Contract jobs for the Environment sector

Charityworks is a 12-month, talent programme where you will deliver a full time paid job in a partner charity or housing association and have the opportunity to make real social impact.

Alongside your placement, you will also take part in an acclaimed development programme recognised by the Institute of Leadership and Management; this has been designed to accelerate your career development and provide you with the skills needed to launch your career in the social sector. 

Throughout the process you’ll be supported and challenged by our programme team, an external mentor from the sector and a peer coach to help you make the most of the year. You’ll come together regularly with your fellow trainees and professionals across the sector to explore key issues affecting your work and society as a whole. Individually, you’ll explore the sector and deepen your understanding of your environment even further by producing your own enquiry and research project.

At the end of the 12-month programme you’ll have the experience and skills to kick-start your professional career in the UK social sector and beyond! 

For more information before you complete your application, take a look at our website

Key Information

Applications are now open and will close on the 30th June 2026.

Job Description

• Job Title: Charityworks Trainee

• Employer: One of our Charityworks partner organisations.  These organisations are subject to change each year but often include a range of non-profit partners from NSPCC, Guide Dogs, Barnardo’s, Christian Aid, Network Homes, Accent Housing and many more. 

• Location: Placements will take place in leading non-profit organisations across a number of locations across the UK. There will be a range of working patterns available including partly remote or blended working possibilities.

• Hours: Usually 9am - 5pm with some flexibility according to the requirements of the placement and your host organisation. 

• Contract: Fixed term, 12 months.

• Salary: The salary will meet the Living Wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation at the time of writing. This is outlined above.

Water Witness International is seeking an excellent international development practitioner to support our expanding portfolio of work to secure lasting water security and justice across multiple countries. Based in Edinburgh, you will coordinate the Fair Water Action Fund and work closely with partners and grantees to respond to their evolving needs, making sure that evidence emerging from their work is effective in driving system change at scale. The role involves overseas travel, supporting the co-design and delivery of a wide range of initiatives, liaising effectively with stakeholders, building consensus and ensuring high-quality documentation. You will work closely with the Senior Management Team, Trustees and colleagues to help shape our wider organisational strategy and programme direction. 

The International Programme Officer will report to our Deputy Director/Global Operations Director and will work closely with personnel and partners in different countries where WW supports development programmes, to ensure the work we support is aligned with WW’s strategy, and that the delivery of our work has impact, is on track and is in line with donor agreements and budgets

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.