams. You'll also play an important role in supporting the team across all parts of the process to contribute to responses to government tenders, grands and funding applications.


Who are Ambition Institute?

A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who have had a tough start in life, a teacher can be the critical factor in their success.

At Ambition Institute we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time.

That’s how we’ll make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life.
 

• We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive.
• We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice.
• We champion every teacher and school leader’s potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

We would like you to:

• Support the team to identify and pursue funding opportunities across all income streams.
• Coordinate and maintain the opportunity pipeline for all bids and grant applications, supporting the team to manage and have good visibility of pipeline
• Support the delivery of funder bids, applications, proposals and EOIs, delivering high-quality content and materials to secure funding.
• Support the team in working with internal stakeholders on proposals, reporting, engagement opportunities, as well as to develop new projects and products, ensuring donor requirements are accounted for and met.

Working in a hybrid way, you’ll be attached to either our Birmingham, London or Manchester office and will report to the Development Manager.  In line with our current ways of working, you’ll be expected to be in the office at least 1 day a month, in addition to team days and this may be reviewed by Ambition. 
 

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

To succeed in this role you'll have proven experience of supporting the submission of funding proposals. You'll also demonstrate experience of using CRM systems to manage funder details, contact and pipeline for bid and grant applications.

It's essential that you have experience planning the delivery of external reports to a high standard. Whilst it's desirable that this experience be obtained in a development/fundraising environment it is not essential for applying to this role.

If you have an ability to work flexibly in a fast-moving environment, managing multiple competing priorities whilst meeting deadlines effectively, we welcome an application from you.

What’s in it for you….?

• Competitive annual salary
• Professional development for all staff
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays and 'winter shut down’ at the end of December/beginning of January
• Employer pension contribution of 11%
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year’s service
• Shared parental leave package
• Access to free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London
• Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
• Interest free season ticket / bike loans

We don’t expect the person we hire to have all of the following, but this should give you a sense of what would enable you to thrive in this role and in our organisation:

You should apply for this role if:

• You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality
• You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do
• You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants
• You always have a great attitude so we “can do” for all our colleagues, partners and participants
• You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better
• You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective
• You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact

You'll love working at Ambition if…

• You want a career with a person-centred organisation with a cause at its heart.
• You have a collaborative work ethos, bring warmth and good humour to work and constructive outlook to every situation
• You enjoy working in a fast-moving workplace, with a great support structure around you
• You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time
• Want flexibility in how you work – splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done.

How to apply…

Applications will be considered for all office locations.

All applications must be received by the closing date 23:59 on 20 September 2024. Please note when you click apply, you'll be taken to the Birmingham posting of the role. You can still apply via this posting as it won't determine your location if successful.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and the most vulnerable in our society and, as such, we are unable to employ individuals with relevant convictions, including the following: a conviction for an offence involving violence or dishonesty, of a sexual nature or against minors, or for any other offence that is relevant to the nature of the services provided by our organisation.

As an employer, we have a responsibility to prevent illegal working in the UK by ensuring that our employees have the right to work in the UK. Therefore, as part of the recruitment process to verify your eligibility you will be required to produce relevant documentation.