Development Officer

Reporting to Fundraising Manager

Direct reports No direct reports

Salary £24,226 and £25,969 FTE (pro-rata £13,350 – £14,739)

Hours Part-time 21 hours/ per week

Location Sevenoaks, although we operate flexible working in which staff can work from home for part of the week and some travel may be required on occasion.

Application Process:

Please find on our website the job description and person specification for the role you are applying for.

We currently have 2 open vacancies in the Development Office.

• If you wish to apply for both positions, you may submit one application but clearly referring to this in your covering statement.
• If your application clearly demonstrates your suitability for both roles, there is no need to submit a second application.
• If you prefer to tailor your applications for each role, please submit a second supporting statement. You will not be penalised for reusing relevant examples from your first statement if they apply to both roles.
• Please clearly indicate which role(s) you are applying for.

For the interview process, we aim to ensure fairness while streamlining the experience for candidates applying for both roles. Where possible, interviews will include a combination of common questions relevant to both positions, alongside role-specific questions to assess suitability for each post individually. If you would like an informal discussion about the role in advance of applying, please contact us at jobs@westkentmind.org.uk. Please send a current CV of your recent experience and a statement evidencing how you meet each of the requirements within the person specification (no more than 2 sides of A4). Send this to jobs@westkentmind.org.uk no later than Wednesday 26 March 2025 12pm, including the job title in the email subject. We aim to hold interviews on 2 and 3 April 2025 and we will let shortlisted candidates know no later than 28 March 2025 if they are invited to interview.

Purpose of the role

West Kent Mind enriches lives through better mental health by offering support to get well, stay well and thrive. We are an ambitious, award-winning organisation.

Our services are provided free of charge or at low cost to make them accessible to our clients, and fundraising is essential to make sure West Kent Mind can continue responding to the needs of our community.

This new role will play a key part in income generation through developing and delivering community events and individual giving campaigns. This will include engaging our supporters and sustaining positive relationships across the local community.

The Development Officer will also provide advice and guidance to community fundraisers running their own events or participating in sponsored challenges.

Key Objectives

• Identify and secure new funding opportunities to support the organisation’s strategic priorities.
• Develop and submit high-quality grant applications to trusts, foundations, and corporate partners.
• Strengthen corporate relationships to encourage long-term engagement and sustainable income streams.
• Maintain an effective funding pipeline and reporting system to track progress and ensure compliance.
• Support the Fundraising Manager and CEO in securing high-value funding and sponsorships.

Person Specification:

All experience may be paid or voluntary, full or part-time, in the UK or overseas.

Who you are

• A skilled writer with experience in persuasive funding applications.
• A confident relationship-builder, able to engage and steward funders.
• Organised, with strong project management and multitasking abilities.
• Strategic and data-driven in fundraising and donor engagement.
• A proactive and creative problem-solver with a results-driven mindset.

This might be through previous fundraising roles, project/event management, communications, or voluntary experience.

What you will offer us:

• Proven experience in grant fundraising or corporate partnerships.
• Strong research and analytical skills to identify new funding opportunities.
• Excellent communication and relationship management abilities.
• Ability to work independently while contributing to a collaborative fundraising culture.
• Experience using CRM systems (e.g., Beacon) for donor management.

Key Responsibilities

• Research and prioritise grant funding opportunities, maintaining an accurate pipeline.
• Develop compelling funding applications and partnership proposals.
• Build and manage relationships with corporate supporters and funding bodies.
• Ensure timely reporting and compliance for secured funding.
• Support high-value fundraising applications and sponsorship opportunities.
• Use data insights to enhance fundraising strategies and donor engagement.
• Represent West Kent Mind at corporate and community events.
• Maintain accurate records using our CRM system (Beacon).

Adopting our fundraising culture

West Kent Mind operates and encourages a fundraising culture, this means that our staff, volunteers and trustees are all fundraising advocates and contribute to an organisational fundraising ethos. We expect all colleagues to play their part in generating income, this could be anything from being pro-active working with colleagues to secure funding for your area of work, to writing a heartfelt thank you note to a donor, or putting together a testimonial from a beneficiary to demonstrate funding impact for a grant application. Securing income is vital to our survival and we expect everyone to embrace our ethos. We don’t expect all our staff to be fundraising experts but we do expect you to fully adopt our fundraising culture with energy and passion, and to use your experience and skills to support colleagues to do the same.

Benefits

We’re a charity and we’re here to make a positive difference to lives and communities. You’ll work with a passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated team with a big heart.

Holidays

It’s important to take time off. We give you 23 days a year, increasing by one day per year of service up to 30 days, plus bank holidays.

To refresh and recuperate before the start of a new year, we also give you an extra three days holiday between Christmas and New Year.

For part-timers this is all calculated pro-rata.

Learning

We’re committed to supporting our staff with learning and professional development, so we offer opportunities for coaching, training and mentoring. Everyone, regardless of role, is offered free Mental Health First Aid training.

Pension

If eligible you’ll be auto-enrolled into our pension scheme, and our contribution is based on 3% of your salary.

Employee Assistance Programme

Everyone can access our Employee Assistance Programme. It’s confidential and includes 24/7 telephone advice, counselling and a suite of online tools to help you stay happy and healthy.