Senior Research and Due Diligence Officer, Development in London

We are the independent scientific academy of the UK, founded in 1660. The Society has a long history of philanthropic support and in 2015 ran a successful 350th anniversary fundraising campaign which raised £100m. We count many well‑known philanthropists, foundations and corporates within our list of current supporters who fund a range of activities including Science 2040, Brian Cox Videos, a Science Book Prize, Wolfson Fellowships and an annual bilateral meeting with India. Due to a convening power and reach that is globally unique, our philanthropic potential is enormous. This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing team and the next two to five years will be formative in enabling the Society to galvanise philanthropy in support of our founding mission: to promote excellence in Science for the benefit of humanity.

Sitting as part of Development Operations, the Senior Research and Due Diligence Officer is a newly established role and will be pivotal in ensuring the success of the Development team. The successful candidate will lead on all research activities associated with fundraising at the Royal Society. Key activities include:

• Providing detailed, high‑quality briefings on top prospects and donors for front‑line fundraisers and Society leadership.
• Identifying new prospective donors to build an informed and targeted fundraising pipeline.
• Providing insight into philanthropic market trends to inform our longer‑term strategy.
• Undertaking due diligence to ensure the Society is not actively engaging with organisations and individuals that may bring with them reputational risk.
• Providing individual support to fundraisers to ensure there is consistent movement of prospects through the pipeline, maximising the resource the Society has invested in fundraising.

Reports to: Development Operations Manager

Key Responsibilities And Tasks

• Prospect Research
  • Provide relevant, high quality and accurate research profiles on our current and prospective donors for fundraisers and senior leadership.
  • Collate research information to inform the cultivation and solicitation of prospects, ensuring our approaches are well informed and that we are maximising our relationships.
  • Work with wealth, affinity and propensity indicators to support us in being ambitious and considering our approaches.
  • Provide insight and research into philanthropic market trends, informing our longer‑term development strategy.
  • Keep an up‑to‑date knowledge of best prospect research practices and trends.
• Prospect Identification
  • Identify new high‑value funding prospects from the CRM and other sources.
  • Deliver prospect research activities to qualify leads for fundraising teams across corporate, trust and major donor income streams.
  • Undertake network mapping to identify outreach opportunities.
  • Proactively develop new areas of prospecting to continually replenish the prospect pipeline with high‑capacity prospects in order to meet current and future income targets.
• Prospect Management
  • Use the relationship‑management database (or CRM) to track prospects through the solicitation process, produce dashboards and reports and glean insight from data.
  • Undertake regular prospect portfolio reviews with fundraisers to assess the health of the pipeline.
  • Look for ways to improve functionality based on the team's needs.
  • Act as a data champion for the Development team.
• Due Diligence
  • Undertake early‑stage due diligence checks on prospective donors.
  • Write detailed due diligence reports intended for senior management.
  • Work with the Development Operations Manager to manage the process involved with the Royal Society's Gift Acceptance Policy.
• General
  • Undertake any additional duties in accordance with this role.

Essential Knowledge and Skills Required

• Experience of prospect research in a fundraising organisation including identifying and prioritising prospects, network mapping and developing gift capacity ratings.
• Experience of using and interrogating relational databases, ideally MS Dynamics.
• An understanding of the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how they impact prospect development.
• Experience conducting due diligence research to assess and elevate reputational risk or ethical concerns regarding source of wealth or company operations.
• Excellent standard of written communication with the ability to produce accurate and concise briefings.
• A proactive attitude and ability to set priorities, problem‑solve, and work independently and to deadlines.
• Resourceful, tenacious and curious in conducting research tasks.
• High level of IT literacy, including strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office and databases.

Desirable Experience

• Experience of working as an independent researcher and leading prospect research activity within a fundraising office.
• Experience of researching international prospects in the Royal Society's key markets (including USA, China, Europe and Hong Kong).
• Experience of working in collaboration with colleagues across different teams and senior stakeholders to identify opportunities for prospecting.
• Experience of chairing meetings and presenting data and insight.
• Familiarity with prospect research tools and the ability to identify and recommend the best tools to support our work using the budget as cost‑effectively as possible.
• An interest in science, scientists and the aims and objectives of the Royal Society.

Competencies

• Decision‑making: You organise and undertake a range of specialist tasks. You take action, make decisions or recommendations within established policies or guidelines which are standard for your area of work. You seek guidance on complex or unfamiliar matters.
• Thinking challenges: You undertake analysis needed to find the best solution to unusual situations or issues where the answer is not available through existing policies, standards or procedures. You use your initiative to investigate new ways of working or to improve policies or procedures.
• Communicating: You share and present information or ideas to others, tailoring your language, style and media used to meet the needs of varied situations and respond to specialist queries.
• Developing people: You are likely to have direct line responsibility for one or more staff members in a narrow field of work. If you are in a specialist role, you advise, guide or train others in a specific discipline or field of work.
• Managing resources: You are likely to have delegated responsibility for allocating resources, for reconciling financial information or for monitoring and recording use of a delegated budget.
• Applying knowledge & expertise: You apply your specialist or technical skills in a specific area of expertise that requires theoretical understanding gained through vocational or professional qualification, practical knowledge and skill, or equivalent level of expertise obtained through relevant specialist experience.
• Self‑management: Works unsupervised and can motivate self. Produces results under pressure. Can manage in stressful situations. Pushes for the best results.
• Working with others: Contributes ideas and identifies opportunities to work with others both within the team and across the organisation.
• Resource management: Makes the best of internal/external resources and coordinates well with external partners to best meet the needs of the Society.
• Critical thinking: Determines and clarifies the exact requirements of any situation. Checks information for accuracy and raises concerns if information is inaccurate.
• Adaptability: Overcomes obstacles and is not deterred by setbacks; checks assumptions and first principles and works out alternative approaches.
• Managing people and relationships: Delegates effectively, setting clear expectations and authority. Monitors results and feedbacks to team on a regular basis.