Fundraising Manager

Job purpose

Elephant Family protects Asia’s endangered wildlife by working alongside communities to create lasting solutions to the challenges facing wildlife and people. This role will help secure support for our strategic priorities including protecting Asian elephants, enabling coexistence between people and wildlife, strengthening Indigenous and local conservation leadership, and scaling approaches that create the conditions for people and wildlife to thrive.

Elephant Family is known for raising funds and awareness for this work through a unique blend of art, storytelling and cultural engagement. Our spectacular events and campaigns engage supporters in joyful and compelling ways, whether we are delivering Europe’s largest conservation gala, staging London’s biggest egg hunt or parading magnificent elephant sculptures through the city’s streets.

This role will develop and manage relationships with globally based High Net Worth Individuals, corporates and event partners to secure support for our conservation ambitions and ensure we can leverage our flagship initiatives while expanding our donor base to secure unrestricted funding and drive sustainable income growth over the long-term.

Main responsibilities

• Manage invaluable relationships with a pool of existing major donors and corporate supporters.
• Proactively identify major donor and corporate prospects and expand Elephant Family’s networks and opportunities.
• Research prospective philanthropic and corporate supporters and develop individual cultivation strategies for priority prospects to help convert them into high value supporters
• Establish innovative and effective cultivation and stewardship opportunities, including working with the communications and marketing team on delivering a high value communications plan and high-profile events.
• Take responsibility for your continuous personal and professional development, aspiring for best-in-class high value fundraising.
• Help deliver Elephant Family’s flagship fundraising and stewardship events, for example through securing and managing sponsors, developing cultivation strategies for guests and supporting on key workstreams.
• Support the delivery of a long-term philanthropy strategy and annual operational plan to maximise income from major donors and corporate partners.
• Develop compelling proposals and pitches for transformational projects and events, working closely and in alignment with our conservation programmes.
• Work with the Programmes team to identify matches between potential donors’ interests and current funding requirements, ensuring that funders’ priorities are carefully balanced with overall organisational funding needs.
• Focus on the delivery of an agreed set of objectives, aligned to operational plans including fair, but ambitious, financial targets.
• Collaborate with colleagues in all parts of the organisation to ensure philanthropy audiences are represented and understood, and Elephant Family’s funding needs are communicated effectively.
• Ensure approaches to major donor and corporate partner fundraising follows our internal processes, and policies and abide to all relevant legislation, regulations, and industry standards.
• Maintain up-to-date records of all communications with donors/prospects in Salesforce.
• Ensure systematic ‘thanking and banking system. ensuring thanking of donors is timely and genuine.
• Ensure timely processing of invoices and systematic payment monitoring.
• Provide reports on pipeline activity and budgets as required.
• Supporting Head of Relationships with logistical and administrative support.

In addition to your normal duties, you may occasionally be required to undertake other reasonable duties as necessary to meet the needs of the organisation.

Job-related knowledge, skills and experience

Essential

• A proven ability to build philanthropic programmes, with an outstanding track record of soliciting and securing significant five or six-figure gifts from high-net worth individuals, or equivalent experience from the commercial sector
• Experience building long term, philanthropic partnerships with both current and prospective high net worth individuals and corporates
• Experience working with senior colleagues to grow networks, income and identify opportunities
• Experience proactively developing new major donor and corporate fundraising initiatives
• Experience managing a high value and diverse portfolio of donors including complex relationships and working towards and achieving ambitious targets
• Strong skills in database management and problem solving
• Strong organisational skills, and a proven ability to prioritise and manage a varied workload, take initiative, and meet deadlines.
• The ability to work co-operatively and flexibly with others, both within and outside the organisation, demonstrating an understanding of effective team working and partnerships.
• Exceptional relationship management skills including the ability to communicate complex information at the highest level both verbally and in writing
• Expertise in presenting in a persuasive manner and negotiating with people, with good PowerPoint skills for presentations
• An in-depth understanding of the expectations of high-net-worth individuals, including time management, meticulous attention to detail and the production of high quality, creative and compelling materials.
• Team player, highly motivated, tenacious and results driven with personal gravitas

Desirable

• Experience of working within an international development organisation or charity
• Experience of fundraising through large-scale events or campaigns
• Experience of working with large complex budgets