Charity fundraiser jobs in belfast

Do you have experience in generating and sustaining charitable giving from individuals and nurturing a Friends scheme in the Arts education sector? Are you passionate about choral singing and its power to change the lives of children and young people and can you successfully advocate on our behalf to potential major donors?

The primary focus for the new role is to generate sustainable charitable giving from individuals, maintaining and growing our Friends memberships and developing significant income from major donors. We will also welcome input on stewardship of trusts and foundations if this is also your area of expertise.

We are a leading choral singing organisation and run residential summer courses for children and young people. Our artistic director, Ralph Allwood, founded the organisation 45 years ago, since when over 10,000 young people have benefited from our life-changing courses. Nowadays, around one third of students receive generous bursary support to attend a course and we also work with a range of partner organisations to encourage even more young people from diverse backgrounds to take part in our choral singing courses. We want to secure the future of the organisation and increase the number of students we can support by significantly growing our individual  giving.

We are looking for an experienced fundraiser to work up to 2 days per week on a freelance basis to help us move up a gear or two in terms of our fundraising, specifically to develop private giving from our extensive alumni network and the many successful individuals who feel music education at a young age made them the person they are today.

We have an office in central London but the job can be done remotely with occasional meetings with the General Manager, either in person or virtually.

Key information

Position: Head of Development, Friends and Major Donors

Reports to: General Manager

Key relationships: Artistic Director, Operations Manager, Assistant Director Rodolfus Choir, Communications Manager & Artistic Adviser, Chairman and Trustees

Location: Working from home with occasional visits to the office at King’s Place, London and meetings with donors c. weekly

Main goal: To launch our 45th anniversary year development appeal and manage fund raising through individual giving, Friends memberships and legacy donations and pledges, growing our charitable income in line with our strategy. 

About this role:

The main duties and responsibilities for the Heads of Development role are as follows:

INDIVIDUAL GIVING

· Maintain and build relationships with our donors, and identify new individuals who would like to see the Rodolfus Choral Foundation thrive

· Use our extensive alumni list to source and maintain donors

· Use contacts from the artistic director and trustees to generate new donors

·  Ensure that our top and potential donors are well looked after and researched, passing on key information to the Artistic Director and, where appropriate, arranging meetings between him and our donors

· Organise and co-host special donor events in unique venues

· Plan and help organise membership events for donors

· Help establish a legacy giving scheme for Rodolfus

· Have overall responsibility for reaching individual giving targets

· Ensure that data is accurately kept in our database in line with GDPR, and is harnessed to support our fundraising efforts

STRATEGIC PLANNING & REPORTING

· Develop a five-year Fundraising Strategy

· Set ambitious but achievable targets for each year, within the overall Rodolfus budget

· Contribute new ideas and find new opportunities for fundraising

· Produce quarterly fundraising updates for the Trustees

· Produce a fundraising report for the annual accounts, identifying strengths, weaknesses and areas for development in the Fundraising Strategy

TRUSTS AND GRANT-MAKING BODIES

· Liaise with the General Manager to ensure a coordinated fundraising plan and targets, in keeping with the artistic vision for Rodolfus

· Proof and submit applications and be the point of contact for Trusts and Foundations (this work is currently supported by the General Manager and a fundraising consultant)

GENERAL

· Attend Team and Board meetings as required

· Be a passionate advocate at all times for Rodolfus

· Adhere to all legal requirements relating to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as all other company policies and procedures

· Create a positive work environment, underpinned by the organisation’s values

· The list of responsibilities is not exhaustive and may be reviewed from time to time by the Trustees.

· The appointee may be required to perform duties outside of this as operationally required and at the discretion of the Board.

ABOUT YOU

We are looking for someone who:

· Is able to foster excellent relationships with major donors

· is positive, proactive, hard-working, innovative and ambitious

· is numerate, analytical, organised and has attention to detail

· is friendly, approachable and collaborative

· happy working in a small but dedicated team

· happy to travel regularly when required for donor and team meetings

Essential Criteria:

· excellent interpersonal skills

· experience of developing positive relationships with donors

· proven success in securing major donations

· experience of prospective donor identification and initial approach

· outstanding communication skills, both spoken and written

· experience in budget management

· good attention to detail

· excellent personal organisation and time management

· experience of working efficiently and effectively on their own as well as in a team

· understands the arts sector

Closing date: Midday on 23rd June 2025

Interviews: First round interviews will be held online on w/c 30th June 2025

Second round interviews will be held w/c 7th July 2025

We are looking for a driven and ambitious fundraiser to join our small but mighty fundraising team at a crucial period for the organisation as we find ourselves in the midpoint of our strategy period.

Since 2020 we have grown our income by 35%, refined our theory of change, invested in our digital and evaluation capabilities, secured multi-year funding and support from a series of well-respected funders and partners. This has laid solid foundations for future growth as we seek to revise our programmes, reaching the most vulnerable young people across London and Greater Manchester.  

Khulisa’s work continues to be known for putting well-being at the heart of positive change, transforming the lives of some of the UK's most vulnerable young people and supporting them to increase their wellbeing, self-esteem, enable educational inclusion. The highlights of the last year, include: 

• Supporting over 480 young people and adults 

• Surpassing £1.2 million in income 

• Significant improvements in Wellbeing being reported by 61% of our young people 

• 91% of our young people reporting feeling safe and not judged during our programmes 

We very much look forward to hearing from you and good luck! 

