Director of Development and Marketing - Worth Abbey Group
Worth School
This is a new and evolving role the principal purposes of which are to:
• Develop and implement an ambitious Worth Abbey strategy for development and marketing that seeks to further establish Worth as a centre for Benedictine spirituality, education and mission.
• Develop an operating model for development and marketing which supports the Worth Abbey group and transition the existing staff and relationships into this.
• Lead on development, strategic marketing, strategic communications, alumni engagement, brand positioning, external partnerships and wider stakeholder engagement activity.
• Ensure the delivery of stretching development and marketing targets that strengthen Worth’s long term strategic resilience.
• The Worth Abbey group is at an exciting moment in its history where it is seeking to move from a siloed approach to development and marketing to a unified, outward focused approach. We are seeking a high-calibre, energetic and ambitious candidate to shape how Worth builds relationships, tells its story, grows philanthropic support and strengthens Worth’s long term future.
• Following a restructure, the Worth Abbey group wants to appoint a new Director of Development and Marketing to bring together activity from across the group. Under the new structure, Worth Abbey has three outward facing business units (School, Monastery, Commercial) plus support units which support the outward facing units. Development and Marketing will be one support unit alongside finance, estates, HR etc.This post will report to the Chief Commercial Officer but will require strong inter-personal skills to work across the group including with:
• Trustees, governors and directors who have overall strategic responsibility for both the Group and the individual business units.
• The Abbot and Head who are the face of Worth, particularly when it comes to development activity.
• The Director of Growth who, along with the Head, has the responsibility for pupil recruitment in a challenging market.
• The Abbey Bursar who, under the Abbot, has responsibility for the temporal operations of the Monastery.
• The Commercial Bursar who, along with the postholder and Chief Commercial Officer, has responsibility for the key partnerships that the Group has.
• The Friends of Worth, Worth Abbey Pilgrims and the Abbot’s Assistant all of which have key roles in maintaining and developing relationships between the Group and its supporters.
The current line management responsibilities for the role include two marketing staff and a Worth Society (Alumni) manager. It is anticipated that once the new operating model is developed further recruitment will be necessary.
The Group has a strategic relationship with CCS Fundraising for the purposes of development. This role will manage this relationship and take the decision on whether and how to in-source the expertise CCS provide.
The role will be supported by a range of IT systems including Beacon for those in a relationship with Worth Abbey, ToucanTech for alumni and iSams for parents.
The ability to effectively manage this data will be a key skill for the role.
The postholder will need to be comfortable in carrying out development activity at all levels and be ambitious for attracting large gifts and establishing a culture of giving which will help sustain Worth into the future.
Above all, the postholder will need to be deeply ambitious for Worth as a centre of Benedictine spirituality, education and mission and desire that it is a place that people come to encounter and learn about Christ.
STRATEGY
• Be responsible for the development, maintenance and implementation of ambitious development and marketing strategies that meet the needs of Worth Abbey group and its outward-facing business units – School, Monastery, Commercial.
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
• Provide strong and visible leadership to the development and marketing functions and work collaboratively across the organisation. worthschool.org.uk
• Manage the development and marketing budgets.
• Work with the Abbot and Head to nurture and achieve major gifts and embed a culture of giving across those who know Worth.
• Manage the strategic partnership with CCS Fundraising including considering whether, when and how to in source the expertise they provide.
STAKEHOLDER AND PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT
• Manage multiple relationships across Worth including with the Abbot, Trustees, Governors, Directors, Head, Abbey Bursar, Director of Growth, Commercial Bursar, Worth Abbey Pilgrims and Friends of Worth.
• Nurture and develop external relationships including with potential donors, trusts, sponsorship/commercial partnership and other major supporters of Worth.
BRAND GOVERNANCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
• Act as the custodian of the Worth brand ensuring consistency, quality and strategic alignment across all communications and marketing channels.
• Support the development of clear business unit (School, monastery, commercial) sub-brands within the overall brand in a way that presents consistent but separate identities.
• Lead on strategic PR, crisis communications, media relations and strategic reputation management activity.
IT SYSTEMS (INCLUDING WEBSITES AND DIGITAL MARKETING)
• Ensure effective use of CRM and donor relationship management systems.
• Develop KPIs to monitor fundraising performance, marketing performance engagement and conversion.
• Be the overall owner and subject matter expert for the group’s website strategy ensuring brand consistency across the group’s websites.
• Develop the group’s digital marketing footprint and ensure that digital marketing activity is aligned to audience conversion, engagement and long-term relationship development objectives.
GOVERNANCE AND REPORTING
• Lead a culture of high-quality accountability within the development and marketing function reporting regularly to the Executive and School SLT, at least termly to the Group’s Finance and Risk Committee and as required to the Group Trustees, School Governors and Commercial Directors meetings.
OTHER
• To continuously review existing procedures and suggest potential improvements and efficiencies through automation, new technologies and changes to ways of working. In particular, to look for further opportunities to improve our services.
• To be responsible for and able to evidence own personal development by undertaking relevant training, attending meetings, conferences and events
ensuring that you are updated in all matters relevant to the role as agreed in Personal Development Plan.
• To carry out additional duties and tasks that may be required within the range of the responsibilities of the post.