Charity Partnerships Manager in Newcastle upon Tyne

The Great Run Company specialises in the design, development, organisation and rights management of mass participation and televised sporting events. We own a portfolio of over 38 individual events delivered annually through running and swimming. The events see over 300,000 participants taking part each year, securing over 25 hours of television programmes and include performances from some of the world's best athletes.

The Great Run Company welcomes everyone and anyone who is inspired to get active. Great Run events are not all about winning medals - though everyone does. They are about grasping a challenge, setting a goal, and giving it the best that you can. Diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing are at the heart of everything that we do. We strongly value diversity within our workforce and recognise that different people bring different perspectives, lived experience and ideas, which bring great strength to our company.

What will we offer you?

• The opportunity to work as part of a committed, friendly, experienced professional team on fantastic live televised sporting events including the world famous Great North Run!
• Excellent benefits package including generous pension scheme, life insurance, performance payment scheme, 25 days holiday per year & private healthcare.
• Additional benefits including cycle to work scheme, season ticket loans, employee assistance programme.
• Opportunities to develop your career at The Great Run Company.
• Great Run Company event entry benefits and competitor event entries (up to £100 per person per year).
• Open, modern, and friendly working environment with a strong culture.
• Informal and relaxed dress code.
• Twice a year company conference events and Christmas party, celebrating our successes and all fully company funded.

Requirements

• Business English is essential.
• Whilst we operate a hybrid working model with our headquarters in Gateshead, there will be a requirement to travel throughout the UK as a requirement for the role.
• All applicants must have the right to work in the UK.
• We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Key Accountabilities

• Provide day to day Account Management for our Diamond, Platinum & Gold Charity partners.
• Ensure all charity advertising opportunities are fulfilled as per agreements (charity cheer points on course, website, email etc).
• Compilation of our annual Charity prospectus.
• Working with the Commercial Team, proactively develop new charity partnerships for all GRC events.
• Explore and develop new and creative promotional and fundraising opportunities for charity partners.
• Engage with new charity partners to ensure they have full understanding of our systems and deadlines.
• Working closely with the Commercial Team, liaise with our online fundraising partner, “Enthuse”, ensuring digital fundraising integrations are maximised.
• Oversee the set-up of charity partners on our entry platforms.
• Manage the Charity package allocation and the clearing system for the Great North Run.
• Work with Operations & Project Management Teams to create comprehensive, timely and accurate information for charities for all events.
• Work closely with Finance Team to ensure invoicing requirements and payments are fulfilled effectively.
• Produce quarterly reports showing charity entry stream redemption status and package allocation overview.
• Measure success of charity partnerships via event feedback forms.
• Management of the Charity Village at the Great North Run, and other Events where appropriate involving:
• Planning of village layout and co-ordinate with charities on their requirements.
• Source open top busses.
• Liaise with the Project Team, ensuring the Charity Village is delivered within budget.
• Work with Branding Team to design Charity Village signage.
• Act as Key point of contact at the Event, answering Charity queries.
• Communicate with charities post event to ascertain that expectations were exceeded and collate post event feedback into a circulated report to key internal personnel.

Skills/Requirements

• Account Management experience, confident in building and maintaining trust with multiple charity partners.
• Strong communication skills, ability to explain rules and concepts and to understand charities objectives and challenges.
• Ability to stay calm, resilient and positive when working under pressure and handling priorities.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Financial and Analytical Skills, strong excel and budget management.
• Fundraising & Commercial Awareness - understanding of charity fundraising models and a general commercial mindset.
• Project & Event Management skills – ability to organise a large scale Event site at the Great North Run and adapt quickly and solve problems.
• Digital Skills – knowledge of CRM systems such as Hubspot/SalesForce.

Relationships

• Collaborate with Commercial and Marketing teams to drive revenue growth and identify new charity partnership opportunities across the event portfolio.
• Build strong internal relationships to align charity initiatives with wider business objectives.
• Work closely with Operations and Customer Services to ensure seamless delivery of charity partner experiences.
• Support charity partners in maximising fundraising opportunities at events.
• Act as a key liaison between departments to enhance the overall success of charity partnerships.

Leadership and Management

• Provide guidance and day-to-day support to a junior team member across shared charity accounts.
• Lead by example in account management and stakeholder engagement.
• Support development through coaching, feedback, and knowledge sharing.
• Take ownership of workload planning and prioritisation to meet deadlines.
• Act as an escalation point for partner queries and issue resolution.
• Drive continuous improvement in processes and ways of working.