Schools Community Fund raiser

Thank you for your interest in our vacancy. Here are some more details which we hope you find helpful. At the end of this document, you will find guidance on how to apply.

Context of role:

ARK is an international charity whose purpose is to transform children’s lives. Founded in 2002, ARK aspires to deliver maximum impact from philanthropic investment.

ARK’s most visible face in the UK is a network of academy schools which is one of the country’s most successful operators. ARK Schools serves pupils in challenging, inner city settings. Internationally, ARK partners with a range of organisations to deliver programmes in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Zambia (health); India and Uganda (education); and Eastern Europe (child protection).

Our operating style is entrepreneurial, pacey, and driven. Performance standards are high and people are judged on their ability to deliver. The culture appeals most to those who share that entrepreneurial flair, are willing to push themselves, relish personal responsibility, and are prepared to take calculated risks. They thrive in ambiguity and are not distracted by the complexity of managing multiple stakeholders, seeing this instead as a way to deliver even better programmes.

ARK is led by our Board of Trustees - chaired by Ian Wace (Founding Partner of Marshall Wace LLP) - and by our executive management team. ARK’s Board of Trustees and Patrons ensure that central administrative costs are covered which means that 100% of donations go directly to delivering our programmes for children.

Historically, our main source of direct funding has been a series of high profile galas. We are now re-shaping our fund raising strategy, seeking to diversify our source of funding, and re-focussing on our donor interaction and development.

The Development team is accountable for all aspects of ARK’s fund raising operations. The Director is a member of the senior executive team and also works closely with the Board of Trustees. The new strategy will re-invigorate our approach to donors, and ensure a healthy flow of major gifts, as well as building our relationship with trusts and funds.

Following the recent appointment of Pam Davis as our new Director of Development, we are now looking for further exceptional candidates to join the team. We have vacancies for a fund raiser, a community fundraiser who can work with our growing network of schools to build their fundraising ‘muscle’ and also for a writer who can prepare compelling copy to support applications to grants, foundations and trusts.

This profile concerns the school community fund raiser.

As a team, we are collaborative and committed to mutual success. We recognise that we do our best work when we work effectively with one another, focusing on the end goal rather than individual glory. To succeed in this environment, you must be a team player, eager to share your experience and information, and always showing up as a credible ambassador for ARK.

The post of Schools community fund raiser will work closely with colleagues in the fund raising team and will support our network of schools to build local fund raising capability, and to deploy effective fund raising tools. As our network grows it is possible that this post will be aligned with one or more of our regional hubs.

The successful candidate will work with all schools in the network, understanding their priorities for fund raising, the nature of their communities, and will support them in accessing local grants as well as other community fund raising routes. They may be a former teacher who has stepped into fund raising responsibilities and now wishes to develop their career in the fund raising field. They should demonstrate an ability to bring innovative and implementable ideas which make a positive difference

Specific areas of responsibility will include:

  • Working with School leadership to identify school specific funding priorities and determining what is most fundable and effective ‘approach to market’.
  • Developing a fund raising ‘tool kit’ suitable for schools based fund raising to support the above.
  • Delivering presentations to school based colleagues to build fund raising capability at local level, building skills in the client group
  • Identifying and sharing fund raising best practice across the network
  • Selectively supporting and identifying applications to local trusts and local grant awarding bodies
  • Helping the school leadership team to rally communities in support of their school
  • Begin to plan and develop hub structure for schools fundraising.

The post holder will report to Pam Davis, Director of Development, ARK.

Key skills and experience

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a track record of successful community fund raising including:

  • Outstanding ability to build productive working relationships with a range of clients including school leadership teams, governing bodies, as well as central team colleagues
  • Experience in community fundraising such as events, fun runs, ticket sales
  • Managing Just Giving process across multi-site organisation
  • Success in securing grants from awarding bodies, particularly those relevant to education
  • Ability to write competently and to communicate well orally
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-moving and challenging environment
  • Results-orientation
  • Skill in achieving results through influence and personal credibility, leveraging impact across potentially conflicting priorities.
  • Supporting ethos of philanthropy amongst our students

The successful candidate will have empathy and enthusiasm for ARK’s mission to transform children’s lives and in particular improve the quality of education available to our target population.

Salary Package

Approx. £35k pa (NB this is a 12 month, fixed term, contract role)

Plus benefits which include:

  • Pension contribution
  • A discretionary bonus opportunity based on annual performance is also available.

Qualifications

  • Likely to be qualified to degree level with other relevant professional qualifications or accreditation

Location

  • Central London, with some requirement to travel across the school network. Our schools are currently based in London, Birmingham and Portsmouth. We are open to a conversation that this post be based in one of these educational hubs.

Selection process

Please send your c.v., application form, and a short covering letter explaining why you are the right person for this job to . Please be sure to put your name and the words ‘Schools community fund raiser’ in the title heading of your message. We cannot accept any applications which do not do so.

If there seems to be a good fit between your experience and the needs of the role, the first step will be an informal discussion to give you more information and context. If both parties decide to proceed, further meetings with key senior leaders and trustees will follow. We use selected psychometric tests for all our key appointments. We will follow up detailed references when a formal job offer is made.

We want to fill this role as quickly as possible so it would be very helpful if you indicate your likely notice period when you submit your application.

We look forward to hearing from you.