Who we are 

St Werburghs City Farm is an inner-city community hub for land-based opportunities. Situated 1.5 miles from Bristol city-centre, we manage more than 18 acres of green space including a 2-acre smallholding, a 1-acre community garden, a 2.5 acre conservation site and 13 acres of community allotments. We understand the importance that green space has for our collective health and wellbeing, which is why all our work is based on strengthening the connections between land, animals and people. We know that enjoyment of green space, access to local food, and opportunities in the agricultural sector are not equal, and we are committed to addressing this imbalance in our work. We appreciate that everyone has skills, experience and assets to share, which is why we base our approach on co-design and delivery with and for our community. We target our work at those experiencing mental ill-health, disadvantage and/or marginalisation.   

We are working to create a future where communities grow, green spaces flourish, and together we thrive.   

What you will love about working here 

• Working in a supportive environment which values your diversity and talent. 
• Access to training opportunities and reflective practice. 
• Being part of a welcoming team that strives for greater inclusion and equity. 
• Flexibility for those with families and other commitments. 
• An office based at the Farm, surrounded by allotments. A beautiful, green, community setting. 
• Generous annual leave entitlement – 25 days and bank holiday pro rata. 
• Participation in the NEST pension scheme. 
• Access to the cycle-to-work scheme. 

About the role 

We are looking for someone who wants to make a real and lasting difference to people’s lives, taking the lead on generating the income required to deliver the Farm’s services and maintain our central functions and infrastructure. With support from the Farm’s Director, who is an experienced fundraiser, you will develop and implement the fundraising strategy for the Farm, leading on the delivery of key activities, initiatives and opportunities. 

You will confidently take on the leadership of the Farm’s well-established fundraising from trusts and foundations, growing our unrestricted income base and attracting multi-year funding to support our projects. Your experience will also enable you to take the lead on establishing a new individual giving programme for the Farm, creating and implementing a stewardship strategy alongside the Marketing, Events & Communications Operational Manager. We anticipate that the postholder will spend 75% of their time managing and growing our existing trusts and foundations portfolio and 25% on building a new individual giving programme. We are looking for someone with experience (or demonstrable transferable skills and knowledge) and a willingness to work on both areas. 

As a member of the Farm’s Leadership Team, you will work closely with the Director and Operational Managers to ensure that our fundraising strategy enables us to deliver against our objectives, as well as supporting project managers and other staff to contribute to the development of relevant fundraising opportunities. 

Your skill set 

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. 
• Ability to draw on information from lots of sources and create content that is concise, accurate, tailored to its audience, and tells inspiring stories that illustrate our impact.  
• Ability to produce project budgets through consultation with delivery staff, that will result in deliverable projects that support the organisation as a whole.  
• Ability to develop an effective stewardship plan for individual donors that involves segmentation and appropriate communications to ensure retention. 
• Knowledge of developing and supporting strategic major donor and corporate relationships.   
• Working knowledge of CRM systems such as Beacon.  
• Ability to work supportively with a diverse team, supporting others to develop skills and developing good relationships. 
• Ability to capture information and turn relevant research into engaging content and stories. 

Your experience 

• Significant experience of producing compelling, successful funding bids to secure 5- and 6-figure awards from trusts and foundations for UK based charities.   
• Experience of researching, identifying and prioritising appropriate funds to apply to and building a pipeline of opportunities. 
• Experience of working on individual giving campaigns and awareness of best practice approaches for raising funds from the public 
• Experience of developing focused marketing campaigns on different platforms including print and social media. 
• Experience of raising unrestricted income and knowledge of how to fundraise for core costs. 
• Experience of developing corporate sponsorship programmes, or working with corporate partners, or relevant transferable skills or experience.  

Your approach  

• Commitment to learning new skills, reflective of your work and a willingness to learn and adapt. 
• Ability to work as part of a team, delegating responsibility and communicating priorities. 
• Ability to efficiently produce high quality, targeted and appealing funding proposals to tight deadlines.  
• Ability to manage personal deadlines and prioritise a demanding workload. 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; professional, personable, and approachable etc. 
• Reliable, pro-active and self-motivated and ability to think creatively. 
• Commitment to inclusion, equality and accessibility. 
• Passionate about the Farm's vision, mission and activities. 

Specific Roles and Responsibilities   

Trusts & Foundations  

• Maintain and develop existing annual submissions of Trust and Foundation funding bids totalling £800,000 plus. 
• Lead on the development of a pipeline of relevant funding opportunities, building on an existing list of prospects to ensure a strategic and proactive approach to securing funds for the most strategic areas. 
• Take the lead on drafting and submitting high-quality funding bids, ensuring colleagues are consulted where needed to produce accurate proposals with a high level of attention to detail. 
• Work with the Finance Manager to create project budgets for funding opportunities, ensuring indirect costs are sufficiently covered. 
• Proactively develop and update resources which can support approaches to Trusts and Foundations, for example a case for support, case studies and project overviews. 
• Ensure an organised approach to updating the Director on the progress of funding opportunities, tracking deadlines and decision dates and forecasting the likelihood of success. 
• Take the lead on stewardship of existing funds and successful bids, tracking the reporting requirements of each funder and ensuring all necessary reporting is submitted on time. 

Individual giving 

• Work closely with the Marketing, Communications & Events Operational Manager to develop and deliver an acquisition strategy for individual donors, agreeing targets and using channels including social media and email to achieve them. 
• Create a supporter journey and stewardship programme which ensures the highest levels of supporter care, retention and conversion to regular donors where possible. 
• Develop compelling and engaging fundraising content to attract new donors through email and social media campaigns. 
• Map connections through trustees, donors and the community to identify potential major donors and lead on approaches. 
• Using Beacon (CRM) and working closely with the Finance team, ensure accurate and detailed record-keeping for all individual donors. 
• Ensure compliance with fundraising best practice guidelines at all times, including confident leadership of Gift Aid claims and GDPR compliance. 

Other details: 

Contract type: Permanent. 
Salary: Starting salary of £33,024 (SCP 24) pro rata, per annum rising to £36,648 (SCP 28) based on annual increments.  
Hours of work: 21-28 hours per week (flexible times). This may include occasional evening and weekend work.  
Place of work: This role is based at St Werburghs City Farm in Bristol. However, some remote work would be expected, with a minimum requirement of one day per week based in the office. The Farm is a dog-friendly workplace.   
Annual leave: 25 days holiday per year, plus public holidays, pro rata.  
Probationary period: 6 months.  
References: All appointments will be confirmed only upon receipt of satisfactory references. You will need a clean DBS check to fill this role. 
Closing date: 5pm on Monday 6th May 
Interviews: Candidates would need to be available for interview on Tuesday 21st May.  

If you have any questions about this post, please email director@swcityfarm.co.uk. We would be happy to arrange a short telephone call.