I made a mistake in our Fundraising Director recruitment

Even as I finished writing the “chief executive message” bit of our Director of Fundraising job pack, I felt like it was missing something. People keep complementing me on the recruitment process and job pack and yet I’ve had a nagging doubt that it’s not what I wanted it to be.

Yes, I waxed lyrical about what a great job it is and what a great organisation we are. But then so does every hiring manager in every job pack. Somehow I just don’t feel I captured why this role, this organisation, this moment, is something different.

I’ve worked in and around fundraising for enough years to know that great fundraising is about a lot more than the Director who leads it.

Why? Because there is a lot of stuff that has to be right for sensational fundraising to fly. Because most of that ‘stuff’ is not the direct responsibility of the Fundraising Director, so good Fundraising Directors spend a lot of time problem clearing for their teams. Or, as a former colleague put it, “helping the organisation get out of its own way”.

Time well spent, yes, but time that could definitely be better spent if those barriers didn’t exist. And it is those barriers, or the lack of them, that I think means our next Fundraising Director will do the best work of their career with us.

Over the years I have been part of hundreds of panels, discussions, coaching sessions with fundraisers and whatever the cause or size of organisation the challenges are consistent:

·      A chief executive or Board who doesn’t get/like fundraising

·      Brand/marketing/digital team working to a different agenda

·      Mission teams who don’t see fundraising as something they should invest time in

·      A lack of compelling cause and/or a lack of specific compelling fundable projects

·      Not enough money to invest when things work / slow decision making

·      Performance issues

Do you recognise them? Did I miss any?

I’m not going to tell you we get everything right, or that this job won’t have occasional frustrations, too. But the frustrations won’t be the ones above because we’ve worked hard to clear those barriers already. It's my job to make sure we are set up for people to do their best, whether it’s simple stuff like getting the IT right, or relentlessly focusing on our values so people have a framework to be able to make their own decisions. This focus has paid real dividends across the charity, and nowhere more so than in our approach to fundraising. I’m really proud of how far we’ve come, every person working here understands the role they have to play in fundraising. This means I know we’re unusual in extent to which the barriers you tend to get in senior fundraising roles aren’t going to hold you back here.

So if you are doing a great job where you are in spite of one or more of the challenges above, imagine what you could be doing if the stars were aligned and so you didn’t have to invest time in that. No nagging “what if?” when you look back years later.

The scene at Blood Cancer UK is set for you to deliver transformational results that saves thousands of lives and show the sector what is possible when the stars do all align.

But I’m writing this because I’m worried. Because it’s very possible that for any frustrations in your job, on the whole you’re actually pretty content – your manager probably thinks you’re brilliant and you’re thinking maybe it’s not the right time for a move. Despite our catchy videos you might not even have seen the job ad!

And if you’re as good as I think you might be, then you not applying for this job could mean we miss the chance to achieve what we should.

Because while we’re an organisation where the stars have aligned, the one star we’re still missing could be you.

https://bloodcancer.org.uk/about-us/work-blood-cancer-uk/jobs/director-of-fundraising/