Contract: Full-time, permanent. We welcome proposals for flexible working arrangements.
Salary: Starting at £50,000 to £55,000 per annum
We have an exciting and creative opportunity for a new Development Director to be a key member of the Senior Management team, leading an ambitious fundraising strategy for the Book Festival while ensuring that all fundraising activities align with our core organisational mission and values.
The Book Festival expects to raise about £2.1m in 2024 (representing around two-thirds of the total Festival income). The Festival retains much of its funding on an annual basis, has increased the amount raised from several major funding relationships, and has a strong track record in attracting new sponsors, donors and funders, with around 50 organisations sponsoring the Festival each year as well as a number of well-established major donors.
Reporting to the Festival Director and overseeing a team of five fundraisers, the Development Director will manage a small high-value portfolio of funding relationships across all income streams and will have significant opportunity to develop new income streams, including legacies and US fundraising, as well as continuing the growth of the existing areas of income.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival began in 1983 and is now a key event in the August Festival season, celebrated annually in Scotland's capital city. Biennial at first, the Book Festival became a yearly celebration in 1997. Throughout its history, the Book Festival has grown in size and scope becoming one of the largest public celebrations of words and ideas in the world. Today, the Festival programmes around 600 events for adults, children and schools each August and produces a wide-ranging Communities Programme across the year.