Advancement Manager
Department: Advancement & Alumni
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is seeking a talented and motivated Advancement Manager to play a key role in donor stewardship, compliance, and impact reporting. This role offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to a world-leading institution in art and design, ensuring that RCA’s donors receive outstanding engagement and stewardship.
About the Role
As Advancement Manager, you will work closely with the Associate Director, Advancement & Alumni, and wider RCA colleagues to manage and enhance donor relationships through high-quality proposals, reports, and stewardship processes. You will oversee donor compliance, ensuring that all philanthropic contributions align with gift agreements and institutional goals.
A key part of this role is crafting compelling donor communications, including proposals, cases for support, impact reports, and stewardship updates. You will collaborate with fundraisers, finance teams, academic departments, and marketing colleagues to ensure that donor commitments are met and communicated effectively.
This is an opportunity to be at the heart of RCA’s philanthropic success, helping to shape a culture of giving and ensuring that donors feel deeply connected to the College’s mission.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and implement effective stewardship and donor compliance processes, ensuring accurate and timely reporting on philanthropic gifts.
- Work closely with fundraisers to write and produce compelling donor proposals and cases for support, ensuring clear delivery and stewardship plans.
- Manage donor reporting, ensuring that impact, outcomes, and benefits are captured and effectively communicated.
- Act as a central point of contact for gift compliance and impact reporting, ensuring all donor agreements are fulfilled.
- Oversee donor communication materials, including newsletters, annual reports, and VIP correspondence.
- Work collaboratively with academic, finance, and marketing teams to align donor narratives with RCA’s broader institutional goals.
- Lead on the coordination, consolidation, writing, and editing of donor impact reports, ensuring they reflect original gift agreements and include meaningful insights.
- Maintain an accurate donor database (Raiser’s Edge) to ensure seamless tracking and reporting of donor engagement.
- Support a donor-centric culture by personally engaging with donors and ensuring they feel valued and connected to RCA’s work.
About You
We are looking for a proactive and detail-oriented individual with strong experience in donor stewardship, compliance, and proposal writing. The ideal candidate will have:
- Strong experience working with donors, including proposal writing, stewardship, and compliance reporting.
- Proven ability to manage donor reporting processes, ensuring accuracy and impact alignment.
- Experience in project management and working collaboratively across departments.
- Excellent writing and storytelling skills, with experience in drafting compelling donor communications.
- High levels of self-motivation, initiative, and an entrepreneurial mindset to enhance RCA’s donor engagement.
- A commitment to philanthropy and higher education, with an enthusiasm for the RCA’s mission in art and design.
Why Join RCA?
This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a world-leading postgraduate art and design institution with a growing and ambitious philanthropy programme. You will work within a collaborative and dynamic team, helping to build long-term relationships with donors and ensuring their contributions make a tangible impact.
If you are passionate about donor engagement and stewardship and want to play a key role in advancing the RCA’s fundraising success, we would love to hear from you.
Apply now to be part of RCA’s Advancement & Alumni team!
RCA Benefits available here: https://www.rca.ac.uk/more/work-at-the-rca/staff-benefits/
The Royal College of Art (RCA) aims to foster an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students and stakeholders are respected.
We recognise the broad range of experiences that a diverse staff and student body brings and how this strengthens our research and enhances our teaching. In order for RCA to remain a world-leading institution we are committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles throughout all of our processes, from application through to appointment.
Please tell us if you need any assistance in applying or if you need the information in a different format. In your message to resourcing@rca.ac.uk include:
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