Regular Giving Manager - Development and Alumni Relations Office - 56867 - Grade 7

Position Details

Development and Relations Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is £31,406 to £40,927 per annum, with progression once in post to £43,434

Grade 7

Full time

Permanent

Closing date - 13th February 2022

Interviews are currently scheduled to take place week commencing 21 February, 2022

Job Summary

Are you looking to develop your career in Regular Giving at a prestigious organisation? 

This is a time of significant investment for our individual giving programme with three posts currently being recruited across legacy and regular giving, with ambitions to grow income from both these streams. The Regular Giving Manager role is an exciting opportunity to be a part of a dynamic and innovative team and to take our programme to the next level, particularly in the digital space. 

Working to annual targets, you will report directly to the Deputy Director Engagement for our regular giving programme, including managing telephone appeals and direct mail, as well as email and digital giving platforms. In collaboration with other members of DARO and external consultants you will grow the programme, creating a sustainable, long-term income that can support critical educational and research fundraising projects, and the strategic priorities of the University.  

We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016.  Academics here are tackling some of the world’s most pressing global challenges such as antibody testing and Covid-19, the impact of climate change on our woodlands and forests, issues caused by migration and displacement, the rise in youth mental health issues, and the prevention of needless maternal deaths in the developing world. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from disadvantaged backgrounds, one of the highest proportions in the UK. Philanthropy has always played an important role in shaping the University, most recently in 2015 when we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, which raised £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London. Through the ‘Birmingham In Action’ campaign, philanthropy will continue to play a vital role in delivering projects to change lives locally, nationally, and internationally. 

Please click on the link to find out more about DARO and the benefits of working with us -  https://university-of-birmingham.foleon.com/23007-daro-job-advertisement/daro-vacancies/join-us/"

Main duties

Regular Giving Programme Management

•    Lead on the overall strategy for the University’s regular giving programme including telephone appeals, direct mail, email, and digital giving platforms.
•    Grow the regular giving programme to develop a sustainable, long-term income for our key fundraising themes and projects, with a particular focus on donor acquisition and securing income from Direct Debit gifts.
•    Develop our digital fundraising, including e-appeals, maximising social media and establishing digital giving platforms including crowdfunding and giving days.
•    Leverage supporter data held on the Blackbaud CRM system to support the regular giving programme. This will involve managing complex segmentation and ask amount setting, as well as producing large scale data extracts for calling and mailing lists.
•    Manage external agencies including telephone and direct mail consultancies, to commission and deliver new projects with clearly defined objectives, budgets, and timescales.
•    Develop a mid-level/leadership giving programme, working closely with members of the Major Giving Team to optimise relationship building and income generation.
•    Identify potential prospects from the regular giving programme who could be referred to other DARO programmes including leadership and major giving, volunteering, and gifts in wills.
•    Create a motivating and nurturing environment for temporary telephone campaign staff. This will involve leading a training weekend for Student Fundraisers, ensuring that staff abide by regulatory policies, delivering pep talks, and celebrating team achievements.
•    Work with the Donor Experience, Events and Communications Teams to deliver excellent stewardship and to support donor retention and uplift.

Strategic Thinking and Perspective

•    Understand the University’s Strategic Plan and its implications for DARO and the University.
•    Develop and deliver a clear regular giving strategy.
•    Work closely with DARO’s Leadership Team to ensure the regular giving & digital programme is aligned to Birmingham In Action, wider fundraising priorities, and the University’s strategic objectives.
•    Work in collaboration with teams across DARO to support the pipeline for other income streams.

Financial 

•    Responsible for an annual income target.
•    Responsible for a budget of circa £150,000 per year.

Data Protection and Compliance

•    Alongside the Head of Data and Insight, maintain and advise on excellent GDPR practise within the regular giving programme. This includes ensuring members of the DARO team, including students, understand and meet their responsibilities. 
•    Work closely with the Gift Accounting Manager, following robust gift administration processes to ensure gifts are spent in line with donor wishes.
•    Manage and monitor complaints ensuring they are recorded and responded to appropriately and effectively.

Leading People

•    Line management responsibility with a focus on motivating, developing, and supporting individuals.
•    Promote equality and value diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
•    Management of telephone appeals and the teams that support them.
•    Familiarity with cross-team collaboration and matrix style working. 

IT and Data

•    Responsibility for segmenting complex data for the benefit of the regular giving programme within Blackbaud CRM, and mapping out multi-channel donor journeys across the segmentation structure.
•    Reporting and in-depth analysis of regular giving data outcomes across individual channels. This will require presenting complex data sets in an accessible manor and identification of key trends and recommendations, which will be used to refine and evolve the programme, as well as use of Microsoft Excel to manipulate large volumes of data.
•    Provision and analysis of information to set stretching but achievable targets for the regular giving programme, and monitoring performance against a set of DARO-wide KPIs.
•    In collaboration with the Gift Administration Team, understand and improve the broad range of giving methods including Direct Debit, online giving platforms, and international giving channels. Ensure that any new giving methods meet regulatory requirements whilst also delivering a high-quality donor experience.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

•    An extensive understanding of all types of regular giving programmes, including direct mail, email, digital giving and telephone appeals. Direct hands-on experience of at least one of these channels.
•    Extensive experience of working to, and delivering against, financial targets.
•    Strong understanding of fundraising regulation.
•    Experience of working in a large, complex organisation.
•    Confidence in making a financial ask. 

Strategic Thinking and Perspective

•    The ability to think and plan strategically, both in the short and long-term.
•    Understanding of, and empathy with, the vision and mission of the University of Birmingham.
•    The ability to work with initiative, to take decisions, and to think creatively and laterally.
•    Proven problem-solving capability and willingness to adapt to unexpected situations.
•    Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

IT and Data

•    Experience of handling large volumes of data and associated data processing tasks e.g. segmentation, import/export, ask amount setting.
•    Hands-on experience of using a customer relationship management database – ideally Blackbaud CRM.
•    Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and confidence in manipulating complex data sets.
•    Knowledge of a range of different giving mechanisms including Direct Debit and digital giving platforms.
•    Awareness of data protection regulations including GDPR.
•    Strong general IT skills including Microsoft Office, email, internet, and virtual meeting platforms. 

Communication and Collaboration 

•    Strong written communication skills.
•    Excellent verbal communication skills and the confidence to present to large groups.
•    The ability to interact effectively with donors, volunteers, and external agencies.
•    Strong negotiation skills and the ability to persuade and influence.
•    The ability to represent the University internally and externally with diplomacy and authority.
•    The ability to work collaboratively with colleagues within DARO, particularly the Communications and Events Teams, the Donor Experience Team, other income stream leads, and colleagues around the University.
•    Empathetic and attuned to team members and other DARO colleagues, and able to modify approaches according to situations and conflicting work pressures.

General

•    Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.
•    A good understanding of the UK HE sector.
•    A passion for, and commitment to, the role that philanthropy plays in the sector.
•    The ability to prioritise own workload and to work under pressure.
•    The ability to work effectively both in a team and independently.
•    The ability to remain positive, adaptable, and flexible when dealing with change and uncertainty.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Jane Bower, Head of Engagement, at [email protected]

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.