Relationship Manager

Job Description: Relationship Manager 

Reports to: Chief Executive

Hours: Full time

Place of Work: Central London

Salary: £35,000 – £45,000 depending on experience

Start date: Autumn 2023

Do you enjoy building and managing strong relationships?

Are you thoughtful and emotionally intelligent?

Do you have the drive and energy we need to help us transform lives and society?

The Fore is recruiting a Relationship Manager to join our partnerships team. This exciting role will be responsible for building and managing relationships with some of our most important funding partners. Partners include major corporate businesses, individual philanthropists and family trusts.

About The Fore

The UK faces immense and complex challenges – inequality, poor mental and physical health, injustice, climate change – that top-down interventions are not able to address alone. The answers to many of these problems are already out there – thousands of innovative local charities have scalable solutions that could create the change we need. But barriers to funding and skills stop the best small charities from making the impact society needs.

The Fore’s mission is to turbo-charge exceptional small charities that are transforming lives and society. We select the highest potential small charities and social enterprises, breaking down traditional barriers that have held back many of the best in the past. We source the funding and skills these small charities need and we provide them with a wraparound package of support. Since 2017 we have distributed £8.3 million in funding and 12,500 hours of skilled support to over 500 of the UK’s best small charities. Data shows that what we do works – on average our charities double their income in three years. There are thousands of brilliant charities that need our help.

We’re now recruiting a Relationship Manager to join our partnerships team. 

Purpose of this role

The Relationship Manager will be responsible for the stewardship of our existing partners, ranging from corporate partners, trusts and foundations, individual philanthropists and sector partners. They will also support on business development, helping the Chief Executive to forge new relationships which will unlock further income to support our mission of selecting the best charities and connecting them with grant funding and skills.

Key responsibilities

Partnership management

• Delivering first-class stewardship for existing partners spanning corporations, trusts and foundations, and high-net-worth individuals to maximise ‘repeat business’
• Being the first point of contact for key stakeholders
• Identifying and accommodating partners’ needs and requirements
• Coordinating the corporate volunteering programme
• Reporting against KPIs, bespoke to each funder
• Preparing proposals and pitches, and liaising with partners to renew and expand partnerships
• Preparing engagement plans (delivered through Salesforce) for each partner
• Tracking all incoming donations through Salesforce
• Leading on the delivery of events
• Representing The Fore at partner and other events

Prospect research and business development 

• Tracking prospects and income projection through Salesforce
• Conducting research on prospective donors
• Supporting the Chief Executive and Trustees with materials and business development support to drive up income e.g. high quality briefings
• Supporting on the preparation of proposals, pitches and prospect meetings

Team management

• Managing and developing the partnerships team (direct report of one Partnerships Coordinator)

Building brand awareness

• Working closely with the Chief Executive and Head of Programmes and Impact to ensure our communications and brand activity supports our income generation ambitions

Person specification

Skills and experience

• Strong relationship building and partner cultivation skills
• Strong emotional intelligence – ability to swiftly assess and understand individual motivations and tailor your style and communication
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; ability to present to stakeholders and large audiences online and in person
• Experience of working to targets
• Proficiency in CRM system (ideally Salesforce) to manage and report on activities and prospects
• Experience of delivering the highest levels of stewardship
• Exceptional, adaptable and concise written and verbal communication styles
• Ability to work across teams
• Experience of writing compelling pitches or partnership proposals desirable

We are a lean and nimble organisation, and this is an exciting role in a growing start-up. Responsibilities are therefore likely to change and develop as the organisation moves forward.

Required characteristics

• People person, friendly, enthusiastic and engaging
• Positive and solutions-oriented attitude, with a drive for excellence
• Strong attention to detail and highly professional attitude
• Entrepreneurial, adaptable, creative, emotionally intelligent
• Demonstrable self-starter with excellent follow-through; ability to meet deadlines and work well under pressure
• Commitment to fairness, ethical behaviour, and listening to and valuing others’ opinions
• Awareness of and sensitivity to cultural differences; values diversity and its importance to an organisation’s performance
• A sense of humour and humility

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, and candidates with disabilities.

Terms and conditions 

This role will be full time (for the right candidate there could be flexibility in working hours). This is a permanent contract with a six-month probationary period. This role reports to the Chief Executive.

The role is based in central London. Staff work from the office three days per week.

Holiday: 32 days per year (includes bank holidays and some set days over the Christmas period).

How to apply

Please submit a covering letter or statement (maximum one page) addressed to Mary Rose Gunn, Chief Executive of The Fore, explaining why you would like to work for The Fore and how you think your skills and experience are transferable to the needs of this role.

Please click 'Apply' to send your CV and covering letter to us and complete the anonymous Equal Opportunities form.

Shortlisted candidates will be required to record and submit answers to a couple of introductory questions via a short video.

Deadline for applications: 10am on Friday 22 September 2023.

You can download a copy of the job description from our website here: https://thefore.org/vacancies/