Back Fundraising Assistant

IRC Background

Over the past 85 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

The International Rescue Committee UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its headquarters in New York and London. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 22 regional offices in cities across the United States, the IRC also helps refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

IRC-UK

Our European headquarters, IRC-UK, was established in London in 1997 to support the organisation’s global activities and particularly to diversify its donor base and to better advocate with European policy-makers on behalf of the people we serve. Since its establishment IRC-UK has grown rapidly and is now acknowledged for its high-quality project management, technical expertise in governance and rights and economic recovery, and innovative thinking on early recovery and gender-based violence. IRC-UK comprises approximately 120 staff. The IRC also has offices in Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Geneva and Stockholm

Job Overview

The Mass Market team’s mission is to inspire the UK public to financially support the IRC in order to help people impacted by conflict and disaster. The main purpose of this role is to support the Mass Markets team to deliver income-generating campaigns and activity. **

As the Fundraising Assistant, you will play a key role in supporting the team in delivering marketing activity across both Acquisition and Retention income streams. You will also be responsible for all supporter enquiries, delivering a first class supporter experience across all channels and donor segments.

Key accountabilities

Supporter Care

· Be the point of contact for all supporters, including our new and existing cash, regular givers and mid-value donors and provide first-class supporter care experience

· Act as lead in our multi-channel supporter care communications via telephone, email and post, utilising existing supporter care knowledge base and procedures

· Respond to all supporter enquiries in a timely, friendly and professional manner and ensuring interactions are logged on the CRM

· Monitor and respond to online comments and inbox messages across our social media platforms in response to our acquisition activity

· Liaise with Acquisition and Retention teams to ensure response handling and supporter enquiries are streamlined during campaign activity

· Assist in the ongoing development of our supporter journeys and ensure our communications when thanking and acknowledging gifts are up to date and engaging

· Liaise with community fundraising supporters and provide encouragement, fundraising support and assistance across fundraising platforms

· Audit outbound telemarketing activity to monitor quality and compliance

· Monitor and report on supporter care KPIs for internal stakeholders

· Act as an escalation for complaints and keep log for monitoring purposes

· Work closely with the gift processing team to ensure gifts and supporter enquiries are processed in a timely manner

· Work closely with equivalent teams in other national markets (i.e. Germany, Sweden, US) and the International Operations team to ensure all engagement is coordinated, and where appropriate, synchronised.

Financial administration

· Be responsible for the UK Mass Markets team expenditure tracking, invoice processing and reconciliation**

· Support the team in financial reporting, feeding into the Acquisition and Retention Marketing Manager’s regular monthly reporting**

· Focus on maximising return on investment at all times, and make suggestions for contingency action as necessary to achieve budgeted income target**

· Provide feedback from supporters and feed into quarterly planning sessions, ensuring all work is aligned with UK Mass Markets strategic objectives **

Campaign support

· Support the Acquisition and Retention teams in campaign periods including campaign planning, delivery and post-campaign analysis

· Be responsible for ordering, maintaining and fulfilling stock for campaigns

· Provide campaign execution support during emergency appeals across several channels including email, direct mail, social media and telemarketing

· Co-ordinate and distribute weekly campaign reports to internal stakeholders

· Support teams in creating end of campaign reports to ensure all relevant information is documented and used to inform future activity

· Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current GDPR data protection legislation and work with the Acquisition and Retention Marketing Manager to ensure all retention activity is compliant

Team support and administration

· Be responsible for team meetings, schedules and agenda

· Record and circulate minutes in meeting

· Be the point of contact for the team across departments and markets

General

· Keep up to date with the sector developments in individual giving and digital fundraising to ensure IRC is at the forefront of fundraising developments.

· Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current legislation, best practice and industry standards and adhere to all relevant regulation including the Fundraising Regulator and ICO. Work with the Acquisition Marketing Manager and the Retention Marketing Manager to ensure all fundraising and marketing is ethical, effective and supporter centric

· Undertake any other additional tasks as requested by the Head of Mass Markets, the Acquisition Marketing Manager or the Retention Marketing Manager

Person specification:

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Driven and proactive with a solutions-based attitude
• Excellent organisational skills, especially the ability to manage a complex, varied and substantial workload
• A team player who enjoys working collaboratively and supporting colleagues
• Excellent verbal and written English and the ability to produce well designed and high-quality marketing copy and reports.
• Numerate with excellent data interpretation skills
• Commercial mindset, with the ability to balance both long-term and short-term activity and objectives
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the confidence to engage with supporters over the phone

· Excellent IT skills including digital marketing tools, including email marketing software and Microsoft packages (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook)

Experience:

• Supporter care, sales representative, or customer-facing experience in person, online or by phone
• Experience or understanding of Individual Giving programmes
• Understanding of cash and recurring revenue business models
• Experience of working in a fast-paced, high performing team
• Experience working for a centralised, international organisation
• Experience using a CRM system

Skills and Attributes:

Language Skills: English (fluent). No additional languages are necessary but German or Swedish would be an advantage.