Fundraising Consultant

HMS Unicorn; Scotland; On-site; GBP 6,000 - 10,000; Full time

Job summary

Unicorn Preservation Society (UPS) seeks a fundraising consultant to support its maritime heritage initiatives. The engagement will review funding needs, assess capital and revenue requirements, and examine existing fundraising capacity.

It will identify priority funders, opportunities for multi-year support, and potential partnerships. The plan should outline targeted funders, proposed funding amounts, and a clear timetable aligned with milestones.

Responsibilities

• Review the Society's current financial position, funding requirements and existing fundraising activities.
• Review capital funding requirements of Project Safe Haven and phasing of expenditure.
• Identify gaps in information, fundraising readiness or organisational capacity to address.

Job description

Client: Unicorn Preservation Society (UPS)

Budgeted Fee: Up to £10,000 excluding VAT.

Budgeted Scope: Up to 15 days

Key Milestone: Substantive Draft by 18 December 2026 | Final Report by 29 January 2027

Scope of work

The successful applicant will be expected to undertake the following work.

A. Review of funding needs and fundraising potential

• Understand the information provided on the Society's current financial position, funding requirements and existing fundraising activities
• Consider the revenue funding required to support core operations, improve financial sustainability, and building reserves, including opportunities to secure unrestricted and multi-year funding.
• Review the capital funding requirements of Project Safe Haven, including the anticipated phasing of expenditure and funding needs.
• Assess the Society's existing fundraising capacity, systems, resources, networks and track record.
• Identify any gaps in information, fundraising readiness or organisational capacity that need to be addressed.

B. Identification of funding priorities and opportunities

• Establish clear funding priorities for revenue and capital requirements, taking account of urgency, scale, restrictions on funding and likelihood of success.
• Identify and assess suitable prospective funders, including trusts and foundations, public funding programmes, corporate partners, individual major donors and other relevant sources.
• Consider opportunities for multi-year revenue support, project grants, major capital contributions, corporate partnerships, individual giving and other sustainable income streams.
• Identify opportunities to build relationships with funders and supporters interested in maritime heritage, conservation, historic vessels, skills, education, tourism and community engagement.
• Assess potential funding opportunities against eligibility, likely award size, timescales, match-funding requirements and the effort required to secure funding.
• Prioritise opportunities according to their potential value, likelihood of success, timing and strategic importance to the Society.

C. Development of an actionable fundraising plan

The plan be realistic and achievable in the context and should set out:

• The recommended fundraising priorities for revenue and capital funding.
• A prioritised list of target funders and funding opportunities, with a clear rationale for each.
• The proposed approach to each priority funder, including the likely funding opportunity, amount sought where reasonably assessable, and recommended next steps.
• How the plan will align with PSH milestones and events to take maximum advantage of fundraising potential at each stage.
• A schedule of actions, application deadlines, relationship-building activity and other key milestones.
• Short-, medium- and longer-term fundraising objectives.
• Responsibilities for delivery, identifying the roles of trustees, staff, volunteers and external support as appropriate.
• An assessment of the resources, skills and capacity needed to implement the plan.
• Recommendations for monitoring progress, reviewing the funding pipeline and reporting fundraising performance to the board.

The consultant should provide a realistic assessment of the likely contribution that different funding sources could make, recognising that some opportunities may be speculative, restricted to particular purposes or unlikely to generate income within the required timescale.

The plan should clearly distinguish between secured funding, active applications, prospective opportunities and longer-term possibilities. It should not assume that all identified opportunities will be successful. Where appropriate, the consultant should identify alternative funding routes and actions to take if priority applications are unsuccessful.