Head of Fundraising

Head of Fundraising

Reports to: Director of Ark Ventures

Location: Currently operating hybrid working in our West London Office

Contract: Permanent

Pattern: Full Time (standard hours 9am - 5.30pm)

Closing date: 08/01/2025

Interviews: w/c 13/01/2025 (in person)

Salary: circa £75,000

About The Role:

The Head of Fundraising leads a team of three responsible for raising money from HNWIs, trusts and corporates and building a base of corporate volunteers and other supporters to help deliver activity across Ark schools and ventures. The Head of Fundraising will work closely with the Director of Ark Ventures and the Ark Management Team to maximise the fundraising potential of the organisation.

The Head of Fundraising will develop and deliver the long-term fundraising strategy, focused on growth and diversification of income as well as stewarding and developing existing strong relationships.

With responsibility for the strategic delivery of fundraising, you will develop and implement fundraising initiatives, working creatively to build new relationships and establish new income sources. Managing a small team, you will remain hands-on in identifying new opportunities with high value funders and partners, designing and delivering an engaging programme of cultivation and stewardship activity - including events and other supporter communications.

Working in collaboration with other parts of the organisation and the wider external relations team you will identify fundable opportunities and share the impact of Ark's work with supporters.

Role objectives:

• Raise £15m pa with an aim to grow that to £20m over of the next five years. Historically c.50 percent of Ark's funding has come from trustees which is included in these targets
• Support and oversee the effective management of all fundraised income across the organisation ensuring adherence to all statutory guidelines and effective reporting and stewardship of all donors and supporters
• Build links across the organisation and network to ensure early identification of fundable projects
• Build outstanding relationships with current and potential donors to enable speedy responses to changing organisational funding needs

Key Responsibilities:

• Set fundraising targets in line with organisational operating plans and strategies and respond quickly when changing priorities emerge
• Tightly manage the prospects pipeline to ensure targets are met
• Represent Ark externally at high-level meetings and events, telling the Ark story and making effective donor asks
• Develop and hold high-level donor / prospect relationships, especially those with trusts, foundations and corporates
• Manage the delivery of all large funding bids, involving all relevant stakeholders and writing the applications
• Build relationships with teams across the organisation to gather information and identify funding needs as well as creating persuasive cases for support and budgets to ensure the team has the tools required to successfully pitch funding needs
• Manage a small team (currently three people) and ensure they are supported to succeed and grow

Key Requirements:

• Right to work in the UK
• Experience of leading high value fundraising (ideally trusts and foundations/corporates as well as HNWI)
• Evidence of having led substantial, successful fundraising campaigns
• Strong existing network and good knowledge of potential funders
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, adept at writing compelling proposals, adapting content or style to fit the audience and their personal interests
• Experience of leading a team and people management
• Self-motivated with ability to manage own workload and work with minimal supervision
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with the ability to present our message flair and passion
• Excellent relationship-building skills with the ability to develop and maintain a strong network both internally and externally
• Ability to prioritise and manage conflicting demands

Benefits

• Our hybrid working model aims to offer the best of both worlds, striking the right balance between in-person collaboration and remote working. You will work a minimum of two days per week in our state-of-the-art office in West London allowing you to connect with colleagues, with the flexibility to work remotely, or in the office over the remaining days
• In addition to our current hybrid working arrangements, employees can request to work fully remotely for up to 10 working days a year, whether this be in the UK or abroad
• Our flexitime policy allows you to work your hours around our core hours of 10.00 - 16.00, helping you prioritise your work-life balance and personal commitments
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising with each year of service up to 30 days after 3-years' service. This entitlement is pro rata for part time employees. This entitlement excludes bank holidays
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year
• Regular social events, monthly free breakfast, and daily fruit
• As an Ark employee, you will have the opportunity to be part of the TPT (The Pension Trust) scheme, our workplace pension scheme where we make an 11% contribution; you are not required to contribute towards this scheme unless you choose to
• Access to high-quality professional learning throughout your career, offering both face-to-face sessions and a bespoke online learning platform
• Access to Ark Rewards scheme offering savings from over 3,000 major retailers, interest-free loans available for season tickets or a bike, gym discounts offering up to 40% off your local gym and free eye tests

About Us

We're an international charity, transforming lives through education. We exist to give every young person, regardless of their background, a great education and real choices in life. In the UK, we're a network of 39 schools, educating around 30,000 pupils in areas where we can make the biggest difference and we're recognised as one of the highest achieving academy groups in the country. We want to change the lives of children everywhere, not just in our own schools. So, we create and incubate Ventures designed not only to help pupils in Ark schools, but also to improve education systems.

You'll be joining a group of like-minded, ambitious individuals who work collaboratively and are all committed to our core mission, that every child has the potential to succeed. Having just celebrated our 20th anniversary, we are shaping our goals for the next 20 and there has never been a more exciting time to join us.

Diversity and inclusion:

We aim to build a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone - staff and students - can do their best work and achieve their full potential. We want to reflect and represent diverse perspectives across our organisation because we know that doing so will make us stronger and more effective. To know more about Ark's diversity and inclusion commitments, please click on this link .

Safeguarding statement:

Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. In order to meet this responsibility, its academies follow a rigorous selection process to discourage and screen out unsuitable applicants.

Ark requires all employees to undertake an enhanced DBS check. You are required, before appointment, to disclose any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Non-disclosure may lead to termination of employment. However, disclosure of a criminal background will not necessarily debar you from employment - this will depend upon the nature of the offence(s) and when they occurred. To read more about Ark's safer recruitment process, please click this link .

Please note we will be reviewing applications on an on-going basis and this role may close earlier than advertised depending on the level of response. We strongly encourage to submit your application at your earliest convenience.