About the organisation
ADHD Embrace is a small but impactful community support group for the neuro-developmental condition Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We serve the community of parents, carers and professionals who in turn support children and young people with ADHD. Those impacted by ADHD are not only the sufferers themselves but also their wider families and the community at large. ADHD is often referenced as being a hidden disability and as a result children and young people can be labelled as having behavioural or social issues leading to discrimination in the community and at school. Often children with ADHD have other co-occurences such as ASD, sensory integration issues, dyslexia etc, which further adds to the complexity of supporting them.
Our mission is to provide community support for parents and professionals working with children and teens with ADHD, both pre and post diagnosis, to ensure families with ADHD feel less isolated and to help tackle economic hardship and mental health issues. We do this by providing information, knowledge and practical support; being an advocate for ADHD awareness; and empowering those with ADHD. We believe that as children and young people with ADHD get better support at home and in their communities (including at school), we can significantly improve their potential, allowing them to flourish and be empowered to make a positive contribution to the community.
We are finding there is an increasing demand for our specialist services focusing on ADHD. We have 20 years of experience in providing such support and in the last two years, we registered as a charity to ensure we build a long term sustainable organisation.
About the role
We are looking to recruit one or more bidwriters that can help us with our fundraising applications to endowments and other funders that have programmes to support charities and voluntary groups. The volunteer will be working closely with our Chair to highlight areas that funding is needed. To this end we have a fundraising pipeline identifying the funders and the deadlines for funding requests. We are seeking our bidwriter or bidwriters to do the following:
- prioritise which funding is to be applied for and ensuring that timely applications can be put together to meet funding deadlines
- review the funding guidelines for each funder and then agree with the Chair the type of funding that we will seek to apply for in each case.
- prepare a first draft of the funding application telling the ADHD Embrace story and why funding is needed and supporting our application. We have templates of previous applications to a variety of organisations and so the bidwriter needs to have the ability to present our case taking account of the criteria of the funder to whom the application will be sent. the bidwriter should also identify information that would be beneifcial to provide in our applications and liaise with the Chair to enquire what additional information is available.
- submit the first draft to the Chair for review and clearly highlight the deadline for submission and then work with Chair to finalise the application for submission including getting other organisational sign offs prior to submission.
The role of fundraising bidwriter can be fairly flexible in terms of time commitment weekly or monthly, all we ask that the volunteer delivers on the time commitment agreed in order to provide us with some certainty as to what can be delivered.
If our bidwriters want to be proactive and add to our fundraising pipeline, then that would also very much be welcomed.
Our ideal candidate
Candidates with financial backgrounds are likely to be well positioned to write bid applications. It involves pulling together financial information and analysis to put forward a compelling case to support our applications. It is no dissimilar to the skills used in preparing board papers or presenting budgets and strategic plans. It requires telling a story supported by clear financial analysis.
Essential skills:
Excellent written communications skills and a good command of English is essential.
Self motivated and able to prioritse a busy workload using a blend of skills and experience
Numerate and good understanding of financial statements
Strong IT skills (Microsoft Office Software)
What’s in it for you
We are a small team of employees and so we would not be able to achieve what we do without the time, skills and expertise our volunteers contribute. We are having significant impact in terms of supporting young people with ADHD with the support we provide to parents and professionals who work with them. This is evidenced through the feedback we get and also by the growing demand for our services.
The fundraising bidwriter is an essential role and can make a difference between the orginisation barely surviving on minimum funding, or securing more funding and enabling us to offer more and serve more young people with ADHD.
Apply for the role
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