Starting date: October 2024

Holidays: 24 days per annum

Reporting to: Head of Fundraising and Development

Fighting Blindness is a unique organisation founded in 1983, its mission being to find treatments and cures for conditions causing severe sight loss, supporting individuals and families affected through our Insight Counselling Service and empowering the visually impaired community through advocacy and opportunity. 

Role Overview

The Fundraising Executive will be responsible for developing and implementing fundraising strategies to support Fighting Blindness’ mission to find the cures for sight loss. This role entails corporate giving, individual giving, and community fundraising, requiring a versatile approach to securing funds from various sources. The successful candidate will build and maintain relationships with donors, partners, and community groups to achieve fundraising targets.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Corporate Giving:

   - Identify and cultivate relationships with corporate partners.

   - Develop proposals and presentations to secure corporate sponsorships and donations.

   - Manage corporate fundraising campaigns and events.

   - Ensure effective communication and recognition for corporate donors.

2. Individual Giving:

   - Develop and implement strategies to increase individual donations.

   - Manage donor databases and ensure accurate record-keeping.

   - Create and manage donor stewardship programs to engage and retain individual donors.

   - Plan and execute individual giving campaigns, including annual appeals and major gifts.

3. Community Fundraising:

   - Engage with community groups and volunteers to support local fundraising initiatives.

   - Organise and manage community fundraising events.

   - Develop and distribute fundraising materials to support community efforts.

   - Build and maintain relationships with community stakeholders.

4. General Fundraising Activities:

   - Develop and implement a comprehensive fundraising plan.

   - Monitor and report on fundraising progress against targets.

   - Stay informed about fundraising trends and best practices.

   - Collaborate with other departments to integrate fundraising activities with overall organisational goals.

Key Skills and Competencies

• Advanced Proficiency in MS Office
• Proven experience in fundraising across corporate, individual, and community channels
• Proficiency with donor database platforms, particularly Raisers Edge a significant advantage
• Excellent communication skills: Written and verbal communication skills are a necessity. As a fundraising executive you have to write reports and funding applications and persuade prospective donors of the virtue of their cause
• Good numerical skills: Fundraising executives have to work to a budget and reach financial targets, regularly reporting on both
• Sound organisational abilities: Fundraising executives have to work to deadlines, handle multiple donor accounts simultaneously and keep a record of donations
• Negotiation skills: You need to possess the ability to persuade donors of the need to give and answer questions about the impact of your organisation
• Teamwork skills: As a fundraising executive, you need to be an effective part of a team with the overriding aim of maximising donations

The day-to-day

• Undertake research on prospective corporate, major, trust and public donors
• Help develop new fundraising products and events and market them
• Cold call potential donors and build relationships with them
• Update donors on how their money is being spent
• Research and write case studies on the impact of the organisation’s work
• Respond to inquiries from trusts, corporates and members of the public
• Write funding applications to trusts and foundations or charity of the year proposals to corporates
• Write reports for trusts and foundations on the use of existing grants
• Maintain and update donors’ records on a fundraising database
• Write internal reports, analysing fundraising progress on a monthly or periodic basis
• Organise and take part in strategy and planning meetings with other members of the fundraising team
• Arrange fundraising events and tours of the charity’s projects for potential donors
• Liaise with external agencies such as telephone or street fundraising agencies
• Engage in database maintenance