- Job Title: Head of Development
- Location: Hybrid, attendance at Kings Cross, London office 2 days/week minimum
- Reporting To: CEO
- Salary: £40,000 - £50,000 per annum
- Contract: Full-time Permanent
- Date Closes: Fri 31 May 2024
Role Purpose
This is a great opportunity to make a significant impact on hundreds of civil society, social movements and community groups around the world, driving funding to where it is needed most. The Head of Development will join the central team, reporting to the CEO and will be responsible for forging relationships with funders, as well as identifying opportunities to engage with local community groups. They will share the Social Change Nest’s ambitions to transform funding for grass roots organisations and coalitions by reimagining fundraising, removing structural barriers and encouraging institutional funders to support community interests. They will oversee the Marketing, Communications & Development Assistant and one other team member and will collaborate with Risk, Compliance and the Innovation Managers. This is a busy and exhilarating role with opportunity to grow and develop. We are planning to increase the size of the team over the next year.
About the Social Change Nest
At The Social Change Nest, we’re radically transforming the funding landscape. We nurture grassroots groups and enable funders to support frontline social action by offering fiscal hosting, grant management, grant distribution and fund management services. We currently support over 500 community groups across the UK and abroad addressing climate to housing, wellbeing and animal rights. We are pioneering fiscal hosting in the UK and have distributed grants to groups that otherwise would not have had access to the opportunity. Since our inception we have ensured over £23m has got safely into the hands that need it.
We have a 5 year strategy for scaling, innovating and supporting more civil society both in the UK and abroad. Over the next 12 months we are aiming to raise a significant capital investment, secure our income streams, launch 2 new game changing products and expand into Europe.
The Social Change Nest is part of the Social Change Group. As a group we have been certified as a BCorp business, Disability Confident Employer, and an accredited Living Wage Employer. In addition, we were listed as one of the top social enterprises in the UK in the SE100 for the last three years. Underpinned by our values of collaboration, curiosity, courage, and creativity we believe relationships are the glue that holds us all together and we are proud of our culture.
You’ll be joining a close-knit team, supported and developed to be the best you can be. We believe that every member of our team brings a unique perspective from their experiences and abilities and we encourage everyone to be a curious soul about how we can improve everything we do, from how we interact as a team to how we deliver for our clients and communities.
Key Responsibilities
- Build strong rapport with clients and community groups to ensure effective implementation of our strategy, supporting the team responsible for project delivery.
- Identify and secure new funding opportunities with clients, creating tailored proposals to appeal to funder appetite and needs.
- Oversee and contribute to external communications and marketing campaigns.
- Oversee the business development pipeline, ensuring its effectiveness and alignment with our strategic goals.
- Deliver high-quality bid proposals and pitch documents to support business growth.
- Develop and implement client management and engagement strategies, including our philanthropic networks, enhancing operational relationships and value.
- Grow new strategic partnerships with civil society and local community groups and identify their funding requirements, ensuring optimum communication with those grass roots groups.
- Analyse and present HubSpot data to inform strategic decisions and refine our offering.
- Manage budgeting processes and prepare essential documentation for pitches and contracts.
- Be an ambassador for the Social Change Nest, representing the business at industry conferences, events and workshops and grow strategic partnerships.
- Champion the maintenance and improvement of our CRM system, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.
- Line manage 2 team members; Marketing, Communications & Development Assistant and one other.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
- 4-5 years in a business development, sales or client facing role.
- Proven business development expertise with a track record of winning new business and able to apply these skills to enhance our business development strategies.
- Able to use your knowledge and skills to identify and seize opportunities for growth through partnerships, projects and clients.
- A solid understanding of the philanthropic and grant-making sectors in order to enrich our strategies and client interactions.
- Numerate and adept at analysing data to derive insights that guide business planning and strategy.
- Outstanding customer service skills, both proactive and reactive. Your reliability, trustworthiness, and ability to respond to our clients’ needs set you apart.
- Excellent pitch and bid-writing skills with an ability to craft compelling proposals that resonate with our target audience, including design and pricing.
- Capable of anticipating and evaluating the potential risks and returns of projects and able to assess risk as part of the process.
- Experience of managing complex work strands and coordinating across different teams demonstrating your leadership skills and strategic awareness.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and a confident communicator. You excel in bringing people together to achieve shared objectives.
- An advocate of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Desirable:
- A good understanding of the philanthropic and grant-making sectors in the UK, Europe and the USA
- Experience of accessing responsible finance opportunities for charities or social enterprises
- A demonstrable commitment to serving under represented groups in the UK or abroad.
How to Apply
Please send your CV and Cover Letter (up to one A4 page) to Careers4Change – see below