Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Job description

• Job Title: Partnerships Manager
• Reports to: Senior Manager Fundraising and Communications
• Responsible for: n/a
• Location: n/a Hybrid- Home / Brighton or Guildford
• Flexibility: We welcome flexible working patterns
• Hours: 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE)
• Type of contract: Permanent
• Salary: £27,937 FTE (Band 11) pro-rata

About FareShare Sussex & Surrey 

We rescue surplus food from businesses, supermarkets and farms. This food is nutritious, in-date, and safe and includes a high proportion of fresh vegetables and fruit. If we did not rescue this food, it would be at risk of going to waste. Instead, we deliver it to charities, community kitchens, community pantries and fridges, food banks, schools and other organisations serving vulnerable people. Our food is a vital lifeline for children and families, people on low incomes, people who have lost their jobs, the homeless, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, the elderly and key workers. 

We operate out of two sites; Guildford (Surrey) and Brighton (Sussex) as part of 35 Regional Centres, working as a network across the country with FareShare, a national charity. The Guildford warehouse is new and will enable us to receive, store and deliver more fresh, frozen, chilled and ambient food across the region. Last year we delivered enough food for 2.4 million meals to help vulnerable people in our community. We receive and deliver around 80 tonnes of food every month, currently to 150 organisations including homeless shelters, community pantries, food banks, clubs, children’s centres and lunch clubs across the 3 counties. FareShare Sussex & Surrey (FSSS) also works to improve the lives of vulnerable volunteers through our successful employability scheme. City Gate Community Projects (registered charity 1093245) is the employer, delivery partner and franchise holder for FSSS

Main purpose of this role

This important role will represent FSSS engaging with corporate partners and key stakeholders such as council leaders, politicians and dignitaries across the region.

Using your experience in engagement and relationship management you will work to consolidate existing partnerships and seek new opportunities across Sussex & Surrey, working to build strong relationships locally and encourage partnership, donations, sponsorships and corporate volunteering. The development team has an ambitious target of £1 million to raise, through various streams including corporate partnerships, individual giving, trust applications and other fundraising activities each year. The role will manage the corporate income stream and requires collaboration with all income generation to ensure effective management and stewardship of all partners.

You will develop an exciting donor journey which engages and encourages support from businesses and key stakeholders. Working with high-value supporters to maintain a good relationship with the organisation and fostering new partnerships.

You will also work alongside our food Supply Manager to help provide a holistic partnership with our suppliers, encouraging them to support our work across the ESG / CSR spectrum.

You will be part of an upbeat, skilled, supportive team within an ambitious, values-led organisation that has a fantastic leadership team and is focused on the wellbeing of its staff. You’ll make a strong contribution to our culture of togetherness, inclusivity, respect, and passion in our mission to see no good food going to waste in Sussex and Surrey.

Duties and responsibilities

Business Development and Relationship Management

• Act as main point of contact for existing corporate partners and stakeholders
• Build strong relationships through a stewardship programme to engage with partners in a variety of ways on a regular basis
• To provide the highest quality supporter care, working in partnership with the business to engage with its staff, maximising fundraising and retain support for the long term
• Support with engaging FareShare national partners where required
• Capture feedback from businesses to adapt our propositions
• Engage with with external stakeholders to develop effective activity plans, with clear objectives and outcomes to engage with new and existing corporate partners and other stakeholders

New Business

• Work closely with the Development Team to identify new business opportunities (including charity of the year partnerships) and to develop new relationships with stakeholders across Sussex and Surrey
• To research and approach companies to maximise fundraising opportunities, develop and promote sponsorship opportunities and corporate partnership offerings
• Create engaging proposition presentations to approach new businesses engaging with them and other such stakeholders regularly, hosting visits and attending meetings where necessary

Reporting and Monitoring

• Provide regular reporting for trustees and the Development Team
• To monitor and evaluate all aspects of the partnership, reporting on income and engagement.
• Regular indepth bespoke reporting for our funding partner
• Work with the Head of Development on creating forecasts and budgets
• Ensuring records are maintained through our CRM system, Donorfy
• Adhere to data protection regulation and have an understanding of the Fundraising Regulator guidelines

Person Specification

As an employer committed to Equal Opportunities, we will assess applications in line with these criteria that we consider either as being essential or desirable for this post. Please explain in your Covering Letter why you meet the points in the Person Specification.  

