Claire James Email and Phone Number

• Responsible for the organisation and delivery of existing large-scale fundraising events and creating new, successful events to continually refresh and improve the calendar in order to engage current supporters and encourage new ones. Events include The Spirit of Christmas concert at Chester Cathedral with celebrity performers, ‘ Live in the Park at Arley Hall’; an outdoor music concert attracting an audience of over 2000 people, and various dinners, ladies lunches with guest speakers, cruise evenings, quiz nights and most recently an 'Easter Bunny Run' 5km fun run.• Created operational plans, managed event logistics, built and maintained strong relationships with key suppliers. Developed negotiation and efficient purchasing skills.• Responsible for budget decisions and management, creating and managing income and expenditure spreadsheets.• Responsible for achieving an annual events income target of £140,000, through ticket sales and the identification of sponsorship opportunities to maximise income e.g. matched funding from corporate sponsors. Secured raffle and auction prizes to maximise profit at events.• Engaged and retained a strong supporter base, increasing the mailing list to 3,500 event attendees since 2011.• Recruited, coached and managed up to 80 volunteers per event with a high record of volunteer retention.• Identified PR opportunities and successful marketing of events via the media; created and circulated press releases, organised leaflet drops and participated in radio interviews to improve ticket sales. Negotiated costs of digital and newspaper advertising and built good relationships with the media. Effective use of free advertising and social media.• Designed promotional materials, contributed to the writing of Newsletters. Managed and updated the Events and News section of the website.• Provided excellent customer care and protection of NMC values.• Responsible for administration of all events, recording supporter and supplier details

Managed the logistics of each event through course preparation and management, co-ordination of volunteers and staff in a variety of different roles, crowd management of up to 6000 participants and regular communication with suppliers to ensure that events ran smoothly.Built relationships with Cancer Research UK contacts, volunteers and the events team. Recruited volunteers, provided support and coaching. Contacted key personnel prior to each event, ensuring all suppliers and volunteers had all relevant information.Promoted events via the media by creating and circulating press releases and distributing marketing materials, participated in radio interviews.

Responded to customer complaints and queries via phone, email and formal letters.During 2008 performed the role of Escalations Manager, dealing with higher level complaints. Experience of dealing with complex, sensitive complaints as departmental specialist for post-surgery lingerie.Responsible for the training of new employees on email complaints and played a role in the design of training protocols.Winner of the Great Service Award 2009 for providing outstanding customer service.

Responsible for recruiting and managing over 50 events organisers providing assistance, coaching and inspiration in support of individual fundraising events. Worked as part of a team overseeing the organisation of a major nationwide music festival, provided support and expertise for the marketing, fundraising and production functions.Independently directed a live music event hosting over 500 people, managing the marketing, financial planning and publicising of the event, along with the co-ordination of volunteers.

Operated tills, provided customer service.Promoted to Supervisor role, managing the shop floor during weekend and evening shifts. Responsible for leading the team, and calculated sales figures and targets.