Head of Fundraising

The Girls’ Network is an award-winning charity with a large and growing network of supporters, mentors and schools across eight regions of England.

We believe that no girl's future should be limited by her background, gender or parental income. Our mission is to inspire and empower girls from the least advantaged communities by connecting them with a mentor and a network of professional role models who are women.

We are looking for a Head of Fundraising to join our team.

The Head of Fundraising will lead our income generation strategy to ensure The Girls’ Network can continue empowering young women from the least advantaged backgrounds. This role will drive the development and stewardship of high-value partnerships, oversee strategic growth in fundraising, and contribute to the charity’s long-term sustainability. 

Key roles and responsibilities

Fundraising

·       Develop and implement a fundraising strategy to define and meet annual income targets from corporate partners, Trusts & Foundations, individuals and third party events, identifying opportunities for growth

·       Identify, steward and secure high value relationships with corporate partners, Trusts & Foundations and major donors to achieve and exceed own targets, working with the support of the CEO, as required

·       Develop compelling propositions to secure funding and wider support from corporate partners, working with the Head of Programmes and Ambassador Community Lead to ensure operational alignment

·       Develop and submit funding bids for high value Trusts & Foundations in support of operational plans and agreed budgets

·       Identify and steward major donors to meet future targets, working with the support of the CEO, as required

·       Develop new activities to increase income from individuals e.g. proprietary campaigns, regular donors, digital fundraising and events, working with external suppliers within available budget

·       Ensure regular review and update of case for support to align with external and internal developments.

·       Ensure compliance with organisational policies and fundraising regulations working with Head of Finance & Operations, CEO, Trustees and external support, as required.

Leadership

·       Provide strategic leadership and direction to Fundraising, ensuring the strategy aligns with our wider goals, delivering high-impact fundraising campaigns and driving long term sustainability.

·       Take an active role in the Senior Leadership Team (with CEO, Head of Programmes, Head of Finance & Operations) to ensure efficient management of the charity, developing annual operational plans and budgets, monitoring performance and risk against quarterly targets and attending quarterly Board meetings.

·       Work closely with the Head of Programmes to identify and assess new partnership opportunities to develop the strategy and success of the charity.

·       Work closely with Head of Finance & Operations on data migration to enable effective fundraising and ensure a high quality supporter experience.

·       Develop understanding of policy and issues affecting our mentees and the impact and implications for The Girls’ Network programmes and funders.

·       Build productive internal and external relationships, role-modelling our values.

·       Act as Ambassador for TGN.

Reporting

·       Report quarterly to the CEO and Board of Trustees on KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and KRIs (Key Risk Indicators) including progress against income targets and value of pipeline, working with the Head of Finance and Operations to align management information

·       Ensure restricted grant funding information is shared with the Head of Finance and Operations to enable tracking and with the Monitoring, Evaluation Research and Learning Manager to enable programme data reporting

Staff Management

·       Ensure the Fundraising team are well supported to perform their roles, meeting virtually and in person on regular basis, conducting one-to-ones, annual appraisals and personal development plans to support learning.

·       Lead and support the Fundraising Manager and Partnerships Manager to achieve their targets from corporate partners and Trusts & Foundations, tracking performance through quarterly reports, including pipeline values

·       Work closely with Communications Manager to ensure fundraising opportunities and campaigns are coordinated in a timely fashion to the correct audiences.

·       Handle administrative duties such as recruitment, training, performance management seeking support from HR as required

·       Ensure direct reports are engaged and motivated and working to a high standard

·       Provide appropriate information and guidance to direct reports on a timely basis

Other duties

·       As a small charity with limited resources, all staff are expected to be flexible with their work and as such you may be required to undertake other duties and tasks as assigned from time to time. 

Person specification

Essential

Fundraising expertise

·       Significant experience (5+ years) gained in senior fundraising and within the not for profit sector

·       Significant experience in developing effective fundraising and communications strategies to meet organisational goals, leading teams to achieve success

·       Proven experience overseeing a Trusts & Foundations programme, including pipeline and prospect management to meet multi-year targets

·       Excellent written skills with the ability to produce a concise, compelling and creative case for support

·       Financial analysis skills to track and report on quarterly income performance

Relationship Management

·       Demonstrable experience of developing compelling funding propositions to secure high value partnerships with corporates and Trusts & Foundations

·       Ability to develop productive relationships with colleagues, donors, suppliers, media contacts and Board-level decision makers

Leadership

·       An aptitude for working with high degree of autonomy, managing multiple priorities and within the resource limitations of a small organisation

·       An ambition to achieve the vision and mission of The Girls' Network and commitment to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion  

·       Proven experience in developing fundraising content to meet communications objectives

Desirable

·       Experience of major donor stewardship to secure gifts

·       Experience of developing individual giving activity to achieve income growth

·       Experience in using Salesforce, Hootsuite, Canva, Access (website), Mailchimp

·       Understanding or experience of working from home

·       Experience of working in a small charity

For more information about the role and our organnisation download the candidate pack.