Fundraising officer jobs for the Animal sector

The Vacancy

**Part-time fixed term contract until December 2027 with possible extension. This is a new role that could be carried out 3 or 4 days a week **

Who we are

We are RCVS Knowledge, a charity with a mission to advance the quality of veterinary care for the benefit of animals, the public and society. We empower and support veterinary teams to provide evidence-based, quality care and improved animal health and welfare outcomes.  We are the charity partner of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). This role reflects our organisational values: integrity, collaboration, ambition, inclusion and empowerment

Job purpose

We are seeking a strategic, collaborative and experienced Head of income and partnerships to drive forward and deliver our plans for income growth and diversification in line with our 5-year organisational strategy.

This is a new, pivotal role at a defining moment for the organisation. As we evolve our operating model and ambitions, you will lead the development of a more diverse, sustainable and innovative income portfolio, ensuring we can continue to grow our impact in advancing the quality of veterinary care for the benefit of animals, the public and society.

Reporting directly to the CEO and working closely with your senior team colleagues, you will develop and implement our income generation strategy, unlocking opportunities across industry partnerships, trust and foundations and individual giving.

We’re looking for someone who is both strategically minded and comfortable with hands-on delivery, and who will take a proactive approach to building our income-generating capacity from the ground up.

Key responsibilities

Strategy and leadership

• Play a key role in developing and refining our income strategy to meet our organisational strategy and priorities
• Take a leadership role in income generation, collaborating with colleagues to identify and take forward opportunities for income generation and partnerships
• Advise the CEO and senior team on growth opportunities and strategic partnerships while providing coaching, guidance and support to the team on best practice in developing successful partnerships to generate income
• Encourage cross-team collaboration on income opportunities
• Work with the CEO and the rest of the senior team to set the annual business plan and budget, and monitor delivery and performance

Delivery

• Build, manage and deliver a pipeline of opportunities across multiple income streams, with a primary focus on industry partnerships, trusts and foundations, and the development of individual giving.

• Develop and secure high-value partnerships with carefully selected industry partners in line with our partnerships policy. Oversee stewardship of partners to develop successful strategic relationships in both the short and long term

• Work with senior team colleagues, clinical leads and other team members to develop compelling, outcome-driven cases for support
• Explore and support potential opportunities for income generation in other areas such as public sector and earned income.

Performance and compliance

• Monitor and report on progress towards KPIs and income targets
• Create and enhance systems, processes and tools to develop the charity’s income-generation capability
• Ensure compliance with fundraising regulation and best practice
• Work with finance colleagues on forecasting, reporting and income tracking.

Person specification

Essential

• Substantial experience leading income‑generation activity, including developing strategies, building pipelines and securing income across multiple streams
• Strong track record of developing and stewarding high‑value partnerships that deliver income and impact
• Experience personally leading successful bids, proposals and pitches
• Confidence operating both strategically and hands‑on within a small or medium-sized organisation
• Strong senior‑level stakeholder‑management skills and the ability to translate organisational strengths into compelling cases for support
• Solid financial literacy, including budgeting, forecasting and income tracking
• Clear understanding of best practice, governance and ethical considerations in income generation

Desirable

• Experience working within the veterinary or animal‑health sector, or in a similarly technical or evidence‑based environment
• Familiarity with developing income opportunities in collaboration with technical or clinical experts.

Closing date 21st June 2026

1st interviews (Online) 29th June or 2nd July 2026

2nd Interviews (In person) 7th July 2026

*The application page will give you a single 'Upload your CV' option. Please use this CV upload option to upload a single document that includes both a Cover letter and a CV within a single document. Please use the Cover letter to outline how your skills, experience and knowledge meets the essential criteria of the role*

A rare chance to build something from zero — and see your work move millions of pounds to the world's most effective charities.
 

The opportunity

In recent years, some of the biggest problems in the world have gotten worse.

• The decades-long decline in extreme poverty has slowed.
• Factory farming continues to grow, with 13 billion farmed animals killed annually in the U.S. alone.
• The rapid deployment of increasingly powerful AI systems raises questions about safety and alignment that remain largely unresolved.

What gives us hope is that research-backed, scalable, but grossly underfunded ways to make progress on these problems exist.

More than 11,000 people have pledged at least 10% of their income to the world's most effective charities through Giving What We Can's 10% Pledge. Our global community gives over £63 million every year, funding malaria prevention, poverty reduction, animal welfare, AI safety research, and more.

GWWC has over 5,000 UK donors. £12.5M came from the top 300 alone in 2025. Despite this, there has been virtually no proactive relationship management. We believe there's huge potential to increase this figure with dedicated, high-quality donor stewardship.

London is GWWC's largest concentration of community members: over 2,600 CRM contacts and over 500 active pledgers. It's the natural centre of gravity for events and in-person engagement, with a rich ecosystem of high-net-worth individuals aligned with effective giving.
 

