About the role and the RVC Animal Care Trust:
This role supports fundraising activity at the Royal Veterinary College largely through its registered charity the RVC Animal Care Trust (ACT) within the Directorate of External Relations. The ACT aims to improve animal health and care through clinical practice at our animal hospitals, education of veterinary and science students, and pioneering research. The post-holder will devise and deliver cohesive on and offline marketing and communications plans to support fundraising activities and taking responsibility for the charity’s brand identity and online presence.
About you:
You are a marketing and communications professional with experience across multiple channels and tools, including web, email, social media, print, PR, and face-to-face communications. You’ll bring innovative ideas to support the Fundraising Manager in the delivery of our fundraising strategy, helping to integrate online and offline activities to demonstrate our impact and engage diverse audiences.
You're confident in managing multi-channel campaigns and have experience designing digital and print promotional materials, managing social media and web content, and using SEO/PPC to boost engagement. You'll have experience using CRM systems and analytics tools to help develop marketing plans that achieve clear objectives and measurable outcomes, aligned with our fundraising strategy.
A strong communicator, you can create compelling copy for various platforms and audiences. You have experience sourcing impactful content to support fundraising campaigns including photography and video editing. With support, you can develop, test, and evaluate campaigns to demonstrate the success of your ideas and apply learnings. Your flexibility, organisational and prioritisation skills enable you to enjoy working in a small but fast-paced team.
With a focus on delivering ROI, you build and maintain collaborative relationships with internal teams and external partners, including our loyal fundraisers, to drive engagement and support for our cause.
We offer a generous reward package and benefits including:
- Competitive and attractive pension package
- Generous 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays and concessionary days) pro-rata
- On site café and restaurant
- Free membership to the Fitness and Wellbeing Centre located on site.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- A range of family friendly policies, including adoption, maternity and paternity pay and leave.
Registered Charity 
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The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Are you passionate about making a difference through philanthropy? Join the University of Glasgow as a Philanthropy Officer and play a key role in advancing our fundraising and alumni engagement strategies. In this exciting position, you’ll have the opportunity to build compelling propositions, identify and cultivate relationships with prospective donors, and secure major gifts ranging from £10K to £1M. Your efforts will directly contribute to meeting ambitious activity and revenue targets, helping us drive meaningful change.
Candidates should have a strong understanding of major gift fundraising and experience in fundraising, sales, or a similar target-driven role is essential. If you’re ready to make an impact and bring your skills and motivation to an inspiring cause, we’d love to hear from you!
Job Purpose
Contribute to the implementation of the University of Glasgow’s fundraising and alumni engagement strategies by building compelling propositions and identifying, cultivating and soliciting prospective donors with capacity to give from £10K to £1M, meeting targets for activity and revenue.
Main Duties
1. Contribute to the development and execution of the University’s fundraising strategy and particularly for the programme to secure gifts of between £10K and £1M. Assist in the development of the complex action plans to deliver the strategy.
2. Keep abreast of developments in leading major gift cultivation and solicitation practice to ensure all work is subject to continuous improvement.
3. Lead the development of relationships with key alumni and other potential donors by managing a pool of potential donors. Devise and execute bespoke programmes of involvement and communication that lead to major gifts (e.g involvement in alumni programmes, invitations to prestigious/intimate University events, devising visits to campus and individual meetings with academic staff and University leadership).
4. Both solo, and with other staff, use professional expertise to deliver a programme of proactively meeting with potential donors to understand their interests and motivations, set them on a path to major gift support and solicit gifts in person (mostly five, but also six and seven figure gifts). The post-holder will need to represent the interests of the entire University in developing these relationships from research and teaching to widening participation, entrepreneurship and civic programmes. Conduct a target number of face-to-face meetings per annum.
5. In collaboration with academic colleagues, articulate convincingly the University’s priority themes and projects for philanthropic support. Develop powerful case statements, project descriptions and tailored proposals for presentation to potential major donors. Liaise with beneficiary areas to ensure the object of any proposal is properly costed and can be delivered.
6. Drawing on specialist knowledge, provide advice to prospective major donors (whether proactively engaged or approaching the University independently) on how to structure and best effect their giving intentions.
7. Negotiate gift agreements, managing donor and academic expectations to balance the donor’s intent with priorities and capacity of the beneficiary area to deliver and ensuring this is communicated appropriately to donors.
8. Using detailed knowledge, use the University’s alumni and donor database (Raiser’s Edge), to ensure relationships with potential donors are recorded and tracked so a complete record of the relationship is maintained. Analyse progress and provide relevant reports on activity.
9. Build and share thorough understanding of University priority projects for philanthropic support. The postholder may be required to become the expert on a particular project, School, College or beneficiary area and to brief fundraising and other colleagues appropriately.
10. Provide specialist advice to academic and other colleagues on individual potential donor relationships, on fundraising and alumni/donor engagement generally and on its operation at the University of Glasgow.
11. Be prepared to undertake projects appropriate to the grade of the role – including line management - but that might fall outside its direct remit as the Director, Head of Philanthropy and/or Vice Principal External Relations may advise.
Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential:
A1 Either: Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar role. Or: Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9 (Ordinary Degree, Scottish Vocational Qualification level 4, Higher National Certificate) or equivalent (including professional accreditation with relevant formal training), and experience of personal development in a similar or number of different roles
A2 Thorough knowledge of the principles, theory and practice of major gift fundraising including regulation (e.g. Data Protection) and legal requirements
A3 Understanding of and belief in the importance of universities and why they merit philanthropic support
Desirable:
B1 Ability to rent and drive vehicles in the UK
Skills
Essential:
C1 Proven ability to ask for and secure gifts or financial commitments in person
C2 Results oriented self-starter
C3 Team player, able to both respect and work across boundaries
C4 Intellectually curious with an interest in people’s motivations and in the University’s work
C5 Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills – including active listening and the ability to build persuasive, concise, evidenced propositions
C6 Excellent time management and organisational abilities
C7 Resilient problem solving; able to withstand negative reactions and find solutions
C8 Excellent attention to detail – able to deliver accurate relationship tracking, proposals, briefings, event plans, budgets, prospect strategies and reports without close supervision
Experience
Essential:
E1 Experience in fundraising, sales or similar role and of working successfully to monetary targets
E2 Experience of representing an organisation’s interests and advocating for them
E3 Experience of working with a range of stakeholders and managing competing interests
E4 Experience of working with Raiser’s Edge or similar database to track donor or customer relationships
Desirable:
F1 Experience of fundraising in Higher Education
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.