Head of Fundraising and Communications

Midaye is looking for a Fundraising and Communications Manager to be part of our Management Team and a central part of our close-knit, vibrant and committed staff team. The postholder will fundraise for our multiple community projects and deliver the communications needed to raise our profile.

Our work empowers, advocates for, and supports West London’s BME migrant communities for whom English is an additional language. Our clients are usually first- and second-generation refugees, ex-refugees and migrants. We help them recover from trauma, become healthier, find confidence and purpose, become better educated and more connected and rooted in our society, and more informed and better able to access services.

We have grown dramatically over recent years, nearly doubling our income to almost £1million over the past 5 years. Sources span 3 local authorities, a range of larger strategic trusts and foundations, NHS trusts and others. We are looking for a fundraiser who can maintain these sources, contribute to sustainable long term funding relationships, and help us to grow our income over coming years. In contrast, communications will be an important growth area for us, and the postholder will develop our first communications strategy and professionalise our comms across all channels, aiming to amplify community voices, support our fundraising, and publicise our services.

Midaye is an unusual organisation – firmly rooted in local grassroots community action and voices, in direct service delivery to those most in need – but at the same time active and successful in amplifying those voices at strategic and policy levels, influencing mainstream service providers, policy makers and commissioners.

This makes the Fundraising and Communications role particularly important for Midaye – and makes this job a dynamic, varied and exciting opportunity for the right person. We are looking for a very strong communicator, who can represent our organisational values and goals to diverse audiences in different contexts- from compelling storytelling that conveys the value and impact of our work through stand-out funding applications, to passionate and clear messaging across our communications channels. For all of our audiences and in all of our communications, BME migrant voices, strengths and needs will remain central. You will be able to bring together numeric data, quotes and client stories, and other data to create persuasive, evidenced narratives about our work. You will work independently, responding well to deadlines, and be able to prioritise and manage a diverse workload efficiently. At the same time, you will develop close working relationships with our Director, Deputy Director, Programme Manager and MEL team, working collaboratively to bring project proposals to the point where you can fundraise for them, developing appropriate communication plans for projects, and being an active member of our Management Team.

If you would like to join us in providing our crucial community services, you will demonstrate that you are able to assess funding and Communications opportunities and prioritise within limited time and resources to achieve the best results. You will have Fundraising and Communications experience and be a confident and persuasive communicator who can develop narratives and muster evidence that will speak to different audiences. You will understand community organisations and migrant communities and be passionate about representing community voice. Evidence that you are powerfully motivated by compassion and place significant value on social justice, mental health and empowering women will count strongly in your favour.

In return, you will gain the satisfaction of knowing that your work is crucial in keeping services to disadvantaged communities in London going – and in our lively, friendly community office you will see around you every day the fruit of your labours, with staff, projects, and clients supported by the funds you raise and amplified by the communications you deliver. You will be part of an ambitious, vibrant community organisation that is actively seeking to grow its influence, and your role will be central to driving that development forward. You will have the opportunity to grow in your role with support from senior managers. You will be part of a friendly organisation that prioritises staff wellbeing, working towards community goals with good humour and kindness.

Your hybrid working setup will combine work in our community office with focused home working for researching and drafting, and other tasks where quiet concentration and attention to detail are crucial. The role can be worked flexibly across the week, with some core hours required to overlap with other members of the leadership team and colleagues.

About Midaye

Midaye was set up in 2002 by women from the local community, and we are still, predominantly, a women-led and run organisation. We work multilingually across West London with communities from Africa and the Middle East. We are led by community members through open Forums, consultation, and our Trustee Board, and we work to ensure the most isolated can take part in our work, benefit from it, and in turn be empowered to lead.

We provide advice & information, outreach, training, mentoring and support on e.g., health (physical, emotional and mental health), practical difficulties (housing, benefits, etc.), education, FGM, domestic violence and other issues. We offer befriending services for older people, activities for children and empowerment programmes for women. We work across all these areas using an advocacy model that empowers the most marginalised members of our communities; helping individuals to help themselves and have the knowledge to improve their life in a meaningful way. 

Although we are still small/medium sized, we have grown rapidly over the past 5 years: we have developed partnerships with local authorities, NHS services, and other charities, and have become known for our innovative community work on FGM, mental health and community engagement. We seek to amplify community voices beyond our own service delivery and are valued contributors to local and national policy and academic research in our areas of work