What you'll do

Build deep, lasting relationships with donors and pledgers. You'll proactively manage a portfolio of GWWC's highest-value community members through 1:1 meetings, calls, and thoughtful follow-up. Expect 8 to 10 meaningful conversations per week: coffees, dinners, calls.

Guide donors toward the highest-impact giving. Think of it as philanthropic advising. You're helping people think through where their giving goes furthest, directing generosity toward GWWC-recommended, evidence-backed charities. You'll also inspire people to give more, helping them see why giving more significantly and effectively can transform the impact they have with their donations.

Run high-quality donor events. Intimate dinners, networking evenings, and community gatherings. You'll have an events budget and the freedom to experiment with formats that build connection.

Re-engage lapsed and non-reporting donors. When someone takes a pledge with GWWC, they commit to giving 10% of their income to effective charities. Some donors give through our platform (where we can track it), while others give directly to charities and report it back to us. Over time, many stop doing either: our data shows recording rates drop from 60% in year one to just 22% by year five without any proactive engagement. These aren't necessarily people who've stopped caring; many have simply drifted without anyone checking in. A single outreach test to 369 lapsed donors recovered $2.3M in reported donations. You'll do this systematically, bringing recording rates to around 70% for the group of people you're engaging with.

Inspire warm leads to take a giving pledge. Follow up with people who've attended events, expressed interest, or sit in our CRM but haven't yet committed. We expect approximately 80 new pledges per year from this work.

Build the strategy. You'll build the strategy in partnership with your counterpart in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a joint endeavour: together you'll develop the model for how GWWC does donor engagement, then adapt it for each geography to replicate globally.
 

What we're looking for

A social chameleon with high EQ. You can read a room and calibrate, holding your own at a black-tie dinner or a casual coffee with equal ease. Different donors need different things; you instinctively know which register to use.

Energised by getting out there. You're the kind of person who'd rather have ten meetings in a week than five. You want to be out in the world, meeting people, opening doors, and building relationships. Some weeks half your outreach will go unanswered, and that doesn't slow you down.

Highly organised and strategic. You're able to use a CRM to maximise the number and quality of interactions you have, thinking strategically about how to invest the most time on the highest-potential opportunities, whether that's inspiring new donors or stewarding existing ones to give more.

Super agentic. Give you KPI targets and a CRM and you'll build the strategy from there. You're the kind of person who doesn't need to be told what to do next, you just see what needs doing and get on with it.

You really care deeply about these issues. You find the core questions of effective giving compelling. You can talk about why cost-effectiveness matters without sounding robotic, and you come across as authentic because you actually care about these issues.

5+ years of relevant experience. In fundraising, philanthropy, donor stewardship, major gifts, high-touch relationship management, or senior sales and partnerships. We care about what you can do, not credentials, but this is a senior role that requires demonstrated experience.
 

Nice to haves

We definitely don't expect any candidate to have all of these.

• Experience or familiarity with global catastrophic risks, global health and wellbeing, or animal welfare as cause areas
• Experience in the effective altruism or effective giving ecosystem
• Experience running or hosting donor events
• Experience with HubSpot specifically (CRM proficiency is essential, but HubSpot experience is a bonus)
• Understanding of UK tax-efficient giving (Gift Aid, share donations via ShareGift, payroll giving)
• Being a GWWC pledger yourself
• People management aptitude (you may grow a small team over time)
   

Compensation and benefits

• £77,000 – £89,000 depending on experience You can see how we calculate pay in our public salary calculator. 
• Contract: One-year fixed-term contract with a three-month probation period. We're open to exploring making it permanent if the first year is successful.

Benefits include:

• Fully remote work (with regular in-person donor meetings and events as part of the role)
• 25 days paid leave + public holidays
• 10% employer pension contribution and private health insurance
• £4,000 annual professional development budget
• £4,000 annual mental health support budget
• The knowledge that your work moves millions of pounds to the world's most effective charities
   

About us

Giving What We Can is working towards a world without preventable suffering or existential risk, where everyone is able to flourish. We do this by making giving effectively and significantly a norm among those who can afford it.

Founded in 2009, we are best known for the 10% Pledge, where over 11,000 people have committed to donating at least 10% of their lifetime income to highly effective charities. Our larger community of ~20,000 pledgers and donors currently gives ~£63M annually, of which GWWC processes and grants £24M+ yearly through our own donation platform.

We're a lean, remote, performance-focused team. Our impact evaluation shows a 7x multiplier: every $1 spent on our operations generates $7 in donations to highly effective charities. We're committed to a high level of transparency. And we're growing fast, on track for more than 40% year-over-year growth on donations in 2026.

You'll report to: James Rayton, Director of Community & Partnerships
 

How to apply

You can apply by filling out the form linked in this job ad. We review applications on a rolling basis and will move quickly when we find the right person. Our process typically includes: application review → screening call → paid work test → interviews with James (line manager) and cross-functional team members → paid work trial → reference checks and interview with the CEO. We provide compensation for all work tests and trials.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Giving What We Can is committed to building a diverse team and strongly encourages applications from people of all backgrounds.