Regular & Digital Giving Officer

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and is recognised as a leading global university. The Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) exists to support the academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University's strategic priorities.

Role Summary

The Regular & Digital Giving Officer role is an opportunity to be a part of a dynamic and innovative team and to take the University's Regular Giving programme to the next level. The role is responsible for supporting the planning, delivery and evaluation of the University's Regular Giving programme, including the annual Telethon campaign, Birmingham Gives (Giving Day), multi-channel fundraising appeals and digital fundraising initiatives, and providing excellent stewardship to donors, ambassadors and student fundraisers to maximise engagement and fundraising income.

Main Duties

- Responsibility for the set-up and day-to-day coordination of the University's annual Telethon campaign and its student workforce, including Call Room Supervisors and Student Callers. This includes coordinating recruitment, training and campaign logistics, managing and motivating the student team, monitoring campaign performance against targets, and overseeing donor follow-up communications, including pledge reminders, thank-you videos and email stewardship, to ensure the successful delivery of the campaign. Work flexibility is required throughout the duration of the Telethon, as the role involves attending late shifts and one weekend training session.

- Assist the Head of Regular Giving with the planning and delivery of Digital Fundraising campaigns, including Giving Days, Fundraising Emails as well as Digital Giving platforms. Develop and build engaging Fundraising pages on the website to maximise online donations.

- Provide bespoke guidance and advice for community fundraisers (alumni, staff and students) and administer the Just Giving page and any other digital fundraising platforms.

- Identify compelling donor case studies and create impactful digital content for social media and digital giving platforms.

- Work with the Head of Regular Giving, the Donor Experience Team, the Data Team and the Comms Team to develop and deploy stewardship programmes, including onboarding, retention and upgrade journeys for regular givers.

- Work closely with the Legacy and Endowment Manager, and the Philanthropy Team to identify match funding for calling and digital campaigns.

- Undertake data analysis to understand campaign performance and donor behaviour and motivations to help grow the regular giving programme and act on any trends or recommendations.

- Act as the first point of contact for incoming Regular Giving donor queries and use of DARO's CRM system to keep records up to date including recording interactions with alumni and supporters, ensuring data is recorded to a high-quality standard and in line with relevant policies and regulations, and that all gifts are logged accurately and acknowledged/thanked in a timely manner.

- Ensure that all Regular Giving telephone and online fundraising campaigns are delivered on time and within budget and that internal finance procedures are followed at all times. This will include working closely with the Gift Accounting Team.

- Understand the relevant charity, Freedom of Information, and Data Protection legislation making sure all fundraising campaigns are GDPR compliant.

- Create informative and supportive external professional relationships within the HE (Regular Giving) sector and the wider charity sector to gain information and intelligence to keep abreast of the latest developments in the sector.

- Fosters a fair and equitable workplace for all staff.

- Identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant university policies and procedures.

- Supports the University's sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

- Educated to degree level or equivalent experience; where no equivalent qualification is held, significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required.

- Experience of working in fundraising for Higher Education (HE) or the charity sector, preferably in Regular Giving or Individual Giving.

- Knowledge of coaching and leading others, preferably students telephone fundraisers through work assignments, ongoing developmental discussions, and constructive feedback.

- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to interact effectively with a wide range of audiences including senior colleagues, donors, alumni, academics, students, and external organisations.

- Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with other members of DARO and the wider University with the desire to support colleagues in the achievement of their individual and collective goals.

- Strong communication skills including the ability to prepare and present information and reports for a range of audiences.

- Proven analytical skills with experience of working with databases and analysis of large data sets; knowledge of Blackbaud CRM is desirable.

- Demonstrably high level of organisation skills and strong attention to detail with experience in coordinating and prioritising multiple projects and the ability to work under pressure.

- Good all-round IT skills including competence with all aspects of MS Office (especially Excel), email, the internet and virtual meeting platforms.

- Familiarity with managing different digital fundraising platforms.

- Knowledge of the Direct Debit process is desirable.

- Awareness of the relevant charity, Freedom of Information, GDPR and Data Protection legislation.

- Knowledge of the protected characteristics and duties under the Equality Act 2010, including fostering good relations and advancing the University's Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Benefits

The University offers 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. There are three high quality subsidised day nurseries on campus. The University's Birmingham Professional programme provides all professional services staff with development opportunities. The campus is situated in leafy Edgbaston with excellent transport links, a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, an art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.