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Key Responsibilities 

• Trust Fundraising
• Prospecting – researching new trust and foundation opportunities
• Writing five-figure applications
• Managing a portfolio of 25-30 Trusts and Foundations
• Thanking – writing thank you letters, notes and confirmation receipts
• Banking – liaising with our colleagues in finance and supporters, to support receipt of funding
• Supporting the design of new thanking materials and a schedule of keeping supporters updated - thank you cards, seasonal messaging, reporting templates 
• Reporting – annually to donors, managing reporting schedule with Senior Fundraising Manager and colleagues in finance.
• Small trusts outreach and mailings.
• CRM: Updating our database on a weekly basis, data entry, updating current funders, payment schedules, agreements, building dashboards
• Monthly review of fundraising pipelines and opportunities, supporting the team with forecasting and their own pipeline management 
• Participating in cross team meetings with fundraising agenda’s - bid kick off meetings,  delivery/funders meetings, E&I, programmes.
• Finance – monthly reconciliation meeting.
• Logistics support for donor engagement days/meetings
• Managing case study bank and securing new case studies from the Programmes Team. 
• Team work and Administration
• Cross-team working – connecting with the programmes team on a regular basis
• Responding to all cross-organisational needs, including wellbeing surveys, attending team meetings and collaboration sessions
• Minute taking on a rolling basis across the team
• Preparing external meeting briefs
• Representing the organisation externally – conferences, networking etc.
• Contributing into fundraising reporting to Khulisa’s Board of Trustees 

Skills  

• Experience of writing clearly to communicate complex issues in a compelling manner 

• Strong ability to summarise text and key points, tailored to different audiences. 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills  

• Excellent eye for detail, strong systems and processes management skills 

• Ability to write reports in a concise, engaging and accessible manner 

• Strong people skills and willingness to work as part of a wider team 

• Ability to work independently using own initiative 

• Strong levels of comfort with using new, complex technology 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion We are actively looking to recruit a diversity of talent. We embrace, respect and value the difference in our employees and believe that we and our work is better for it. We are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that consists of fairness, dignity, and caring for everyone, and one that enables every employee to flourish and realise their potential

At Guide Dogs, we help people with sight loss live the life they choose. We're seeking a skilled and compassionate Partnership Operations Manager to lead the delivery of our guide dog service across Northern Ireland.

In this key leadership role, you'll manage a team of Guide Dog Mobility Specialists and Dog Wellbeing Technicians, ensuring high-quality, standardised guide dog partnership services. You’ll be responsible for operational planning, staff performance, volunteer engagement, customer experience, and quality assurance, ensuring services are consistently safe, effective, and tailored to the needs of individuals and their families.

As a lead representative for Guide Dogs in Northern Ireland, you'll act as a spokesperson when required and maintain visibility across the region. You’ll build strong local relationships, promote our mission within relevant sectors, and ensure services are delivered in line with legislation and regulation specific to Northern Ireland.

You’ll bring experience in leading teams and delivering services for vulnerable people, along with a strong understanding of safeguarding, person-centred practice, and operational delivery. You should be confident in performance management, resource planning, and developing a positive team culture. Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills are essential.

A management qualification (such as ILM) or equivalent relevant experience is required. Familiarity with safeguarding policies, compliance, and relevant legislation for Northern Ireland is expected.

This is your chance to lead meaningful change, empowering people with sight loss to live more independently and confidently across Northern Ireland.

This role will be based at our Belfast office. You’ll be working 35 hours per week, worked 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. 

How to apply 

Further details on the full role are attached below. When you are ready to apply, submit an online application form via this page.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, or require any accessibility support to apply, our friendly recruitment team is ready and waiting to help.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description. You will also be asked to complete a few job-specific questions as part of this application process, so please be prepared to write your answers to these questions.

If you want to know more about the teams who work at Guide Dogs, you can find it on our Careers Page

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are proud, whenever possible, to offer an interview to all candidates that meet our selection criteria, and who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident interview commitment. For more details, visit our careers site.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier; in addition, we cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.

Safeguarding

Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually, taking into account the nature of the offense, its relevance to the role, and the time that has passed since the incident. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

We are recruiting a Digital Fundraising Assistant to assist in the delivery of our growing virtual events programme. 

This is an exciting new role which involves supporting delivery of a wide range of virtual events at Sands, in order to grow our fundraising income.  The role includes increasing Sands’ online presence across a range of channels through excellent stewardship of large audiences who are both warm and new supporters. 

You will ensure delivery of a world class supporter experience using an omnichannel approach, helping our supporters reach and exceed their fundraising targets.

Working with the Digital Fundraising Manager, you will monitor the everchanging virtual challenge environment and consider how best to adapt our activities in order to achieve financial targets and remain innovative and a leader within the sector.

You will have strong communication skills and enjoy building relationships, especially within online communities. Additionally, you will have an understanding of a wide range of social media channels and an interest in creating refreshing, inspiring content.

A highly organised and efficient approach is essential in order to respond to large quantities of enquiries across multiple channels. Excellent written communication skills are therefore essential.

Relevant experience in creating engaging video, image and written content for different social channels is also an essential requirement.

This post is home-based. There may be the need to support Sands events at weekends and/or evenings and working hours can be adjusted accordingly.

Are you passionate about making a lasting impact in the community? Belfast YMCA is seeking a motivational and driven Fundraising & Communications Manager to lead one of our key strategic priorities: diversifying and increasing income to support our vital youth, family, and community programmes. This exciting and varied role offers the opportunity to shape and implement our fundraising and communications strategy, bringing your own creativity and expertise to the table. A key focus will be securing annual and multi-year trusts and grants, with the chance to lead a major capital funding programme as we redevelop our facilities and expand our reach across Belfast over the next three years. If you're ready to make a difference and play a pivotal role in the future of Belfast YMCA, we’d love to hear from you.