Breast Cancer Care

Job Description

Title: Fundraising Press & PR Officer

Accountable To: Press & PR Manager, Fundraising

Section: Communications Team, Fundraising and Marketing

Location: Southwark Street, London, SE1

Salary: NJC Grade D, Point 33, £32,525 per annum incl. LW

Contract: 12 month fixed term contract

Hours: 35 per week, generally 9.00am - 5.00pm

About Breast Cancer Care:

Breast Cancer Care is here for anyone affected by breast cancer. We bring people together, provide
information and support, and campaign for improved standards of care. We use our understanding of
people's experience of breast cancer and our clinical expertise in everything we do.

Breast Cancer Care’s Vision and Mission:

We want every person affected by breast cancer to get the best treatment, information and support.

About the Communications Team

The press team is in a very unique position at Breast Cancer Care. We deal with people affected by
breast cancer day in, day out so we are uniquely placed to understand their needs and issues. We
are integral not only to all the organisation’s fundraising activities but we are also at the heart of our
external campaigning and profiling work.

People with breast cancer are at the heart of everything we do and every decision we make. We exist
to make people aware of Breast Cancer Care through the media, promoting our services and
campaigns as well as promoting ways in which people can fundraise.

We are ambassadors of the brand for partnerships with companies and others, ensuring consistency
of messages to both internal and external audiences. We manage Breast Cancer Care’s relationships
with celebrity supporters, ambassadors and Patrons and provide an effective and efficient service to
the media.

Working with the media and within the news agenda means the team is always busy and sometimes
has to accommodate rapid and major shifts in priority at very short notice. This is exciting work that
offers a high degree of job satisfaction to enthusiastic, skilled communicators.

Context for Post

We are recruiting a 12 month contract to fill a vacancy in the team. The post will be focused on
fundraising PR to ensure maximum exposure for a wide variety of fundraising activities including
events, community fundraising and corporate partnerships

Flexibility:
We usually work well balanced hours, largely 9-5pm but on occasion the post holder must be prepared
to travel throughout the UK and to work varying hours.

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Main responsibilities

The Fundraising Press and PR officer will be responsible for creating and securing quality media
coverage for Breast Cancer Care’s fundraising activities to help increase public awareness of the
Breast Cancer Care brand, to encourage participation in Breast Cancer Care’s fundraising activities
and to support our many corporate partners.

The post is part of a four-strong team comprising a manager and three officers.

Media Relations

• To develop, implement and evaluate creative media relations strategies to support an agreed
portfolio of event, community fundraising and corporate partnership activities for Breast Cancer
Care.

• To source and place strong case studies for use by a variety of media.

• To respond quickly and effectively to all media requests and enquiries concerning events,
community fundraising or corporate partnership activities.

• To take responsibility for managing the media attending specific Breast Cancer Care events.
Ensure that journalists are given all the information they require whilst also ensuring that the
organisation’s key messages are effectively communicated.

• To be responsible for writing impactful and creative press materials, ensuring they are signed
off by appropriate people and distributed accordingly.

• To organise relevant press conferences, photo calls, launches or other media-focused

activities in support of fundraising initiatives.

• To develop strong relationships with key journalists, particularly on national press, women’s
press and breakfast/daytime TV. Identify key journalists to target and create and implement a
media contact schedule.

• To deliver collateral for existing media partnerships and support the development of new
relationships

• To respond appropriately, and work actively to manage requests and expectations of client
teams

• To deliver a high standard of output against the agreed campaign objectives

• To have responsibility for developing and maintaining effective working relationships with
Breast Cancer Care volunteers who are involved in media work for events and community
fundraising, and ensure they are used as effectively and sensitively as possible.

• To have responsibility for setting up media interviews to do with events, corporate or

community fundraising activities, to provide comprehensive written and verbal briefings for
interviewees, to act as an advisor on key messages and, where appropriate, to accompany
interviewees to the interviews.

• To work with the Celebrity Manager in the research and recruitment of suitable celebrities.
Once those celebrities are on board be responsible for placing media interviews, organising all
logistics and briefing the celebrity where appropriate

• To support the Celebrity Manager in the management of the celebrities at an event/photocall

etc

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 • Proactively support the Internal Communications Manager. Including, but not exclusive to,
creating internal communication plans for all major projects and providing content for the
intranet and volunteer bulletins

Monitoring and Evaluation

• To evaluate and report on all events, corporate and community fundraising communications
strategies and plans.

• As part of the above, to have responsibility for the correct categorisation and prompt review of
coverage achieved using Breast Cancer Care’s evaluation database.

• To take part in the delivery of the Daily News Summary with the rest of the team

General Duties

• To maintain confidentiality regarding client information at all times, to operate within the equal
opportunities policy framework and implement the policy within this area of work, and to adhere
to Breast Cancer Care’s health and safety policy.

• To attend training sessions, conferences and staff meetings as required and to be self
servicing in the area of administrative functions.

• Participate in providing out of hours media response as appropriate.

• To be an effective member of the team, presenting a positive impression of the team and the
service.

• To adhere to the Health and Safety policy.

• To operate within the organisational equal opportunities policy framework and implement the
policy within this area of work.

• Any other duties reasonably required.

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Breast Cancer Care

Person Specification - Fundraising Press & PR Officer

Essential Criteria:

Knowledge and Experience

• Significant experience of working in a relevant role in a busy press office or PR agency.

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.

• An excellent understanding of the way the media works at national, regional and consumer
level, with a proven track record of media relations success.

• Experience of establishing and developing lasting and productive relationships with journalists
from a range of sectors

• Experience of working with celebrities and celebrity agents.

• Experience of working as part of a team and negotiating shared expectations and

communications outcomes.

• Experience of developing, implementing and evaluating media relations strategies and plans,
with a proven track record of success.

• Excellent computer skills and a high level understanding of how IT can support
communications.

• An understanding of the implications of equal opportunities for the role of communications

professionals.

• An understanding of the needs of volunteers involved in media relations work, and some of the
issues they may face.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including press materials and report writing.

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to deal confidently with a range of people at all
levels.

• Excellent planning and organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise workload, deal with
conflicting demands and meet tight deadlines.

• Ability to think laterally and creatively when developing and implementing media strategies.

• Ability to negotiate agreement on expectations and outcomes in an extremely busy

environment with changing priorities.

• Ability to work successfully as part of several teams with differing agendas and objectives.

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 • Ability to apply tact and discretion in the handling of sensitive material and confidential
information.

Attributes

• An extremely proactive self-starter, with the ability to spot, maximise and follow through media
opportunities and solutions.

• The maturity and confidence to influence people at all levels to achieve results.

• Solution focussed in the face of challenges and conflicting demands.

• Ability to be assertive and tenacious

• A genuine commitment to providing proactive, high quality and client focused communications
expertise to several different internal teams.

• An enthusiastic and genuine commitment to the work of Breast Cancer Care’s events,
corporate and community fundraising teams.

• An appreciation of the issues for people affected by breast cancer working with the media and
an ability to meet their needs.

• A flexible approach with a willingness to work outside of core hours and away from home when
required.

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