Creative Industries Project Manager

Job Summary

We are a multi-award winning, creative and innovative organisation and the Creative Industries Team is as the heart of the fundraising we do. Working on critical cross-department initiatives, you will help to drive innovation across War Child’s highly ambitious and successful fundraising operations. You will execute projects and support the work with fundraising teams to identify opportunities and develop meaningful solutions that maintain the values, creativity and entrepreneurialism of War Child UK.

Your Role

You will work most closely with colleagues in Music, Creative Industries and Communications as currently this is where a lot of our project work and innovative activity is situated. However, your role will have an impact across the whole department and beyond fundraising as you work with the Senior Creative Industries Projects Manager to lead teams of colleagues to deliver superb projects and genuinely innovative activities.

You will use your experience from a range of cultural settings to drive attaching the right names, the right feeling, ambition, timing and storytelling to all of the projects you work on, underpinning all aspects of project management with genuine innovation, creativity and understanding the nature of the industry you are navigating.

You will proactively project manage a range of projects and support the delivery of others. You will design and lead research and development projects, growing the pipeline of fundraising opportunities and expanding our work across the creative industries, contributing to the vision of War Child being the charity of the Creative Industries.

Your Responsibilities:

• Work with the Senior Creative Industries Projects Manager to implement a range of cross-team fundraising events & initiatives, leading aspects of the project as agreed.
• Lead the delivery and strategically grow major cornerstone project and annual fundraiser Secret 7”. You will devise project plans, manage complex budgets and coordinate cross team engagement, evaluating working nimbly throughout to adjust priorities and resolve issues, in order to maximise income.
• Lead on the department's ecommerce platform with support from the Creative Industries Executive, including building creative campaigns and concepts, developing, delivering and reporting against annual income targets, creating bespoke product ranges, coordinating cross team collaboration and managing range of external stakeholder relationships in order to maximise shop income and reach ambitious income targets. You will use your initiative to make strategic recommendations based on your research and knowledge of up to date e-commerce trends.
• Proactively research, test and develop new fundraising initiatives that span a range of creative industries including Art, fashion, film, theatre etc. and play a crucial role in annual planning.
• Assess and develop existing income generating projects, analysing risk and opportunity to determine the best way forward. Support the Senior Creative Industries Manager in developing new ideas and building relationships across the creative industries that support the fundraising mission.
• To provide first-rate line management to Creative Industries Executive.
• Manage relationships and influence at every level of seniority, diplomatically leading working groups and maintaining strong relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders in order to deliver collaborative projects and events.
• Identify and build relationships with a range of Creative Ambassadors, developing first rate cultivation plans based on the needs of the Fundraising and Communications teams, to enable sustainable growth.
• Responsible for accurate and timely financial reporting of the activities and income streams that you project manage
• Champion Salesforce usage to increase efficiency of team and work with data team to ensure all Creative Industries are effectively integrated to Salesforce.
• Maintain an up to date knowledge of current activities of War Child and be an advocate of the War Child brand
• Ensure consistency across all War Child public facing events and activations, specifically that:
  • the WCUK brand is represented in a way that reflects our work on the ground
  • our delivery is high quality, professional and in line with the expectations of key stakeholders
  • the public messaging for each event is clear, and part of a broader narrative around our story that makes sense
• Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults and compliant to WCUK’s Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk Policies.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the role.

You Are:

• Experienced in working in a target led environment, ideally with exposure to fundraising.
• Experienced in project management and producing in a range of settings and are a true collaborator who understands the importance of the project as a whole and how each of the projects’ many elements feed into each other.
• Able to manage your workload and delegating across teams to meet deadlines, manage priorities and hit ambitious targets.

• Highly resilient, with the ability to work in ambiguous circumstances, managing multiple workflows at any one time.
• Experienced in budgeting and effective budget management.
• Experience in negotiating complex contracts.
• Understanding of how to encourage creative collaboration between a variety of different departments.
• Creative and entrepreneurial with the confidence to negotiate deals with stakeholders, build trust fast, assess and put forward new ideas and approach potential new partners in line with the team’s plan.
• Experienced in using data and insight to inform decision making and product and/or process improvement.
• Experienced in leading a team to deliver an event or activation with the ability to work calmly under pressure in a fast-paced event environment.

• Able to work effectively and appropriately with high profile supporters.
• Able to manage the expectations of stakeholders internally and externally whilst building and maintaining long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.
• Driven by a passion for telling stories, connecting with new audiences and building.
• Knowledge of trends in the fundraising industry with the willingness to stay up to date on the latest developments that could create opportunities for War Child.
• Up to date knowledge of fundraising regulation and GDPR, and its implications for fundraising policy and practise.