Vacancies

Who we are
Caring for a child with complex medical needs can place unimaginable demands on a family, both physically and emotionally. At Acorns Children’s Hospice, we understand that when time is short every moment is precious, which is why, as well as providing specialist palliative care, we help families to make lasting memories.

We provide a happy homely environment where children can experience all kinds of great activities, meet new friends, or relax and enjoy some quiet time. Our experienced, skilled staff take time to understand each child’s individual requirements, listening to any concerns and adapting activities according to their needs.

Acorns has three specialist children’s hospices serving the West Midlands and Gloucestershire regions and is the leading children’s hospice in the region, and is the largest children’s hospice in the UK and Europe. Since our inception in 1988, Acorns has been leading the charge for children’s hospice care, and more recently leading the petition and communications regarding the Children’s Hospice Grant. In the past year we provided care to 781 local life limited and life threatened children, and support for their families.

Our families and children are amazing and special, and we need an amazing and special fundraiser to help us continue to grow our income to support services to children and families across the region.

About the role

We have a fantastic team of events and community fundraisers who are great brand ambassadors for Acorns. This role concentrates on leading, inspiring and providing the strategic focus for the team so that they can focus on delivering more supporters and income to support our children and families.

Main duties and responsibilities

Strategic Management

• Lead, manage and inspire the Community and Events team to achieve their income targets through building strong local relationships, diligent use of time and resources and delivering a range of events and community partnerships which inspire and lead to long term financial support.
• Develop and manage a comprehensive suite of KPIs that record the impact of the team in line with the Fundraising Strategy.
• Review existing portfolio of activities and develop and deliver a comprehensive strategic plan for engagement with identified audiences which include those living in the local community, smaller businesses, those who take part in our existing events and those who are yet to discover the Acorns brand. Ensuring that all activities are profitable and fit for purpose.
• Work with the Community and Events team to create operational plans which will achieve agreed targets in terms of income and expenditure.
• To work closely with the Supporter Journey function to ensure that appropriate and engaging supporter journeys are in place for specified audiences.
• Monitor the trends and patterns in your area of responsibility, making recommendations regarding the evolution of the agreed fundraising strategy to ensure Acorns remains alive to changes in the community & events environment.
• Fully engage with the organisational strategic planning, budgeting, and operational planning processes.

Relationship Management

Collaborative Working

• Work closely and constructively with the hospice management teams, attending meetings and creating a positive working relationship that maximises income and volunteering opportunities.
• Work collaboratively with the whole fundraising team to support the achievement of overall KPIs and non-financial KPIs, ensuring a ‘one team’ Acorns approach.
• Ensure effective internal flow of communication about corporate fundraising so that plans are understood, accurately described and fully supported throughout the organisation.
• Lead and represent the Community & Events team within internal working groups to execute large-scale initiatives and campaigns.

Other Duties:

• Acting as an ambassador for Acorns raising awareness of its charitable aims and objectives.
• To adhere and promote Acorns Values.
• Maintain effective contacts with the charity world through various institutions, organisations and agencies and networking with the aim of keeping Acorns in the public eye and maximising income generation opportunities.
• To act as an ambassador for Acorns raising awareness of its charitable aims and objectives and enhancing its reputation through exemplary behaviour, conduct and team working.
• To contribute to Acorns fundraising aims by raising awareness with your stakeholder groups about how vital fundraising is to the charity’s mission and sharing opportunities for fundraising support.
• To put the needs and interests of Acorns children and young people and their families first in all aspects of their work.
• To ensure compliance with Acorns policies for diversity, employment, equal opportunities, health and safety, information governance and safeguarding.
• To actively participate in an annual performance and development review process and any training and development identified to further enhance your role with Acorns.
• To carry out any other reasonable duty as requested by the Head of Public Fundraising or Executive Director of Fundraising.

Acorns adheres to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. As an employee you will be a Duty Bearer for Children’s Rights and support all children to be Rights Holders.

Person Specification: Is this you?

Experience

• Proven experience of Community and Events Fundraising techniques and management
• Experience of strategic planning & implementation of strategy in Community and Events fundraising or similar.
• Experience of managing remote based teams
• A demonstrable understanding of fundraising legalities
• Understanding of the principles of marketing and PR
• Experience of overseeing successful events and campaigns
• Experience of effective reporting at senior management level
• Understanding of the principle of relationship marketing and donor care
• Significant staff management experience
• Experience of effective delegation and supportive performance management
• A track record of success in developing effective operational plans
• Proven track record of working successfully in a targeted environment
• Experience of the successful recruitment, induction, training and retention of fundraising volunteers
• Awareness of Health and Safety and regulatory requirements
• A track record for being able to communicate complex information in presentations, in writing or on a one to one basis

Skills and abilities

• High level communication skills with the ability to communicate and influence and network at all levels.
• Coaching and mentoring skills
• Ability to devise, negotiate and implement plans in conjunction with your team and other teams within the fundraising directorate.
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve agreed objectives
• A role model, able to demonstrate the achievement of results through and with others, creating buy-in by actively encouraging others to get involved and listening to their advice
• Self-motivated with the ability to prioritise own workload and resilience to meet deadlines
• Thorough understanding of finance, budgeting and forecasting systems and techniques
• IT Skills including Word, Outlook, Excel and Power Point
• Resourceful and innovative, someone who will challenge the status quo
• Ability to understand, exhibit and implement excellent customer care practices
• Committed to building good internal and external relationships with staff and supporters
• Ability to reflect on own performance and to take a proactive responsibility to self- development
• Curious, always seeking to understand and improve experience of customers

Other

• Willingness to work outside normal working hours on a regular basis (Toil given)
• Commitment to equal opportunities
• Willingness to train and learn new skills
• Ability to be flexible and cover team colleagues
• Ability to travel independently throughout the organisation
• Positive, enthusiastic approach & can-do attitude
• Commitment to the Acorns strategy & its success