Development Manager (Merseyside)

Job title: Development Manager

Reporting to: Regional Manager

Location: Hybrid/ Knowsley-Liverpool

Contract type: Permanent              

Hours per week: 35 hours Full Time       

Salary & Grade: £30,598-£32,208

About FareShare

Our Vision: A UK where “No good food goes to waste”. 

We are UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, made up of 18 independent organisations. Together, we take good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and get it to approximately 8,500 frontline charities and community groups.  Every week we provide enough food to create almost a million meals for vulnerable people.

There has never been a more exciting time to join an organisation at the heart of public consciousness.  For more information visit:  www.fareshare.org.uk

FareShare is an equal opportunity employer, and we welcome applications from all backgrounds and abilities and as a Disability Confident Employer, we provide reasonable adjustments.

We aim to recruit from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our commitment to redistributing surplus food, come and join us!

The role

This is an exciting time to join FareShare as we enter a period of expansion, recruiting to three identical roles across FareShare UK-owned sites in Merseyside, East Anglia (Ipswich) and Southern Central (Hampshire). These roles, reporting into the Regional Manager of each site, have been created to sustain, and in time, increase the financial sustainability of these operations. Whilst the income generating opportunities may vary by area, you will become a support team to one another.

Each post holder will be expected to build positive working relationships with the local on-site team and be embedded in the FareShare operation at their respective site.

These new roles will also enable FareShare UK to test a regionally-led approach to income generation, testing new initiatives and ways of working. In collaboration with the Senior Network Fundraising Manager, these learnings will help inform our work with the wider network of FareShare network partners who operate across the country.

Main areas of responsibility

As the Development Manager in FareShare Merseyside, you will be responsible for driving income generation and raising awareness of FareShare’s work in the region. This includes the development of a fundraising strategy, the prospecting and securing of new partnerships and funding, with oversight and responsibility of all income generating streams.

The key focus of the role will be:

• Developing a strategy for growth: Lead the development and execution of a fundraising and income generation strategy to grow FareShare Merseyside’s partnerships and income streams. You will use your business development skills to develop meaningful and impactful funding propositions to attract and retain supporters.
• Ensure a diverse income portfolio: You will use your knowledge and experience of income generation within Merseyside, to increase funding from across multiple income streams, offering opportunities to give which appeal to the local community – this could include from trusts and foundations, local/ regional businesses, fundraising and awareness-raising events, individual giving and major donors.
• Stewardship and relationship management: You will deliver a positive experience for any funder or supporter of FareShare Merseyside, and by doing so, maximise on their potential lifetime value.
• Mutually beneficial partnerships: You will work closely with key funders to develop partnerships that are about more than just income, ensuring that our goals, as well as theirs, are met.
• An innovation mindset: You will take the lead in reviewing new fundraising ideas and opportunities, creating business cases where needed. You will develop a pipeline of income generation opportunities, ensuring FareShare Merseyside is set-up for long-term growth.
• Using data and insights: You’ll use data to drive decision-making across all income streams, frequently looking for ways to innovate and diversify funding sources, evaluating the impact of your work, with a willingness to change and adapt your approach.

What this looks like day-to-day

• Build and manage a portfolio of high value strategic partners and funders to support FareShare Merseyside’s growth, with development plans in place for all key relationships.
• Oversee the development of a healthy pipeline of funding prospects, with an eye on ensuring long-term sustainability and multi-year funding and partnerships.
• Work closely with colleagues across the organisation to identify new income generating opportunities – across both high value and public fundraising.
• Identify and set-up new income streams to ensure a healthy income mix that is not over-reliant on one income source or type.
• Maintain effective systems for managing funding partnerships and other income streams, using tools like Salesforce to keep financial and partnership records up-to-date.
• Lead the onboarding of new funders and partners including contract negotiation and due diligence.

In addition, you will...

• Work within regulatory guidelines to ensure you are fundraising legally and responsibly.
• Be mindful of, and help drive FareShare Merseyside’s commitments to reducing carbon emissions and waste.
• Manage and work within FareShare’s IT systems and other key policies.
• Undertake training and skills development and adopt a continuous learning approach to your work, particularly in light of these being new roles.
• Undertake other duties as required.

This role is likely to involve meeting with funders, supporters and partners across the region – both on and off-site. The ability to travel when needed would be helpful, but there is flexibility in how this is managed/ achieved.

What you’ll bring to the role

We have listed below, the experience and attributes we’re looking for, but we understand that not everyone will tick every box. So don’t worry. If you can demonstrate the core competencies, and more importantly, have the drive and passion for the role – we’d still love to hear from you. We’re committed to supporting your development in the areas where you may have less experience.

• A proven track record in developing and managing funding partnerships in either the charity or commercial sector.
• In your career, you have engaged, managed and grown relationships with funders/ partners, increasing their financial support over time.
• You have worked on partnerships that deliver both financial and non-financial value and understand all the possible ways in which a company can support a charity’s work, including cause-related marketing campaigns and volunteering.
• Experience of income generation within a charitable setting with demonstrable results from at least two of the following income streams: Trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships, major donor, individual giving, community and events fundraising.
• The ability to develop and execute fundraising strategies, turning them into successful operational plans.
• You’re an excellent communicator – both written and verbal and can win hearts and minds, both internally and externally.
• You know how to use data to make informed decisions and spot new opportunities.
• An ability to manage multiple projects and strands of work simultaneously.
• You have experience in influencing and managing people, building strong internal relationships to deliver results.

If you have skills and experience in these other areas, we’d love to hear about them, as we believe they’ll help you in the role… but these are a nice-to-haves and not an essential part of our criteria.

• Knowledge of the funding landscape within the Merseyside area.
• Experience of working in a federated or network organisation.
• Experience of working in a dotted line or matrix management structure.
• Experience of working in a predominantly volunteer-led organisation.    

• Hybrid/ flexible working
• 28 days of annual leave + 8 Bank Holidays
• Employer's pension contribution
• Employee Assistance Program
• Interest free bicycle purchase loan scheme
• Season ticket loan

Closing date for receipt of applications is Monday, 10 March 2025

First stage interviews are likely to take place on Wednesday, 19 March 2025

For any further questions on this, please email recruitment@fareshare.org.uk