Corporate Partnerships Manager

ABOUT THE HEART OF ENGLAND FOREST

Planting tomorrow’s great native woodland

The Heart of England Forest is an exciting and ambitious charity. We want to help reverse centuries of woodland decline and plant one of the largest forests in England. Our goal is to create a huge, unbroken woodland – a refuge from the modern world where people can rediscover nature and wildlife can flourish. It’s an ambitious vision, which we’re determined to make happen, one tree at a time.

The Heart of England Forest is not only a perfectly positioned lung for the Midlands, but a breath of fresh air for the nation. With over two million new native trees planted so far, we are restoring our native woodland – providing a safe and permanent habitat for wildlife as well as an escape for people from the urban environments surrounding it.

The Forest stretches up the Warwickshire / Worcestershire border, from the present- day borders of Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden to the edge of the Vale of Evesham – the north Cotswolds to south Birmingham. It’s an area dense in cities, towns and industry. Which is why we’re creating a place to walk under shady canopies and through airy glades, away from the bustle of city life.

The UK has less than a third of the native tree cover of many other European countries, including France, Germany and Italy. Planting tomorrow’s great native woodland has already started. With 7,000 acres of land, the Forest currently consists of 600 acres of mature woodland and almost 4,500 acres of new planting. We have planted an incredible 2 million trees so far, that’s over 23% of the way towards our goal of a 30,000-acre forest. But with patience and your support, who knows how far it will grow!

More information can be found at www.heartofenglandforest.org

The role

An integral part of our fundraising team, the Corporate Partnerships Manager will be responsible for growing and retaining our portfolio of corporate supporters alongside identifying, securing, and maximising new corporate partnership opportunities to increase income for the charity.

With support from the Partnerships Director the Corporate Partnerships Manager will be accountable for delivering on the corporate fundraising strategy that includes a corporate giving programme, bespoke partnerships, sponsorships, and corporate volunteering opportunities. You will work with a high level of autonomy but as part of a supportive wider fundraising team to grow corporate support for the charity into a significant and sustainable income stream.

The Corporate Partnerships Manager will be a confident communicator, with excellent interpersonal skills. The role requires you to regularly represent the charity at various levels and so you need to be comfortable networking, presenting, and pitching to secure support. You will have superb relationship building skills and persuasive, engaging and creative writing skills to respond to briefs, engage partners, secure support, as well as celebrate milestones and achievements of partners.

We can offer a flexible approach to working hours and location. Our head office is in the village of Dorsington near Stratford-upon-Avon and we are happy to support home- based working for the right candidate, although regular travel around the Heart of England Forest is essential.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy and Planning

•  With the support of the Partnerships Director, create, implement, and deliver a new and ambitious corporate fundraising action plan that supports our fundraising growth strategy to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of the charity.
•  Implement necessary systems and processes to support the growth of corporate fundraising across the charity.
•  Take a proactive approach to funding trends and initiatives
• Income Generation
•  Identify, research, approach and cultivate new prospects.
•  Manage and develop our existing portfolio of corporate partnerships.
•  Take the lead on developing a strong pipeline of prospects with a view to growing income further.
•  Make appropriate approaches and asks to secure donations from corporate
• donors to achieve targets.
•  Develop new and innovative ways of packaging the Heart of England Forest’s
• work to secure funding and support.

Managing Relationships

•  Ensure the highest standard of account management to support excellent multi-faceted relationships and cultivate long term partnerships.
•  Update and maintain our supporter database, ensuring all information relating to corporate partners and prospects is accurate and up to date and adheres to data protection legislation and best practice.
•  Work closely with fundraising colleagues to cultivate a supportive and collaborative fundraising team.
•  Manage and develop high-level relationships with new and existing corporate donors and key charity stakeholders.
•  Support the Partnerships Director with the advancement and co-ordination of a Development Group.
•  Ensure all administrative elements of account management are fulfilled.

Communications

•  Produce clear, compelling, and creative proposals that respond to briefs.
•  Produce bespoke project information, engaging impact reports and other
• supporting materials.
•  Devise and co-ordinate a corporate communications and engagement annual
• planner to support the corporate partnerships programme.
•  Generate relevant e-news updates, social media posts, articles, and other

corporate partner communications.

•  Keep relevant fundraising pages on the website updated.

General

• Demonstrate and promote the values of the Heart of England Forest
• Maintain a commitment to high standards of health and safety at all times
• Ensure all work, including any work undertaken by contractors and volunteers is undertaken within the Heart of England Forest health and safety policy and processes
• Commit to continual professional development
• Play an active part within the wider Heart of England Forest team
• Make active use of information and resources gained via personal networks to inform the development of this role
• Perform any other duties consistent with the role and / or reasonably required by the Partnerships Director and / or Chief Executive.
• In addition, the post holder will:

Climate Change

• Champion the need for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.
• Commit to taking positive action to mitigate against climate change during the course of your duties.

Hours

• Normal working hours will be 37.5 per week, normally between 08.00 and 17.00, Monday to Friday.
• However, occasional weekend and evening work will be required within this role to ensure delivery of our fundraising programme, for which Time off In Lieu can be taken.

Location

• We offer hybrid working from home and office. Our main office is at Colletts Farm, Dorsington, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 8AU. You should expect regular travel to various sites across the Forest to support corporate visits, tours, events, and volunteering days.
• More details on our locations can be found here: https://heartofenglandforest.org/visit The postholder will need to be able to travel independently and ensure their vehicle
• has an up-to-date MOT and is insured for business use.

What do we offer?

• The chance to join an ambitious charity and play a part in creating and conserving a huge Forest for the benefit of people, wildlife and the environment
•  Competitive salary with a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer
•  28 days holiday plus bank holidays
•  Contributory company pension
• Group Income Protection Scheme
• Group Life Assurance Scheme
•  Employee Assistance Programme
• Death in Service benefit
• Medical cash plan