Location: Hybrid – your time will be split between our office/venue on Bristol Harbourside, and your home or wherever you like to work, however we would like the successful candidate to be able to commit to at least two days a week in our Bristol office.
We’re happy to support a flexible working pattern across three, four or five days a week. You just need to be able to attend key meetings, have some crossover with the rest of the Development team and deliver the responsibilities of the role.
Department: Development
Report to: Development Manager
Responsible for: N/A
Salary: £18,000 - £21,000 per annum, (£30,000 - £35,000 pro-rata), dependent on experience
Contract: Permanent
Working hours: Part-time, 22.5 hours a week (0.6 FTE), flexible over 3, 4 or 5 days. This may include attending events outside of normal working hours.
About We The Curious
We The Curious is an educational charity and one of the UK's leading science centres.
We produce experiences that bring people together to play, get creative with science and explore different ideas.
We work with partners, locally and nationally, supporting people to be inquisitive, develop new skills and improve their wellbeing.
We are progressive, inquisitive, collaborative, playful and creative.
Our Why, What & How Our Vision
What if everyone is included, curious and inspired by science to build a better world together?
Our mission
To connect and empower people through sharing creative experiences which celebrate unknowns in science.
Our pledges
_Cultivate Curiosity
_Strive for Sustainable Futures
_Include Everyone
_Build Resilience
_Open Up Science
You can find out more about these in our Manifesto.
Our Values
_Inquisitive - Asking questions
_Progressive - Thinking about what's next
_Playful - Embracing the unexpected with a sense of fun
_Creative - Generating and testing new ideas
_Collaborative - Being inclusive, connecting and valuing
Our Strategic Priorities
/ SP1 - We will deliver collaborative, curiosity-led learning projects to reduce inequality and improve life chances.
/ SP4 - To deliver our charitable mission, we will strengthen existing income sources and seek new opportunities to deliver long-term financial security.
/ SP2 - Our team and those we work with will reflect the diversity of our city, delivering a more inclusive experience.
/ SP5 - We will provide opportunities for people to explore new ideas, develop skills and influence scientific research.
/ SP3 -We commit to being a carbon net zero organisation by 2030 and will inspire audiences to take positive action for our planet
About the role
We The Curious is about to enter an exciting new phase in its mission to connect and empower everyone through shared creative science learning experiences, as we prepare to reopen after two years of closure in early 2024. Our new multi-year strategy, Plan 2030, encompasses numerous major projects for which we must develop and cultivate support.
The Development Team is responsible for fundraising across the whole organisation and the stewardship and development of our donors and supporters. The other members of the team are the Development Manager and the Gifts and Partnerships Manager. We are looking for an Account Manager to join the team to help us maximise and unlock some very exciting opportunities.
The Account Manager will primarily focus on the development and re-engagement of funders and partners. You will need to be well-organised and enjoy working flexibly to support multiple projects. This position requires the ability to anticipate needs, be proactive and offer solutions to problems. You will have strong verbal and written communication skills and enjoy client management including the coordination and delivery of reports and updates. You will be the team’s key contact for stewardship management, including the creation of touch points, communications and events. You will also enjoy networking, developing and researching future opportunities and potential partners and funders.
What will you do in this role?
Role specific responsibilities
Manage and engage past and current supporters
_Independently maintain regular contact and communication with existing donors and supporters, (including trusts, corporate supporters and major donors).
_Support the development of effective long-term communication strategies (including public appeal campaigns), prioritising and determining the appropriate course of action or response and exercising judgement to reflect the organisation’s values.
_Work with project teams to produce detailed and engaging interim and final reports that demonstrate the impact of our donor and supporters’ generous support.
_Work with project teams to deliver reward and recognition benefits for our partners and donors.
_Help organise and attend events during and outside normal working hours to support the cultivation and stewardship of donors and supporters.
Support cultivation of new opportunities and supporters
_Assist other team members by anticipating and collating project information for new funding bids and applications, liaising across multiple departments to meet key deadlines.
_Support the cultivation of new donors by securing meetings, briefing internal team members and prompting others to complete outstanding actions.
Management of stewardship and administrative processes
_Develop and coordinate the delivery of a best practice stewardship pathway that invests in building long-lasting partnerships, recognises the contributions of our donors and supporters and keeps them fully updated with the progress of projects they have supported.
_Support the migration of Development Team records into our new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database, Tessitura, and be responsible for keeping information up to date and easy to find.
_Support the development and implementation of Development team annual strategies and business planning, collating or providing key information to support decision making.
_Work with the Finance Team to develop admin processes and ensure grants and donations are recorded correctly and that figures and financial reports are accurate.
_Provide project management, administrative and organisational support, as a Development Team key contact for the rest of the organisation.
What will you do in this role?
