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Research Officer

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Oct 29, 2018

Job Details

Job Purpose

Are you passionate about prospect research and analysing data to help deliver charitable projects? Do you want to be part of the largest fundraising and volunteering campaign ever undertaken in the Midlands? We are now in the planning stages of our next campaign. Inspired by our founder, Joseph Chamberlain, it will aim to change lives locally and globally. It will be unique and ambitious and will place Birmingham as one of the leading fundraising and volunteering universities in the world. 
We are looking for a Research Officer to join our highly successful prospect research team working in partnership with fundraisers all over the globe. You will provide insight and advice on high value donors, trusts, foundations, corporations and other organizations, collating and reviewing data and writing concise and informative reports for the fundraising team and senior stakeholders within the University. You will proactively identify new prospects ensuring that biographical information is accurate and up-to-date. Other responsibilities include leading on the improvement and expansion of core research processes, for example the management of prospect pools and portfolios, and administering the philanthropic due diligence process. 
Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village' in the 1960s. In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, which raised £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London. 
The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in its local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015. We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 11 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to prevent global health epidemics, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from disadvantaged backgrounds, one of the highest proportions in the UK. 
The Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) exists to support this 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. The Office, which is comprised of 50 staff across five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research trials, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships. 

 

Person Specification
Knowledge and experience 

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent. 
  • A passion for and commitment to the role that philanthropy plays in the sector. 
  • A good understanding of the fundraising process in order to focus prospect research efforts to help DARO achieve fundraising targets. 
  • A good understanding of the principles of philanthropic analysis, relationship mapping and connections, and what makes a good fundraising prospect for the University of Birmingham. 
  • Knowledge of fundraising or relationship management software used within DARO, for example Raisers Edge or Blackbaud CRM, as well as an understanding of effective management of information and data within databases for ease of searching, analysing, updating, and reporting. 
  • Strong knowledge and understanding of Data Protection regulations and ethical prospect research practices, particularly GDPR and the Fundraising Regulator Code of Practice. 
  • Good knowledge and understanding of due diligence needs and processes. 
  • Good knowledge and understanding of Freedom of Information requests.
  • Strong IT skills including competence with all aspects of MS Office, excel, email and the internet in order to support different elements of prospect research (e.g. data analysis). 
  • Desirable: knowledge of prospect pool/portfolio management process (e.g. using reporting and analysis to monitor pool/portfolio size and keep track of prospects being qualified, progressed, or disqualified in portfolios/pools with fundraisers). 

 

Strategic thinking & perspective 

  • A good understanding of how prospect research and general research support aligns with DARO and the wider University strategy. 
  • An understanding, interest and empathy for academic affairs and culture and the workings and decision making processes of Higher Education institutions. 

 

Communication & collaboration 

  • Strong verbal communication and interpersonal skills to effectively deal with people at all levels. 
  • An ability to negotiate, motivate, and influence. 
  • Personal confidence and the ability to work independently and decisively, as well as working collaboratively with colleagues as part of a team. 
  • Strong written and report-writing abilities in order to write concisely and present information clearly and objectively for senior DARO and University staff. 
  • Methodical and meticulous with strong attention to detail. 
  • Excellent customer service skills with a can-do approach to building partnerships and supporting the needs of colleagues. 

 


Planning and Organising 

  • The ability to plan, prioritise, and manage own workload to meet agreed deadlines. 
  • The ability work flexibly and respond effectively to changing and conflicting priorities.

 

Problem solving and decision making 

  • Strong analytical and research skills, including the ability to collect, assess and analyse information rapidly, identifying key points and drawing conclusions. Willingness to challenge and verify the accuracy of information obtained. 
  • The ability to work with initiative, solve problems and think laterally. 
  • The ability to adopt innovative and creative approaches to problem solving. 

 

Futher information

Informal enquiries can be made to Heather Owen Email: h.r.owen@bham.ac.uk Telephone: 0121 4158752 


All applicants should include with their application a statement of no more than 500 words that answers the question “What attracted you to this role?” This is an integral part of the application process and we will not consider applicants that do not provide the statement requested. 


Interviews will be held week commencing 19 November 2018.

 

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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