4 Development manager jobs in Manchester, Greater Manchester

About the Role: GardenOfLove is a UK-based platform connecting individuals, verified charities, and businesses through giving, volunteering, and community. We're looking for a Partnerships & Business Development Manager to help us grow and manage those relationships as we expand across the charity, university, and corporate sectors.

This is a hands-on, relationship-driven role for someone comfortable moving between long-term trust-building and direct commercial conversations, often in the same week.

What You'll Be Doing

• Charity partnerships: identifying, approaching, and onboarding verified UK charities onto the platform, and maintaining strong ongoing relationships with them.
• University partnerships: leading outreach to universities for student wellbeing initiatives, campus Gardens, and pilot programmes.
• Corporate Gardens sales: managing the full sales process for our B2B CSR product, from first outreach through to signed, onboarded corporate clients.
• Sector networking: representing GardenOfLove at relevant events and conferences across the charity and corporate sectors.
• General business development: identifying new partnership opportunities, including with media, incubators, and adjacent organisations, and helping shape how we approach them.

What We're Looking For

• Experience in a partnerships, business development, or corporate fundraising role, ideally with some exposure to the charity or nonprofit sector.
• Comfort with both relationship-led conversations and direct commercial pitching.
• Strong written and verbal communication — you'll often be representing our voice directly to charities, universities, and companies.
• Genuine curiosity about, and comfort with, the mission behind the platform — this matters more to us than a perfect CV.

Before You Apply: We'd encourage you to explore our website and try the app yourself before applying. We'll ask about your experience with it directly at interview — genuine engagement will come through, and that matters to us more than a generic cover letter.

Compensation: Competitive salary, dependent on experience, plus standard benefits. 

Why This Role Matters: This isn't just another platform with a mission statement attached. Kindness staying free, verification-first trust, and community-driven giving are structural choices we've built the business around, not marketing lines. If that's a philosophy you'd genuinely want to represent, not just describe, we'd love to hear from you.

The Bridge Group is currently seeking a Partnerships and Development Manager to support our work as a leading independent research and advisory charity promoting socio-economic inclusion through evidence, insight and collaboration.

For over a decade, the Bridge Group has worked with organisations across sectors, asking the right questions, uncovering what works, and turning data-led insights into meaningful change.

Our vision is an education system and a labour market where background is no barrier – and everyone, wherever they started in life, has the chance to realise their potential.

To help us move into the next ten years with energy, vision and a healthy funding portfolio, we are looking to engage a new fundraising and business development professional to help us develop our fundraising strategy and seek out new sources of income.

We would particularly welcome your application if you:

• Have at least 3 years’ experience of working in a fundraising or a similar role that covered at least two of the following areas:
  • proposal and/or grant application development
  • client or donor liaison
  • philanthropic fundraising (from individuals and/or foundations)
  • promotional content writing.
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Enjoy networking and relationship-building and would be comfortable representing the charity and its values to clients, partners and potential funders.
• Have a strong understanding of the charity sector and fundraising networks and mechanisms.
• Have experience of project, programme or funder portfolio management.
• Would welcome a remote-working role with occasional travel, and are happy to work as part of a small team.  

If you’re interested in applying, please visit our website at the link below. Applications from people who come from a lower socio-economic background or historically under-represented group are particularly encouraged. We are also inclusive of people who are neurodivergent, or have a health condition or a disability, and would make reasonable adjustments for this at both the interview stage (please specify in your application) and, should your application be successful, in the workplace.

Online interviews are planned for the week commencing 05 October 2026.

Summary of Main Duties and Objectives of the Job:

· Assist in planning and delivering outreach activities.

· Supervise outreach staff and volunteers.

· Build relationships with community partners.

· Monitor and report on outreach performance.

· Deputise for the Group Manager when required.

· Promote a culture of empowerment, trauma-informed practice, and continuous improvement.

Support the Group Manager to :

· Design and implement outreach strategies to engage diverse communities.

· Develop community-led projects and initiatives that promote mental health and wellbeing.

· Ensure service user voices shape outreach and development activities.

· Ensure services meet contractual, legal, and quality standards, including safeguarding, GDPR, and clinical governance.

· Monitor and evaluate service performance, using data and feedback to inform improvements.

· Ensure services are delivered within budget and collaborate with the Finance Manager on financial planning and reporting.

· Contribute to the strategic development of community services, identifying opportunities for innovation and growth.

· Support tendering and funding applications, working with colleagues to develop compelling proposals.

· Build and maintain relationships with commissioners, funders, and community partners.

· Support the professional development of staff and volunteers through supervision, appraisal, and training.

· Work with HR and senior colleagues to identify training needs and promote wellbeing in the workplace.

· Lead safeguarding practice within therapeutic services, ensuring robust policies and procedures are in place.

• Identify and manage risks, reporting to senior leadership as required.
• Ensure service users are meaningfully involved in the design and delivery of services.
• Promote services through outreach, networking, and partnership working to reach underserved communities.
• Prepare reports for internal and external stakeholders, including the Board of Trustees.
• Represent Rochdale and District Mind at external meetings, forums, and events.

General principles for all Mind staff:

1. To promote the empowerment of people who experience mental health and emotional wellbeing issues and to help them speak out.

2. To support the active participation of mental health and emotional wellbeing service users in the services they receive.

3. To practice anti-discriminatory behaviour and to adhere to Rochdale and District Mind’s objectives and policies in the delivery of all its services.

These responsibilities are subject to annual review and may need to be adjusted in line with service developments.