Essential Criteria 

Qualifications and/or experience 

• A level education or equivalent
• Experience of Managing accounts or customers
• Experience of working in sales
• Experience of successfully building long term, mutually beneficial relationships with a variety of organisations.
• Proven ability to build cross functional relationships with a customer service focus

Skills, Abilities and Knowledge 

• Ability to plan, multi-task and manage your time effectively
• Confident networking and public speaking
• Excellent attention to detail, comfortable using your own initiative, managing priorities and workload
• Problem solving and decision making skills, solution focussed with the ability to support decisions using data and analysis
• Proactive, resilient, and able to work under pressure
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to confidently present to stakeholders in person or online
• IT literacy including use of Google applications  

Relationships (internal and external) values and behaviours 

• Brilliant people skills 
• Desire to work for the region's largest surplus food rescue charity, to subscribe to the culture, vision and mission of our charity 
• Comfortable with cold calling new accounts and the judgement to be able to balance persistence with empathy and understanding. 
• Ability to create and maintain successful working partnerships with multiple stakeholders 
• Able to use own initiative and work independently

​​​​​​​Circumstances

• Able to demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities, inclusivity and diversity 
• Willing and available to work outside normal working hours occasionally if required 
• Be flexible about your working arrangements as the role will involve travel around the region. 
• Proof of the Right to work in the UK 
• Satisfactory DBS check. 

Desirable criteria 

• Experience of managing dignitaries or high-value individuals 
• Experience of working in a fundraising or partnerships role
• Track record of using selling and negotiation skills with professionalism and integrity to achieve desired outcomes and targets. 
• IT literacy in using Canva or other design applications
• Have a valid driver’s licence for the UK, access to your own car and undertake extensive travel across your region

Benefits 

• Ethical pension scheme 
• Daily lunch provided 
• Access to learning and development opportunities 
• Access to Telus Health 
• 33 days Annual Leave including all public bank holidays (Pro-rata for part-time employees) ● Staff led wellbeing programme 
• Flexible working 
• Bike to work scheme 

​​​​​​​Safeguarding statement

 FareShare Sussex & Surrey is committed to safeguarding and protecting the adults that we work with. As such, all posts are subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks. We ensure that we have policies and procedures in place which promote safeguarding and a safe working environment. 

​​​​​​​Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 

We want to be open to everyone. A diverse voice is a more powerful voice. Diversity in our people brings new viewpoints and this drives debate and creativity, which is key to success and an ability to engage new audiences. As such, we encourage applications from people who belong to groups which are often marginalised in society. We strive to engage an ability-based workforce which reflects the diverse nature of our local communities. We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and it's important to us that this is reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us. We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities because we would like to increase the representation of these groups in the team. Please call or email if you’d like to chat about the FareShare Sussex & Surrey community in more detail.

Application information

Please submit a CV and Covering Letter (one side of A4) explaining how you meet the Person Specification. Please also submit the equal opportunities forms to: recruitment@faresharesussexandsurrey.org.uk before 5pm Tuesday 7th May 2024. Interviews will be conducted as suitable candidates apply ahead of the deadline. The role may therefore be filled ahead of the deadline. For an informal chat about the role, please contact our Head of Development, Clare Nice on 01273 671 111 (Option 5). 

The application pack can be accessed via www.faresharesussexandsurrey.org.uk/latest-news

FareShare Sussex & Surrey - www.faresharesussexandsurrey.org.uk.

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