Development Executive

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Development Team at The Lyceum. The Development Executive is an important role within the team, which focusses on developing and maximising income for The Lyceum from trusts and foundations, private donors and corporate sponsors.

Main purpose of the post

To work alongside the Development Director and Development Assistant to ensure the delivery of The Lyceum’s Development strategy. An important role within the team, this role will focus on developing and maximising income for The Lyceum from trusts and foundations, private donors and corporate sponsors. The Development team has secured a significant rise in revenue over recent years, there is however the potential and need for substantial further growth in fundraising income for future development of The Lyceum. As a member of a small team, the successful applicant will be expected to assist in all areas of fundraising.

Key responsibilities

General

• Support the Development Director in the delivery of The Lyceum’s Development Strategy
• Effectively communicate The Lyceum’s fundraising messages both internally and externally to key stakeholders, including The Lyceum’s audiences and supporters.
• Represent The Lyceum as appropriate including attending The Lyceum’s performances and Development events, working outside of normal office hours when needed.

Trusts and Foundations

• Take the lead in running a continued programme of identifying and researching trusts and foundations that are not currently supporting The Lyceum, thereby ensuring a suitable pool of potential funders is available. Match The Lyceum’s objectives to trust guidelines and build a case for support.
• Write applications and reports to existing Trust donors, and review guidelines in order to submit future applications for funding.
• Research areas of The Lyceum’s work that require funding, to build on generic trust proposals.

Individual giving

• Provide a first class stewardship service for all levels of individual supporters of The Lyceum.
• Assist in the development and promotion of The Lyceum’s Fundraising activities
• Support the Director in developing potential high-level donor relationships and inform Development Director of new prospect supporters.

Corporate sponsorship

• Assist in the research, maintenance and development of new and existing relationships with corporate sponsors, actively seeking to increase support
• Assist with the development of The Lyceum’s corporate partnership packages, building standard corporate agreements that can be adapted as required.
• Contribute to maintaining a constant feed of new corporate prospects, by researching and identifying CSR and brand alignment trends and aligning these with The Lyceum’s activity
• In conjunction with the Director, create a suite of event outlines and dates for the Development Assistant to coordinate and deliver

Other

• Assist Development Director as required with reconciling income and expenditure, and maintaining budgets.
• Play an active role in reviewing agreed targets, recording successes and identifying weaknesses to assess Development targets on a regular basis with the Development Director.

• Take a lead in work closely with The Lyceum’s Communication team to meet copy deadlines, and to maximise and identify media and PR opportunities for donor recruitment and acknowledgement.
• Actively participate in team meetings and Development action plans.
• Any other duties as requested by the Development Director.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Qualifications/Experience

Essential

• Experience in fundraising, including asking for donations or experience in a sales environment, including closing
• Experience in relationship management business models
• A passion for the arts

Desirable

• Familiarity with fundraising database software
• Experience of developing and delivering fundraising literature
• Event planning experience

Personal qualities

• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrable verbal and written communication skills with the ability to deal calmly, confidently and positively with people at all levels internally and externally.
• Excellent attention to detail in all aspects of work.
• Ability to work under pressure, prioritise projects and work to deadlines.
• Flexibility of approach to evening and weekend work as required.
• A high level of computer literacy.
• Excellent research skills.
• Excellent customer care and networking skills.
• Enjoys working as part of a team and supporting colleagues, while able to work on their own initiative and be proactive.
• Highly motivated and relishes working within a goal-orientated environment.
• A high level of professionalism, and respect for donor confidentiality.
• A commitment to continual professional development.
• A tenacious and creative approach to tasks.