Partnering with the worlds leading education, cultural and charitable organisations to find talented fundraisers, they also focus on career development and talent management strategies. We sat down with Director Jocelyn Kelty for more. Jocelyn, tell us about this sector and the type of campaigns your successful candidates might work on. At Richmond Associates we specialise in the recruitment of mid to senior level fundraising professionals, mainly within the education and cultural sectors, both here in Australia and the UK. Successful candidates in Australia often go on to raise philanthropic funds for cutting edge research, state of the art facilities, innovative performances and give people the opportunity to experience art forms and educational opportunities they might not otherwise have had. A few of our successful candidates now lead multi-million dollar fundraising campaigns, particularly in the University sector, and are making very significant impact on their institutions and their output. It is such a rewarding profession, both in fundraising and on our part, helping to find fundraising talent for these organisations.
What’s the key to creating a great fundraiser and search agency? I have to admit, much of the groundwork was done for me as the Australia Office of Richmond Associates was originally a ‘satellite’ operation of our parent company in the UK which was established in 1999. It is our Managing Director based in London who really should get the credit for the creation of Richmond Associates. Key to its success has been finding a specialism where there was a specific need and sticking to this, despite changes in the market financially and politically. The firm here in Australia was opened in 2011 and I think key to its success has been very good timing- not for profits were just starting to invest in fundraising operations and resourcing fundraising staff so we met an immediate need at the right time. The other key to success- people. Our staff are a real credit to our success- we go above and beyond to find the best cultural fit for our organisations as well as those with suitable experience- it is a real match-making exercise!
Your all-woman team spans London, Melbourne and Sydney. How do you stay connected and what tools do you use to collaborate and communicate? Funnily enough just this year we have employed a male in our UK office. But yes, the rest of us are female! We have offices in London and Sydney but despite the geographic distance we work very collaboratively. We communicate as a team once a week where we discuss the current recruitment assignments both offices are working on and we brainstorm ideas for candidates for our assignments as well as opportunities for networking and furthering the profession both here and in the UK. Otherwise, we are on email every other day and Skype and other phone/internet technologies are great friends of Richmond Associates!
You have been a longstanding client of The Office Space. What do you value most about our professional services and staff? The Office Space gives our staff in the Australia Office the flexibility we need to carry out our work from home while being available for family as well. Having an office that answers our phone calls, sends through our mail, takes bookings when we need some office space and generally helps out when needed makes life just that much easier. The occasional car space in Surry Hills is always a bonus!
What is ahead for Richmond Associates in 2018? Business is doing well at the moment- both offices are busy and we are attending fundraising conferences in both the Asia Pacific and the UK to ensure we keep in touch with professionals in the industry. But it will be 2019 that will be the exciting year for us- when we celebrate 20 years of Richmond Associates! Watch this space!
