Fundraising Assistant

FareShare South West
About FareShare South West

FareShare South West joins the dots between food waste and hunger, empowering communities to turn an environmental problem into lasting social good. We rescue tonnes of quality surplus food from the industry and share it with charities and schools to bring health, dignity, and routes out of poverty for people across the south west. Our supportive volunteering and employability programmes offer local people the opportunity to thrive.

By joining us, you ll be part of an inclusive, friendly team in a small but fast-growing charity that helps fight the injustice of who gets to afford a healthy diet.

FareShare South West is an independent local charity, working in partnership with FareShare UK.By being part of the national FareShare network, we can help rescue more food. By being small and independent, we can remain close to our local partners and people and continuously adapt to meet the needs of local communities. The member charities we share food with transform lives, using food to connect people with other support and routes out of poverty, including children and families, people on low incomes, homeless people, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, people in recovery, older people, and many others.

Purpose of role:

FareShare South West s (FSSW) fundraising need and strategy has developed and diversified rapidly in line with major growth since 2017. As a charity we bring in annually over £700k in fundraised income from trusts and foundations, corporate donations, individual donors, major donors, community, and events. In the next year this is set to grow as we plan exciting new services across Bristol, Devon, and Cornwall.

The Fundraising Assistant (FA) is a new entry-level fundraising role that will be vital in supporting our growing team with donor, corporate and events administration and looking after our community fundraising income stream. This role will enable lots of learning experiences in donor support processes and systems, compelling copywriting, data management and supporter stewardship.

The FA will be responsible for the development and day-to-day administration of our community fundraising income stream for individuals and corporate community groups, from bake sales to sponsored skydives. They will represent FSSW at events and steward community groups that are fundraising for FSSW, acting as an ambassador in promoting our work across the whole south west.

This role will primarily be based in our central Bristol office with the option for some hybrid working and occasional travel to our Plymouth and Bristol warehouses and events locations. The successful candidate will be expected to be able to work on very occasional weekend or evening events, accruing time off in lieu.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Community and Events

• Engage community groups e.g. Women s Guild, local faith groups, FSSW volunteers and school/university group who wish to raise funds for FSSW, acting as the primary contact

• Provide outstanding stewardship of both individual and group fundraisers, where necessary support with JustGiving and other fundraising pages and providing tips on promoting their fundraiser.

• Develop a calendar of sporting events and other fundraising opportunities to engage new and existing supporters. Work with the FSSW communications team to promote opportunities.

• Work closely with Supporter Care Officer (SCO) in instances where individual donors engage with fundraising events, as part of the wider strategy of donor engagement.

• Work with the Communications Officer (CO) to promote develop digital/print collateral and delivery of targeted materials and narratives to ensure strategic/resource-efficient approach to recruitment of community fundraisers.

• Provide opportunities to create a fundraising culture amongst wider staff team.

• Work closely with the HOF and SCO to ensure onward stewardship of fundraisers as potential long-term supporters.

Corporate Fundraising

• Support corporate fundraisers raising money through community and events activities, contributing to the success of our corporate income stream.

• Support the HOF and volunteer team in the strategic development of the Corporate Volunteering Programme.

Database Management

• Management of the fundraising Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database, Donorfy. Ensure that information held on the fundraising database is accurate with regular general data cleaning tasks, and responsibility for overall upkeep. (Full training will be given).

• Keeping all records, permissions, and data preferences up to date. Ensuring that CRM is GDPR compliant.

• Work with the SCO and HOF on monthly processes such as reconciliation of payments and analysing data to support our campaigns.

• Develop a good understanding of the capabilities of the CRM to be able to pull detailed reports and support wider fundraising and comms team with analysing data.

• Hold primary responsibility for updating the fundraising database with information on individuals, groups and corporates taking part in community/events fundraising, as well as corporate volunteering data.

Supporting the Fundraising Team

• Provide excellent supporter service to enquiries from members of the public, via phone, mail and in person, and encourage their support.

• Be a first point of contact for individuals and community groups wishing to support FareShare South West financially. Work with the SCO and wider team to appropriately triage all enquiries.

• Support the wider fundraising team to deliver fundraising campaigns, events, and appeals. This includes liaising with other stakeholders to source pro bono support e.g., professional services or raffle prizes.

• Work with the wider FSSW team on cross-departmental campaigns and events such as warehouse open days.

• Act as an ambassador for the charity, supporting the SCO and HOF to diversify our supporter base e.g., creating opportunities for volunteers to engage with fundraising.

• Represent FSSW at events, such as speaking at local faith/community groups.

• Assist on monitoring progress, impact, and success against KPIs

• Develop an in-depth knowledge of FareShare South West s impact and operations.

• Undertake any other reasonable duties to support the operations of the charity.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, skills & experience evidence required:

• Excellent written and verbal communication.

• Excellent people skills and proven ability to form good working relations, both internally and externally.

• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage time, prioritise and plan effectively.

• IT literate with a working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.

• A clear commitment to the ethos of FareShare South West, and to the agreed plans of the organisation, and able to positively contribute towards its achievement.

• A willingness to do some travelling within the south west.

• Confidence in answering the phone and responding to incoming enquiries.

Desirable knowledge, skills & experience:

• Work experience in communications, marketing, fundraising, or relationship-building.

• Experience working with a database.

• Understanding of fundraising principles, relationship marketing and supporter care.

• Experience in public speaking or acting as an ambassador for a cause.

• Presentation skills.

Why work for FareShare South West

• Real Living Wage employer

• Benchmarked pay scales

• Employee Assistance Programme including free legal advice, HR support and counselling

• Access to a free professional external coach

• Annual budget for personal development training

• Staff wellbeing group and trained Mental Health First Aiders

• Inclusive, welcoming culture

• Rewarding roles with genuine positive impact on the environment and local people through food, volunteering, and employability skills

We actively encourage applications from people of all lived experiences, including but not limited to people from the global majority, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, a working-class background, not from a University-attending family. We value the positive impact that wide representation has on FareShare South West.

We want to work with you to make sure that the recruitment process is accessible for you. Please contact us to let us know how we can support your access needs.