Head of Fundraising (Maternity Cover)

ActionAid is an international charity that works for the human rights of women and girls living in poverty.

We are a global movement of people working together to eradicate poverty and inequality. Supporting women in a community has a powerful effect on everybody, lifting up their children, their families and future generations. Focusing on human rights supports long term and sustainable change so that all women, everywhere, can create the future they want.

As Head of Fundraising (maternity cover), you will be a key leader within ActionAid Ireland’s Senior Leadership Team and are responsible for driving and overseeing the organisational fundraising strategy, resource mobilisation, diversifying funding income and managing the fundraising team. The Fundraising Team focuses on individual giving, supporter care, digital fundraising and campaigning.  You will be responsible for diversifying ActionAid Ireland’s funding sources, including but not limited to major donors, legacies, philanthropic foundations, corporate partnerships and new institutional donors.

We are seeking a passionate, dynamic, caring and creative Head of Fundraising to join our team on a fixed-term maternity cover. You will be a champion for women’s and girls’ rights, committed to shifting power and passionate about anti-racist fundraising. You will have extensive fundraising experience in a leadership capacity and a proven track record of overseeing high-impact fundraising and demonstrable track record in diversifying funding sources. You will have excellent understanding of digital fundraising and supporter care.

You will be able to tackle complex challenges and see the bigger strategic picture. You will be an empathetic and supportive colleague, able to build trusting and authentic relationships with colleagues and partners.

We are looking for a candidate who can quickly get up to speed and oversee our fundraising strategy, along with begin diversifying our funding sources.

ActionAid is committed to supporting flexible working. If you would like to discuss flexible working options, there will be space to do so during the interview process.

We are committed to continually improving the diversity of our workforce and therefore encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQI+ community, the trans community, and those with a disability.

About the role

Role Title: Head of Fundraising
Reports to: CEO

Date: January 2022
Department: Fundraising

Salary: €60,000 to €62,000

Reports: 2
Indirect Reports: 4
Budget Holder: Yes
Location: Remote/ Dublin 1, with occasional national and international travel
Contract: Nine to twelve months (maternity cover)

Context: Fundraising is at the heart of our work in Ireland and our commitment is to continue to value and develop our supporter base, diversify channels and increase unrestricted income. ActionAid Ireland is finalising a new strategy for the next five years that will focus on realising women’s human rights and leadership by seeking change to ensure that their lives are free of violence, that women’s leadership is supported in humanitarian response and that feminist responses to economic and climate crises are prioritised and women’s lives are improved because of this. In 2022 our fundraising will adjust to better align with these areas of transformative change, along with championing feminist leadership principles, shifting power to the Global South and anti-racist story-telling.

The Fundraising team will continue to develop new regular giving propositions and channels, while prioritising the care of our current loyal supporters, and enhance our relatively new digital fundraising programme. In addition to these core areas, the Head of Fundraising will need to lead, expand and diversify our funding portfolio beyond digital and Individual Giving.

Key Attributes: Innovation, strategic vision, leadership, a clear commitment to ActionAid’s mission and values.

Areas of Activity: Key Accountabilities and Deliverables

Strategy

• To work closely with the CEO and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and to lead the development and implementation of the organisation’s new strategy for fundraising
• Development of operational plans for the strategy and steward the implementation of this in the Fundraising team
• To assess, identify and establish new funding sources.
• To rigorously analyse results and devise plans based on evidence and results, ensuring delivery of planned financial commitments

Leadership

• To lead, guide and inspire the fundraising team and within the SLT
• To demonstrate commitment, drive and leadership on women’s human rights, anti-racist storytelling and delivering long-term, sustainable change
• To actively engage with and contribute to ActionAid’s international fundraising leadership team
• To ensure appropriate systems, processes and standards are in place and utilized to realise the organisation’s objectives and ensure the organisation is fully compliant and meets best practice standards
• To ensure Feminist Leadership principles are applied and adopted across all levels of the Fundraising Team
• To ensure timely analysis and reporting

Fundraising

• To deliver on existing financial plans budgets to ensure growth of both voluntary income and unrestricted income as a proportion of overall income.
• To grow regular giving income from a mix of channels and grow the overall value of the supporter base
• To continue to develop new channels and income streams including digital, major donors and legacies
• To lead on the development, implementation and monitoring of the unrestricted giving propositions and its associated impact on supporters ongoing experiences
• Working with the Head of Finance, to plan and model the Fundraising Budget

Supporter development

• To ensure quality care and development plans for ActionAid’s supporters and to achieve retention targets
• To maximise support from the existing (and re-engage lapsed) supporter base by segmenting, testing and developing appropriate upgrade and engagement plans for supporters
• To review and assess the quality of the Child Sponsorship product and its associated journeys, to better align with the wider organisational objectives

Values

• To espouse ActionAid’s social justice and equality values

Key Relationships

Internal Member of Senior Leadership team comprising the Head of Programmes, Finance Manager, Head of Fundraising and the CEO;
you will work closely with counterparts in the ActionAid Global Secretariat and in countries across the world

External Third party suppliers and partners, local fundraising and peer networks

Experience, Knowledge and Expertise

Essential

• Proven track record devising and implementing successful fundraising strategies and plans
• Experience of developing and delivering fundraising programmes across individual giving or corporate or major donor or legacies
• Proven ability to deliver innovation across the fundraising portfolio
• Networked and connected to fundraising developments and emerging trends
• Proficiency in data analysis and in building credible costed plans
• Experience in preparing and managing budgets and accounting for plans and budgets at a senior level
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work flexibly in a small team
• Competencies and personal qualities to enable you lead and achieve results through a highly motivated small team, working closely with CEO
• Empathy and sound judgement

Desirable

• Experience of working closely with Boards
• Expertise in digital acquisition
• Knowledge and experience in the International Development sector
• Budget tracking and modelling
• Understanding and experience of anti-racist storytelling in fundraising.

About you

You share our passion to work towards a just, fair and sustainable world, where everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, freedom from poverty and oppression. You want your talents and expertise to make a measurable difference towards achieving our mission for social justice and gender equality, and to eradicate poverty. You thrive in a workplace where you have the autonomy to implement your ideas and to lead at a senior level.

What makes ActionAid different? ActionAid’s approach is about empowering people to claim their rights. Our working relationships, in Ireland and across the world are based on mutual trust, respect and democracy. As part of our commitment to women’s rights we recognise, embody and champion feminist principles not only in the work we do, but the way we work, and how we do things. This Is a committed attempt at reflection, continuous learning, and being mindful of the power we have as individuals in any situation (irrespective of where we are in the organisational structure) and how we exercise it. If you like the sound of that, we can’t wait to welcome you aboard.

This profile sets out the current duties of the post that may vary from time to time without changing the character of the job or the level of responsibility entailed. However, all role profiles are regularly reviewed and updated in line with organisational needs.

Interested Applicants should send their up to date C.V. and cover letter to recruitment.ireland@actionaid.org

Deadline 5pm 28 January 2022, with interviews likely to be the week of the 7th of February.

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