Development Manager

Art UK Development Manager

Would you like to work at a dynamic national arts charity? We need your fundraising skills to help deliver our mission to bring art to everyone.

We’re looking for an energetic Development Manager to join our friendly and dedicated team. In this role, you will take a lead in securing grants from trusts, foundations and public sector bodies, as well as helping with our corporate and individual giving programmes to support Art UK’s important work. You’ll be working within a small fundraising team, liaising directly with the Director and Trustees.

About Art UK

Art UK’s mission is to open up art in public collections for enjoyment, learning and research. We do this through digitising the nation’s art so it can be shared by everyone. Our website was launched in 2016 and already includes over 200,000 artworks from 3,200 collections up and down the country. Around 40,000 artists are represented so far. Originally focused on oil paintings, our scope has recently widened to include prints, drawings and watercolours.

Our current major project is documenting and digitising the nation’s sculptures – both in collections and in public spaces. This exciting project has major funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is due to be completed in 2020.

In addition to digitising artworks, we tell the stories behind the art and artists – from the Old Masters to the forgotten and neglected. Through this work, and collaborating with partners across the sector, we engage a variety of audiences with the cultural heritage that they own.

A key focus over the next few years will be growing our online learning resources to share with young audiences, and growing our commercial platform in order to generate revenue for participating collections and Art UK.

By giving all public collections across the UK a shared digital platform, we allow them to showcase their artworks to audiences in the UK and to the wider world.

Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (109685). For more information, please visit our website.

About you

You will already have experience of successfully raising funding from grant-giving trusts and ideally other areas of fundraising experience. You will be a good communicator with excellent writing skills, well organised, brimming with enthusiasm and full of initiative. You will be interested in art and be excited about working in a young digital organisation that is transforming access to the nation’s art.

At Art UK you will be well-supported within a team focused on achieving Art UK’s development ambitions, comprising:
- the Director, Trustees and Fundraising Board
- a senior fundraising consultant who works for the organisation a few days per month
- your direct report, the Development Coordinator, whose focus is researching prospects, managing data and running events for Art UK

Longer term, you will have the opportunity to play a key role in developing the fundraising strategy for the organisation.

Key responsibilities

- Identifying and raising core and project funding from large and small grant-giving charitable trusts and public sector bodies
- Working with colleagues to develop proposals tailored to donor/funder interests
- Drafting high-quality applications for funding
- Developing and maintaining strong relationships with donors
- Writing regular and thorough reports for grant makers and other donors
- Working with the Director and wider team to identify and help raise funds from corporates and individuals
- Managing the Benefactor scheme that raises funding from individuals and corporates
- Keeping high quality database records of financial support and donor contacts
- Keeping colleagues and Trustees updated on funding progress
- Working closely with a senior fundraising consultant
- Line managing the Development Coordinator

Necessary skills

- Essential: Ideally, the candidate should have at least 2 years’ experience working in development, preferably with a focus on making applications to grant-giving trusts and ideally some wider experience including raising funding from individuals, corporates or the public sector
- Essential: Proven experience of researching grant funders, writing successful funding applications and proposals, and producing update reports for donors
- Essential: First-class written and spoken communication skills and the confidence to engage and work effectively with a range of external contacts and prospects
- Essential: Proven ability to communicate persuasively with individuals and groups with an overriding enthusiasm for selling causes that matter
- Essential: Experience of working with CRM databases
- Essential: Well-organised, able to work simultaneously on a range of different projects; fastidious about keeping good data records
- Essential: Extremely well-motivated; brimming with energy and initiative; with the ability to multi-task and prioritise workloads
- Essential: Ability to work independently and as part of a small team.
- Essential: Active interest in the visual arts
- Desirable: Line management experience
- Desirable: Experience working with Arts Council England and other statutory funders

Contract terms and benefits

- Full-time, permanent position
- Salary £30,000-£35,000 per annum, depending on skills and experience
- Three-month probationary period
- Two-month termination clause
- Five weeks annual leave plus English Bank Holidays
- Based at the Art UK Head Office in central London
- Opportunities for flexible working hours

Application

To apply, please send CV and covering letter by email to Lauren Colley by 9am on Wednesday 8th August 2018. First interviews will be held in London Wednesday 15th August, and the interview will include a short test. Successful candidates will be invited to attend a second interview on Tuesday 21st August. 

If you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful.