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About Save the Children

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children, working in around 120 countries. We save lives, fight for children’s rights and help them fulfill their potential.

Save the Children Germany (SCDE) operates in a key strategic market for Save the Children International (SCI) and is one of its fastest-growing members. The organization will continue to invest significantly in the next years to establish Save the Children as one of the key actors for children’s rights in Germany. Despite its non-profit status, SCDE has a very entrepreneurial executive team with serious growth ambitions for those who need Save the Children most.

Purpose of Role

The Head of Individual Giving is a newly created, high-profile and pivotal position within Save the Children. The person chosen will play a key role in strengthening and further developing SCDE’s fast-growing fundraising program – with a strong focus on regular giving. The incumbent will lead the development and implementation of strategies to meet SCDE’s ambitious donor-acquisition and donor-retention targets in terms of acquisition numbers, income, Return on Investment (RoI), acquisition and lifetime value Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The Head of Individual Giving reports directly to the Fundraising & Communications Director and will be part of the wider management team (MT). Responsibilities include all individual giving acquisition activities (including  face-to-face, DRTV, emergency fundraising, digital lead generation etc.) as well as the retention & donor development program (including telemarketing, direct mailing, publications). The post holder will be responsible for a team of 10+ managers and junior managers.

Key Tasks Include Ensuring That:

• Best practices in key fundraising areas are implemented;
• Opportunities to secure new donors are maximized;
• SCDE further diversifies and strengthens its acquisition portfolio and rapidly capitalises on new technology and innovation; and
• SCDE systematically maximizes the lifetime value of supporters.

Main Responsibilities

Leadership & Management:

• Work closely with the Fundraising & Communications Director to develop and deliver a successful and predictable three-year fundraising strategy (with ambitious donor-acquisition targets and retention KPIs).
• Lead, motivate and manage a team of specialists in line with organizational objectives, ensuring that staff and fundraising capacities are developed effectively.
• Work with individual giving team and other units/departments as well as agencies and freelancers to achieve SCDE’s annual acquisition and retention targets on time and budget.
• Manage key agency partners and suppliers to optimize all activities and ensure a high level of service and that SCDE is getting good value for money from these relationships.

Technical delivery:

• Strengthen existing and develop new acquisition channels in order to increase the efficiency, size and diversification of SCDE’s regular giving program (this may include  face-to-face, door-to-door, lead generation & conversion, telemarketing, digital and other channels).
• Drive optimization of the donor journey to deliver a more engaging and relevant experience and increase lifetime value.
• Optimize and execute the emergency fundraising strategy to ensure that SCDE capitalizes on humanitarian crisis/emergencies to engage new donors.
• Develop and implement a cash (one-off) strategy to deliver strong and reliable revenue streams.
• Optimize controlling and data analysis, audience selection and targeting, propositions and product improvements for SCDE’s fundraising program.

Budget management:

• Develop annual plans and budgets for the fundraising program.
• Develop and oversee the fundraising budget according to agreed objectives and the priorities of the team, in order to ensure cost-effectiveness and the strategic expenditure of allocated funds.
• Manage to meet objectives, budget and targets as agreed with and delegated by the Fundraising & Communications Director.
• Support the Fundraising & Communications Director in reporting to key external stakeholders (especially to the Member Growth Team of SCI, which is responsible for the global development of strategic markets).

Monitoring and evaluation:

• Maintain tight control over costs in terms of both fundraising ratio and cost per acquisition.
• Monitor and assess SCDE’s acquisition and retention KPIs and compare with benchmarks in order to ensure that SCDE remains competitive in this field and learns from new fundraising developments worldwide.
• Exercise responsibility over the monthly fundraising controlling dashboard and ensure that SCDE has current and accurate data on how acquisition streams and retention/development activities are delivering against target.

Other responsibilities:

• Work closely with colleagues within the global SCI movement to ensure benchmarking, skill sharing and development of best practice (this includes active participation in international networks and relevant working groups).
• Grow a network or peers within SCI and outside the organization and leverage to better meet SCDE’s objectives.
• (Co-)representing the organization externally and within SCI, particularly in the area of fundraising.
• Perform any other reasonable activity requested by the Director Fundraising and Communications.

Skills and Experience

• 5+ years of experience of developing and implementing ambitious fundraising strategies leading to growth in terms of income and supporter numbers (with focus on regular givers).
• 8+ years of leadership/staff management experience with the ability to lead, motivate and support a team of 10+ fundraising professionals.
• Highly developed influencing skills, the ability to lead others and foster collaboration across functions and departments in pursuit of agreed goals.
• Experience in developing and executing integrated acquisition and retention strategies/campaigns across a diverse range of channels (direct response, offline, digital).
• Expert understanding of a wide range of customer / donor acquisition techniques (e.g. F2F, DRTV, Digital, Telemarketing).
• Profound experience with customer / donor loyalty strategies (retention, upgrading, reactivation, conversion) and CRM / relationship fundraising principles.
• Highly developed analytical skills and a strong understanding of business and financial planning, ideally with in-depth knowledge of fundraising or marketing metrics.
• Ability to work under pressure, meet tight deadlines and manage multiple priorities with a proven ability to plan and oversee activities that deliver complex projects on time and budget.
• Experience in successfully managing agencies to achieve agreed goals.
• Excellent communication and negotiating skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken German.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally.