Fundraising Assistant

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About Wikimedia UK

Wikimedia UK is the UK charity that promotes and supports Wikipedia, its sister projects, and other open educational resources in the UK. "Open" refers to information which is available for copying, reuse and modification, including for commercial uses, without cost or restriction other than attribution. Following the principles of Wikipedia, we are a volunteer-led organisation, and volunteers have a central role in all our activities.

We were established in 2008 and are one of around forty similar associations in countries around the world, recognised by the Wikimedia Foundation but operationally and legally independent. We work with individuals, museums, universities, businesses and media companies to make freely licensed content available and to help other people re-use open content. We seek to have a close relationship with other open content organizations in the UK, and with the global community of Wikimedia readers and editors.

Our annual income is around £750,000 and we are approaching 300 members. There are approximately 15,000 people in the UK who regularly contribute to Wikimedia projects. With ambitious plans for growth and an active Board of Trustees, we are entering an exciting new phase in our development. It is a particularly exciting year for us as the UK will be playing host to the annual Wikimania conference in August at the Barbican in London.

Our fundraising activities are expanding considerably and as a result of this we are looking for someone to support our Fundraising manager. Their role will be to support the delivery of the Wikimedia UK fundraising programme in particular working with our donors and undertaking the essential administrative tasks involved with donor stewardship. We would particularly welcome applicants with an understanding of, and experience of our mission.

Applications are welcome. The closing date is 5pm BST on 1st of August 2014. Applications cannot be accepted after that date.

Job details

This is a temporary contract until January 31st 2015. It may be renewable based on evaluation of its effect.

Job Description

Job Title:	Fundraising Assistant
Hours:	Full time (35 hours per week)
Location:	Central London
Timescale:	Fixed term contract until 31st January 2015
Remuneration:	c.£22,000 p.a. depending on experience
Pension:	WMUK offers a pension scheme, with 6% employer pension contributions
Benefits:	25 days annual leave (pro rata) plus public holidays
Purpose of job:	To provide administrative and financial support for Wikimedia UK fundraising activities

Duties and responsibilities

• To act as a first point of contact to donors or funding partners approaching the Charity’, whether by telephone, email, in writing or in person
• Ensure that fundraising queries are responded to in a timely manner, guided by the Fundraising manager
• Administration of gifts, including managing cancellations, refunds and upgrade requests.
• To directly support the Fundraising manager in producing that charity’s gift aid claims.
• To provide professional administrative support to the smooth operation of the charity’s fundraising, including stewardship of major donors and answering donor queries
• To provide the administrative support involved in the WMUK fundraising programme, including assisting other staff, members or trustees to achieve a wide range of fundraising projects in furtherance of the Charity’s aims and objectives.
• To assist in the development and commissioning of stewardship and campaign materials to support individual giving programmes
• To assist in the delivery of donor-focused events
• This is an outline job description and should not be regarded as an inflexible specification. Priorities may change along with service needs and new duties introduced after consultation with the post holder

Person specification

Skills/abilities:

• An understanding of the fundraising needs of the charity and constitution of its donor base.
• An understanding of their aims and ambitions of the charity.
• Ability to communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing to varying levels of need, including reporting metrics.
• Ability to handle basic financial information, input financial data to a high degree of accuracy and work with spreadsheets including records of donations
• Ability to work tactfully, sensitively and effectively, as part of a team and with a wide range of individuals.
• Ability to prioritise workload and work under own initiative. This will be important as the line manager will be based off-site
• Familiarity with basic office IT packages. Experience with open source software would be welcomed.

Knowledge:

• Understanding of and empathy for Wikimedia movement’s mission to help people and organisations build and preserve open knowledge to share and use freely.
• How to edit Wikipedia or its sister websites

Experience:

• Book-keeping, using spreadsheets and manipulating financial information for reporting and analysis
• Administrative record keeping, processes and accountability.
• Event support, in particular liaison between venues, stakeholders and attendees
• Producing donors profiles for individuals and organisations based on prospect research
• Use of contact management systems to manage events and contact records and maintaining payment processing linked to these.
• Use of email inbox management systems for responding to queries

Equal Opportunities:

• An understanding of and commitment to Wikimedia UK's Equal Opportunities Policies in both services to members and employment.

Other Factors:

• Commitment to using open source information technology.
• Commitment to transparent working practices

Qualifications:

• We are looking for someone with education up to A level or equivalent.
• You must be eligible to work in the UK.

Application process

How to apply: Please download the application form (Word, Open Office, PDF) and send a completed copy to: richard.nevellwikimedia.org.uk with 'Wikimedia UK Fundraising Assistant' in the subject line.

Deadline: August 1st 2014 at 5pm BST.

Please ensure you give details of why you feel you would be the best candidate for this post with reference to the key tasks and your relevant experience, using examples. Please also explain your understanding of and commitment to the Wikimedia ethos with personal examples to demonstrate this. We will need two referees whom we can approach.

Background information

• Equal Opportunities: Wikimedia UK has a commitment to achieving equality of opportunity in both services to our members and clients, and in the employment of people, and expects all employees and volunteers to understand and promote its policies in their own work. Our office is fully accessible, and all reasonable adjustments will be made to ensure equality of opportunity for applicants, employees and volunteers.
• Fire, Health and Safety: Wikimedia UK is committed to a healthy and safe working environment and expects all its employees to consider and integrate health and safety in all work activities.
• Data Protection: Wikimedia UK holds sensitive data on its members, volunteers, donors and those using its services. All employees are required to maintain an awareness of data protection responsibilities and to execute all relevant duties with tact, discretion and due respect to confidentiality of clients, members and staff.