Fundraising and Engagement Manager

Born Free works tirelessly to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs.  As a leading wildlife charity, we oppose the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and campaign to keep them where they belong – in the wild.

We promote Compassionate Conservation to enhance the survival of wildlife, especially threatened species in the wild, and to protect natural habitats while respecting the needs and safeguarding the welfare of individual animals. We seek to have a positive impact on animals in the wild and protect their ecosystems in perpetuity, for their own intrinsic value and for the critical roles they play within the natural world.

Set up initially as Zoo Check in 1984 by Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna and their son Will Travers, Born Free has worked tirelessly for nearly 37 years to prevent captive animal suffering and phase-out zoos.  Will continues to lead the organisation as Manager President, and Virginia remains active on the Board of Trustees, working closely with the team to share our vision and programmes on public forums. 

The Opportunity

This newly created role at Born Free will be integral to the delivery of the fundraising strategy, supporting the Head of Fundraising, and other multi-skilled colleagues in the growing fundraising team to develop and grow income and engagement from individuals. 

The successful candidate will be highly motivated by, and passionate about, the mission of Born Free.  They will be able to evidence building and maintaining income from individuals, and ideally also bring experience of delivering a legacy programme.

The Role

The Fundraising and Engagement Manager will be resourceful, organised and a proactive team player with excellent communication and interpersonal skills. You will need to juggle multiple tasks with drive and enthusiasm, able to work with minimum supervision and show good judgement and initiative. Whilst previous experience with a fundraising CRM system is not essential, it is highly desirable, and you will need to learn new tools and systems quickly. You will bring previous experience of developing and delivering a programme of initiatives to maximise income and engagement from individual supporters covering the key areas of donor acquisition and retention.  

Key tasks will include:

• Strategy and planning: Support the Head of Fundraising to deliver a contemporary and ambitious multi-faceted public fundraising strategy, that will enable the Foundation to maximise its impact globally and in the long term;
• Management and delivery: Provide end-to-end management, from concept to delivery, of Born Free’s appeals and campaigns through the utilisation of market segmentation and targeting across all individual and regular giving, legacy gifts, in memory, animal ‘Adoptions’, integrated appeals, supporter journeys and raffles;
• Supporter journeys and engagement: Establish and nurture effective relationships with donors through the creation of clear and robust supporter journeys which harness inspiring multichannel communications and engaging activities to increase value and loyalty from new and existing donors;
• Innovation: Proactively explore and test new cost-effective methods for donor recruitment and retention, using creatively and an awareness of sector trends and the external environment to inform this work;
• Targets and reporting: Work closely with the Head of Fundraising and the Data and Insight Manager to ensure income targets are met and to analyse and report on fundraising activities to maximum return on investment and to aid effective decision making;
• Data management: Work closely with the Data and Insight Manager to maintain accurate records of all donations and supporter communications and to ensure the continual development, maintenance and enhancement of the Fundraising CRM, and other systems, to manage financial records and to support delivery of both Individual Giving and wider Fundraising team strategies;
• Representing Born Free: Represent Born Free in key external funding relationships and with third party organisations such as partners or agencies as required;
• External trends and regulation: Keep up to date with fundraising trends and legislation in relation to public fundraising, and ensure compliance with the Charity Commission, fundraising regulation, and data protection requirements, including the General Data Protection Directive;
• Collaboration: Work collaboratively with internal stakeholders, external partners and other charities to maximise opportunities to increase income, drive public engagement and to ensure this work has maximum impact for our programmes;
• Ownership and accountability: Take collective responsibility for delivering the objectives of the Fundraising Department in accordance with the strategy established by the Executive Management Team and approved by the Board of Trustees;
• Provide support to other areas of fundraising and delegate for the Head of Fundraising as required.

The successful candidate should ideally demonstrate the following attributes: 

• University Degree (ideally Fundraising or Marketing);
• Minimum 5 years in a fundraising and/or marketing position.
• Demonstrable experience, creativity and innovation in income-generation, fundraising, and achieving targets derived from individual sources such as cash donations, regular giving, legacy and in memory giving;
• Excellent financial/business acumen and numeracy skills, experienced use of a CRM database to segment and target and in budgetary control;
• Excellent relationship-building skills, including the identification of new opportunities, and with experience of providing high quality supporter experiences;
• Exceptional written and interpersonal skills, with the ability to support, motivate and inspire confidence with colleagues and a range of external stakeholders;
• A strong empathy and engagement with the work of the Foundation, and the desire to drive it forward, bringing energy and determination to its mission;
• Decisive and straightforward; low ego and a team player; high levels of drive and energy; a sense of humour; impeccable, innovative and creative story-telling capability, and a healthy level of curiosity for external and current affairs;
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills, a strong attention to detail and an ability to manage multiple projects and priorities to meet objectives;
• Ability to work intuitively with a “can do”, entrepreneurial approach, in a small, fast-paced and dynamic team.

The candidate will report directly to the Head of Fundraising.  Please note that this role will, from time to time, involve occasional out-of-hours working (including evenings and weekends).   

Our excellent benefits package includes opportunities for continuous professional learning, a generous annual leave entitlement, working from home with regular team meetings (Covid permitting) to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, wellbeing support, and a competitive pension.

At Born Free we strive to create a working environment that promotes and values diversity; where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work in a creative and safe space. We are committed to equal opportunities and to building a more inclusive team that reflects the communities we serve.  There is always more work to be done, and we endeavour continuously to make progress, hold ourselves accountable and grow, both as a charity and as individuals.

Applications with a covering letter and CV should be sent to bornfreehr@aspiringhr.com by 5pm 18^th July 2021.  Important: Please include FEM/21 in the subject of your email. 

Please note that if an application is received which is particularly interesting to Born Free, we will be contacting candidates on a rolling basis for interview before the dates above.  So, if this is the job you want to apply for, apply now, and please don’t wait until the deadline date. 

If you do not receive an invitation for an interview by 23^rd July 2021, then you have unfortunately not been shortlisted.  The first round of interviews are scheduled to take place week commencing 26^th July.  The interviews will take place on Zoom, due to Covid-related restrictions. 

Thank you for your interest.