Fundraising Lead

Basecamp Adventure Trust inspires and empowers young people in Leeds who are struggling to thrive, often suffering with poor mental wellbeing, lacking self-belief, and with little opportunity to develop in these crucial areas. Our unique year-long programmes are a powerful blend of outdoor adventure, personal development and compassionate coaching. 

We work with just 30 young people on each programme so we can develop valuable and trusting relationships built on a foundation of unconditional positive regard, understanding and celebration. In this nurturing environment, young people feel supported pushing themselves out of their comfort zone with exhilarating outdoor adventures and discovering in the process just how much they are capable of. 

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Fundraising Lead

This is a great opportunity to join a new dynamic and collaborative charity, to have a ‘seat at the table’ as we grow and develop and to make a very real difference.

You may be from a larger charity background looking for a more supportive, immersive or meaningful role, or you may be relatively new to fundraising looking for your first step up, in any event, it’s your motivation and temperament that are more important. You would be joining our small but growing team here in Leeds, all committed to our various missions in supporting young people, all busy developing our own areas of expertise whilst supporting each other as we tackle the many challenges that a burgeoning new organisation faces.

Initially this role is focused on stabilising and further strengthening our Trusts and Foundations platform. Having started our fundraising journey just 18 months ago we are currently working with a circa £250k annual budget, however, to meet our wider 3 yaer plan we are now aiming to double that in the next 2 – 3 years. Over time the intention is that supported by the Chair of Trustees you could potentially move on to lead on diversifying our funding streams focusing initially on developing long term corporate partnerships as well as an individual giving initiative.

The role will require creativity, attention to detail, a laser-like focus and incredibly strong relational and communication skills, it’s also a chance to grow a new role developing valuable strategic insight and playing a central part in the development of the charity as a whole.

We are fiercely proud of our relational approach and the programmes we run, and as such all staff including the successful candidate will take part in a minimum of 3 residential trips each year. Experiencing our work first-hand, whether helping a young person through the wind and rain or supporting the Programme Manager to run activities, it is a critical part of our approach to fundraising and it’s important that every member of the team lives, breathes and sees the magic of what we do.

Title: Fundraising Lead

Line manager: Chair of Trustees

Hours: Full-time 37.5 hours a week. (We would consider 4 days a week for the right candidate – 30h)

Salary: £30,000 - £35,000 (pro-rata) dependent on experience with room for further moves in the future as responsibilities increase

Based: Hybrid role with typically at least half the time being at our Leeds HQ at the Old Fire Station in Gipton .

Holidays: 22 days per year (+ bank holidays) pro-rata

Transport: The role will require access to a car

Start date: As soon as possible

Role and responsibilities

• Lead on our day-to-day Trusts and Foundations work submitting the majority of our bids whilst also being chief problem solver. You will make the lead contribution in delivering our agreed annual income objectives
• Continuously identifying new potential funding partners that most closely align to our work, reaching out in ever more creative ways to develop new relationships building our future pipeline.
• Continuing to refine and develop our ‘storytelling’ and tone-of-voice to best articulate and capture the essence of our work demonstrating the very real impact potential funders can make.
• Sharing best practice with other’s involved in submitting bids ensuring that all can be as effective as possible
• Ensure all funders are thanked in a timely manner and that terms and conditions relating to their grant are applied and correctly logged via the database tools
• Ensuring all required feedback is delivered in a timely innovative and compelling manner
• To take responsibility for, and steward a portfolio of longer-term funders, identifying ways in which relationships can be deepened / strengthened and finding new and innovative ways of communicating the impact their funding.
• In conjunction with the Chair of Trustees develop and manage our annual income-budgets delivering closely as possible to plan.
• Overseeing and maintaining existing management tools for tracking, reporting and stewarding income, whilst also keeping under review the best time for us to make the move to a bespoke CRM system
• Raising awareness of our charities work and impact via PR, involvement with awards such as “charity of the year” as well as developing our social media exposure
• Provide quarterly board up-dates identifying progress against key targets, major successes or losses during the quarter and forward plans for the quarter ahead
• To work as part of the wider Basecamp team, exploring new fundraising streams understanding the likely ROI / timescales and initial steps to access.

Additional responsibilities

• Our 3-days residential trips are at the heart of what we do. They are immersive, exhausting and incredibly rewarding. We tend to base ourselves at youth hostels mostly in the Lakes and Dales. You’ll play a role on a minimum of three residentials each year working alongside our cohorts of vulnerable children, dependent on your skills and interests, it’s likely that will either be as a group leader or supporting in other logistical roles. You do not need any special skills as full training will be provided but you do need to be “up for the challenge”. We do lots of adventurous activities in all weathers so being something of an outdoorsy person would be a definite advantage! This is all about immersing yourself in our work, as we are firm believers that it’s only by really seeing and feeling it for yourself that you can hope to convey our work to others.
• Attend (in a support role) other sessions to support delivery aims or have a chance to see delivery work first-hand.
• Attend various meetings, training courses and relevant webinars as required to develop your own expertise enabling you to lead in ensuring we are applying best fundraising practice to all activities and our wider charities approach
• Being pro-active and alert to new opportunities, methodologies, and ways in which we can maximise fund-raising opportunities sharing ideas and proposals and new thoughts with both your line-manager and the Board on a regular basis.

Person Specification

Above anything else, you will demonstrate a real passion for helping young people to thrive. You will be motivated by a core belief that so many young people are far more capable than they think, that they all deserve a chance to dream and be hopeful about their future and that their sense of self-belief, relationships and resilience can be transformed by outdoor adventure.

As an embryonic but ambitious new charity we are a small and passionate team. We are in equal part determined to make things happen whilst at the same time supporting each other with our individual and steep learning curves. This is a chance to be at the heart of something new, to help us create the systems the processes and above all the culture we’ll need as we grow in future years.

More than anything else we are looking for someone to be a part of the team who will do whatever it takes to deliver for our young people. You will have a can-do attitude, someone who’s prepared to muck-in and give the untried a go, to push some boundaries and discover new ways of doing things. This position won’t suit someone who’s looking for all the systems and processes to be already in place - we need someone to help us put them in place!

Personal Qualities:

• Enthusiasm: You’ll be passionate about the work we do as a charity through both hands-on and office-based work and will want to be part of it’s journey and growth.
• Empathy and strong relational skills: You’ll be committed to a person-centered approach, demonstrating empathy, patience, and the ability to make young people and partners feel valued and respected.
• A skilled communicator: You’ll be an effective and proactive communicator, whether talking to funders, children or the team, both verbally and written.
• Self-motivated and proactive: You’ll be able to manage time effectively, take initiative, and will enjoy the dynamic nature of a start-up charity

Previous experience 

Essential:

• Prior fundraising experience
• Highly skilled storyteller and wordsmith able to create compelling and persuasive written arguments with relative ease
• Driven, focused and able to manage competing deadlines whilst maintaining quality
• Proficiency in standard office software (e.g. Microsoft Office or Google Workspace) and database management
• Willingness to work variable hours when required (including residential trips away with overnight stays), able to travel and work from home

Desirable: 

• Prior fundraising experience especially with Trusts and Foundations
• Prior fundraising experience in marketing and PR
• Prior experience in creating and managing events
• Previous paid or voluntary experience of working with young people
• Knowledge/experience of basic graphic design software such as Canva

Other requirements:

• Willing to work flexibly
• A full driving licence and access to your own vehicle
• A satisfactory enhanced DBS check
• Satisfactory references