Wesser Ltd - contacting people

Hi Parents!

Ok… so your bundle of joy is all grown up. They’ve been voluntarily (or not!) searching for jobs and have stumbled across a charity fundraising position. Charity fundraising? How does that work? It is a field largely unknown to the majority and so naturally questions have to be asked.

Well, this is the place for those questions to be answered. The job we offer is unique and naturally therefore it may sometimes seem too good to be true but it’s a real job, honest!

Who We Are

Wesser is a European organisation that has been operational since 1968, raising funds for charities such as the Swiss Red Cross, the World Wildlife Fund & St John Ambulance. During our many years we have raised over 4 million supporters and more than £200,000,000 in total. In the UK, we have worked solely on behalf of St John Ambulance raising vital funds for their life saving campaigns for the past 10 years and have a very strong and loyal partnership with them. The advantage of employing a separate organisation to raise funds for the charity is that St John do not have to committ any money towards the start up costs of the fundraising campaign. Wesser funds the whole project and provides a high level of professionalism and quality of service. A percentage of each donation is used for our organisation’s expenses but the greater amount always is issued to St John. This is the most cost effective and benefical means to fundraise for St John, for Wesser & for the paid fundraiser.

What We Do

As with most jobs, charity fundraising is not a walk in the park. Fundraisers work very hard as they realise the more they do so, the greater money potentially they will be making. Their task is to promote and raise funds for St John over a minimum period of only 4 weeks. This makes it ideally suited to those looking for permanent, temporary or vacation work. They will be working outdoors for the majority of the time under controlled conditions. Fundraising areas are mapped out months in advance with the relevant county to assure safety and success. Although the fundraising is conducted one on one in residential areas with the prospective supporter, all fundraisers work within streets of another member of the team. A team mobile is supplied for communication purposes and personal alarms are available also but we have had no cause for concern with any of our fundraisers well being at all.

How We Interview & Train

We hold first and second round interviews. The first is to get a general appreciation for the candidate and for the candidate to learn more about the job. . This is conducted over the phone and is quite brief lasting only a couple of minutes. The second is a more in-depth look at the candidates’ suitability for the position. This is arranged as a group interview through which we can assess a candidates perfomance against others. We look for confident, articulate individuals with a creative and bubbly personality with no experience necessary. The training is conducted at the fundraising location with an experienced Campaign Coach and takes place over the course of the first few days with all areas of charity fundraising, sales and direct marketing covered. In the summer period, we do sometimes organise group training days or weekends.

Where We Operate

We are still very much a growing organisation. Currently we are not fundraising in all counties and certainly the places we work varies at certain points in the year. We work throughout England and Wales offering a mixture of flexi time and full time positions. With the full time role, we also provide accommodation. The accommodation is of a great standard and Fundraisers will usually have a double / single room to themselves or occasionally may be asked to share a twin. Houses are fully furnished with all those home comforts included and located close to local amenities. Accommodation is free to all as long as a certain target is met. Otherwise there is a £60 charge applied for that week.

What We Pay

We make sure that our pay structure is fair to all concerned: the charity and the fundraiser. We have an thorough training process in place which is very much structured round an individuals needs. In most cases, one on one training is offered with the relevant campaign coach for the area and opportunities are given to work with fellow team members to appreciate different approaches to the job role. We have a performance related system in place which serves three purposes: 1) To encourage the raising of more supporters to support St John Ambulance 2) To motivate the fundraiser to better themselves 3) To be able to offer them the chance to earn an unlimited sum of money. We do not cap any of our commission or bonus schemes and the performance levels are incredibly fair. We set the targets reasonably so that fundraisers earn a good amount of money, so that they continue to work for us and raise supporters, thus raising money for the charity. Our organisations would not be able to function if we set unrealistic goals!

Further information about the pay structure is available during the second round of interviewing.