General responsibilities
_Embody and demonstrate our values; Collaborative, Creative, Inquisitive, Playful, Progressive.
_Safeguarding - Responsible for carefully following safeguarding policies and procedures and raising any concerns to your manager or the Designated Safeguarding Officer.
_Fundraising - Promote charity messaging across your area of work wherever possible, with support from the Development and Marketing teams.
_General responsibility for departmental compliance with GDPR.
_Occasional out of hours work and travel to events.
What we’re looking for from you
You do not need to have experience of being a fundraiser to do this role. We welcome applications from anyone who can evidence experience of managing contacts, projects, or accounts in any sector.
Essential
_We are looking for a confident communicator who is comfortable multi-tasking between several projects at once and who has strong administration, project management and organisational skills.
_You will enjoy working across multiple departments and managing multiple internal and external stakeholders’ requirements.
_You have proven experience of being able to work independently and to pro-actively seek out solutions to problems as they arise.
_You will need to have experience of directly managing high profile contacts and/or stakeholders and have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
_You can maintain integrity, sensitivity and discretion in handling confidential information and have some knowledge of data protection procedure.
_You need to already have some knowledge of or be invested in learning more about charity fundraising, however you do not necessarily need to have worked for a charity or culture/heritage organisation before.
Desirable
_Some experience of working with income budgets, audited accounts and internal financial reports.
_Experience of working with CRM databases. We use Tessitura but knowledge of any other database will also be considered.
_A demonstrable interest and commitment to the work we do, within the Development Team but also more generally as a charity, to make science learning more inclusive.
Application process
Deadline for applications: Wednesday 6th March at midnight
Interview date(s) and location: 26th & 27th March
Start date: Monday 29th April
Application process:
If you would like to apply, please complete the application form. It contains questions designed to assess your interest in and suitability for the role.
Please don't send in CVs or cover letters as we don't review them.
We appreciate interviews can be stressful, so we try to make them more of a conversation and a chance for you to tell us about how your skills and interests make you the right person for the role.
If you are invited for an interview, we'll send you the questions that you'll be asked beforehand so that you have time to prepare.
If you have any particular needs or requirements, please do let us know so that we can make the required adjustments.
If you would like to talk about the role or the application process, please email people@wethecurious.org
Support during the process
We The Curious is a Disability Confident Employer and we welcome applications from candidates who self-assess themselves as having a disability. We will guarantee an interview to applicants who advise that they have a disability and who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy. To help you, under the Equality Act 2010 a person is defined as having a disability if a) they have a physical or mental impairment, and b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
We want to work with you to ensure the recruitment process is accessible for you.
If you are disabled, neurodivergent, or if you have a long-term health condition, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes for you.
You’ll have the opportunity to let us know about any adjustments you may need throughout the application and selection process. We’ll continue this conversation if you join us as a staff member, and we’ll work with you to make sure you have the adjustments you need to succeed in your role.
Examples of adjustments could include:
_providing alternative formats at every stage
_options to apply
_extra time for tasks
_providing some extra information about what to expect
_office orientation before an in-person interview.
Including everyone
We value the positive impact greater representation will have on our organisation, programmes and culture. It’s our goal to become an inclusive place to work and for our teams to better reflect our city and the people who visit us.
We welcome applications from people of all lived experiences and particularly those that are not well represented* in the science centre sector.
*By not well represented we mean people with lived experience including but not limited to:
_African and African-Caribbean heritage
_South Asian and East Asian heritage
_Global Majority
_Disabled
_Neurodivergent
_Visually Impaired
_Deaf community
_LGBTQIA+ and/or non-binary
_Working class background
_Didn’t go to university or first in your immediate family to attend University
Working with us
We value the people that work with us. Our staff have access to the following:
Wellbeing & support
_Flexible working
_Hybrid working (if suitable and stated for role)
_Mental Health First Aiders
_Confidential advice & counselling through the Employee Support Programme
Leave
_25 days holiday in addition/including bank holidays (all pro-rata).
Facilities & discounts
_Free entry to the venue at any time with up to four guests, plus 12 additional entry tickets per calendar year to give away.
_20% off in the We The Curious café plus £3 lunch deals
_20% off in our shop
_Range of discounts with local businesses and free entry to other local attractions.
_Free parking
_Secure cycle storage
Pension
_We offer a pension scheme with 5% company contributions.
Death in service benefit
_Four times your annual salary.
New Parent Policy
We are proud to be a family friendly organisation, which is why we work to develop our people practices in line with that value. We have recently introduced a non-gendered approach to Maternity and Paternity, re-branded as our “New Parent Policy”. There are eligibility criteria and terms and conditions, but the key take away is that anyone who is due to become a new parent, regardless of their gender, can take one year off work, and we’ll pay your full salary for the first five months.