Jobs

We’re looking for a ‘Fundraising Officer – Partnerships and Projects’ who shares our passion for inspiring people to find out more about Scotland’s marine environment. We need your help to build support for our wide range of activities that help people to care for and enjoy these special places.

About us

The Scottish Seabird Centre is a national conservation and education charity. Our purpose is to Inspire and educate people about the Scottish marine environment in ways which motivate them to care for it and to participate in conservation activities. Based in North Berwick, East Lothian we overlook the marine environment of the Firth of Forth and its internationally important breeding seabird colonies. We welcome over 160,000 visitors each year to our Centre.

You would be joining us at an exciting time as we develop a wider range of conservation, education and engagement activities that are delivered at the Centre and through our marine outreach and digital programmes. These activities are geared to contribute to cross-society efforts to improve ocean literacy and to tackle the twin nature and climate crises in ways that help Scotland’s seas to recover.

We have four key pillars to our work:
• Conservation we develop, practically undertake, and promote models of conservation best practice and citizen science.
• Education we deliver education programmes, science resources and events and use innovative ways to provide information on the marine environment.
• Communities we work in partnership with diverse communities including enhancing the experience for visitors to North Berwick.
• Experience we offer a 5-star, year-round visitor experience that helps people to make informed choices about the management of the marine environment.

Our charitable work is supported by our not-for-profit Trading Company Scottish Seabird Centre Limited and our 5-star visitor attraction which provides a valuable resource for members and visitors.

Role profile

The Fundraising Officer will work collaboratively with members of the senior management team, and activity leads, to identify and progress opportunities to secure support (~£520k annual target) for our core activities and projects. The primary focus of the role is on project and partnership funding (e.g. charitable foundations, trusts, statutory and lottery), although support for digital fundraising campaigns and legacy are also responsibilities for this role.

Principal duties

1. Create compelling pitches that make a strong case to support our activities which are designed to inspire people to get more involved in caring for Scotland’s marine environment.
2. Undertake ‘horizon scanning’ to identify funding opportunities, across different sectors, and develop a multi-year funding pipeline.
3. Support, with activity leads, the co-creation of impactful projects with key partners and lead and/or contribute to the preparation of joint funding bids with them.
4. Work with our Finance and Business Support Team to produce accurate project budgets, financial forecasts, and a risk assessment of our funding pipeline against in year targets.
5. Establish and maintain good relationships with funders, providing them with timely and informative progress reports that meet their specified requirements.
6. Support the development of our approach to measuring and evaluating the impact of our activities, including leading the preparation of our 6-monthly impact report and case studies.
7. Develop your networks and identify and support key engagement opportunities, including supporting events (volunteer led, membership and stakeholder) led by the Charity.
8. Identify opportunities for, and create project stories and resources, for targeted digital fundraising campaigns and for our website and digital channels.
9. Develop opportunities to promote in memorium gifts and legacy pledge support and, with our marketing team, help promote these.
10. Be familiar with fundraising management systems (ours is Raiser’s Edge NXT) and maintain our data and use it to provide information and management reports.
11. Comply with all Scottish Seabird Centre policies and practices for a safe and healthy working environment and fundraising regulation and data protection (GDPR) practices.
12. Seek opportunities to undertake professional development so that you are well-versed on best practice in the industry.

Essential skills and experience

• A passion for, caring for Scotland’s nature and engaging people and communities in this.
• An ability to create an impactful pitch for support and with an eye for the detail at the project bid writing stage.
• Effective networker and communicator, in both written and verbal forms.
• Flexible and resilient, able to collaborate and contribute to the overall team effort.
• Experience of managing relationships with funders and/or key stakeholders.
• Numerically literate with an ability to prepare and present accurate budgets.
• Good organisational and administrative skills with an ability to manage and prioritise workload to meet deadlines.
• Competent IT skills with strong working knowledge of MS Office programmes and confidence navigating and adapting to new/different online systems.

Desirable skills and experience
• Experience working in fundraising and/or non-profit contract administration, including the preparation of funding applications and complex bids.
• Working knowledge of CRM systems/ experience of working with fundraising databases.

Our values

Our values underpin everything we do. We take pride in bringing these to life in all that we do. We are:
• PASSIONATE about Scotland’s coastal and marine environment.
• INSPIRE others to explore and care for Scotland’s coastal and marine environment.
• INNOVATE with the approaches we use to engage with people.
• COLLABORATE with local and national partners to convey the importance of Scotland’s marine environment.
• INFORMED about the current health of Scotland’s marine wildlife and habitats and the actions required to protect it.
• TRUSTWORTHY providing reliable information and acting with integrity and without bias.

Performance

Will be measured against clearly defined measurable and challenging goals.

Benefits

• Working for a successful conservation and education charity in a stunning location.
• Pension available.
• Training and development opportunities.
• 20% discount in the charity’s Gift Shop and Seabird Café.
• 10% discount on the Scottish Seabird Centre boat trips.
• Free entry to the Discovery Experience, for you and family members (restrictions on numbers apply).
• Free access to a range of Scottish visitor attractions with an Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions card.
• Free access/ special offers for a range of East Lothian attractions with an East Lothian Tourism Attraction Group card.

Application Deadline: Wednesday 15/03/2023