Contact
tim@ferntalent.com
07480 877 734 / 020 3137 5009
Tim’s thoughts on CNK
We are working with Connect: North Korea to find a Head of Fundraising.
It’s a small team, and Michael (the CEO) is currently swamped with managing both the charity and its fundraising, so priority number one is finding someone who can start as soon as possible.
The interim element of this role (6 months) will focus primarily on Trusts. We are looking for a senior fundraiser who can work autonomously; the role is essentially remote, though an office is available in New Malden (Southwest London) if you happen to live nearby.
There is no expectation for the person who takes the interim contract to transition into the permanent role once the contract ends, but that opportunity is certainly there. CNK has huge untapped potential, coming off the back of 20% year-on-year growth with 50% of this year’s budget already funded through multi-year grants.
The "low-hanging fruit" includes Individual Giving (IG) and Legacy, as well as Major Giving and Corporate Fundraising. While a highly political human rights charity isn’t every company's ideal partner, there is significant opportunity via South Korean chaebols (Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK Group, etc.), corporate trusts, and innovative corporate partnerships.
The winning formula for this job is the ability to write a compelling application alongside the skill to build relationships with a wide range of people.
An in-depth understanding of geopolitics isn’t a prerequisite—the situation is constantly changing—but a desire for justice is. You will be advocate for the 125,000 people kept in camps too inhumane to articulate, and an impoverished population of 25,000,000 who struggle to get by while a tiny minority lives in luxury and spend 30–40% of GDP on the military.
From people forced to fight in Ukraine and overseas construction projects to highly sophisticated teams of hackers and the production of illicit drugs, the ways the regime props itself up are just the tip of the iceberg. It is a precarious situation.
The use of long-range, nuclear-capable missiles and a willingness to sell technology to anyone makes this more serious than it is often represented in the media (which tends to focus on "haircut" stories rather than systemic abuse). The threat of nuclear weapons being used as a last resort if the Kim dynasty begins to crumble is a stark reality.
This situation is only made possible by countries willing to be complicit. The right international pressure, applied in the right way, could change everything—and that starts with those who make it out telling their story and that is made possible by charities like CNK.