Director of development and alumni relations jobs

Pembroke College, Oxford, is seeking to appoint a Donor Relations Officer to play a pivotal role in its fundraising and stewardship programme. This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual with excellent communication and organisational skills to contribute to the long-term development of one of Oxford’s most forward-looking Colleges.

Founded in 1624, Pembroke is an inclusive and dynamic College based on a central site in Oxford that joins award-winning new developments with historic quadrangles. The College has ambitious fundraising goals to support scholarships, academic posts, buildings, and other key priorities.

The Donor Relations Officer will work closely with the Development Manager and Development Director to devise and implement a comprehensive stewardship strategy for Pembroke’s major donors. The role involves producing bespoke donor reports, drafting proposals and gift agreements, coordinating stewardship events, and ensuring that donors receive appropriate recognition and communications. The post-holder will liaise closely with the Finance, Academic, and Communications teams, as well as Fellows, staff, and students, to ensure accurate and impactful donor reporting.

This role offers excellent professional development opportunities and would suit someone with a background in alumni relations, fundraising, customer relations or a related field. The successful candidate will have excellent writing, project management and interpersonal skills, be proactive and detail-oriented, and able to manage confidential information with discretion.

Benefits include membership of the University staff pension scheme, 30 days of annual leave, free lunches during working hours when the College kitchens are open, and training and professional development opportunities.

Role Overview

The Donor Relations Officer role focuses on stewardship and proposal writing.  This involves devising a stewardship strategy for major donors, producing reports for donors, and drafting proposals and gift agreements for prospective donors. The post-holder reports to the Development Manager.

Key Responsibilities

The main duties to be carried out by the post-holder include:

Stewardship

• Working with the Development Director and Development Manager, create a stewardship strategy for all major donors, ensuring that everyone receives annual reports on their giving and the appropriate level of recognition.
• Work with the College’s Finance team to obtain annual reports on the status of restricted and endowed funds for inclusion in stewardship reporting.
• Take ownership of the College’s stewardship groups for major donors, namely the Foundation Fellows, Sheppard Circle, and Master’s Circle.  Liaise with the Senior Alumni Relations Officer to create and deliver events for members of these groups and devise ways to further our relationship with them individually and collectively.
• Work with the Accounts Office and Academic Office to ensure that restricted funds are used in accordance with their purpose and to track and report on progress to donors in line with relevant gift agreements and pledges.
• Ensure donors receive appropriate recognition in all relevant College publications and other media and work in close collaboration with the Communications team to ensure donors receive relevant College and Campaign communications.
• Work with the Development team, Communications team, and others in College to create an annual report demonstrating the impact of philanthropy at Pembroke for distribution to donors to the College.
• Identify opportunities to publicise the impact of philanthropy at Pembroke through multimedia communications and digital platforms (e.g., videos, newsletters, digital campaigns).
• Once the programme is established there may be opportunities to undertake face-to-face stewardship meetings with donors.

Proposal writing

• Support the Development Director and Development Manager in drafting bespoke proposals for major donor prospects.
• Assist in the production of fundraising documentation to appeal to potential major donors.
• Make effective use of donor records to ensure proposals and reports are data driven.
• Draft gift agreements for major donors.

Internal collaboration

• Work collaboratively with the wider team and colleagues across Pembroke, supporting work outside your functional area where necessary.
• Build strong internal relationships with relevant stakeholders to ensure the stewardship programme is supported at the highest level.
• Work with Fellows, staff, and students to obtain reports and other stories relating to the impact of donor funding.
• To undertake such other duties as may be reasonably required by the Development Director, which may include travel and event attendance outside standard working hours.

At Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, we’re proud to house one of the largest and most successful fundraising and alumni engagement teams outside of the Central University. We’re seeking a driven and globally-minded Alumni Networks and Groups Manager to help shape and lead our international alumni engagement strategy. You’ll play a pivotal role in strengthening our alumni relations programme—building meaningful lifelong connections between Oxford Saïd and our 18,000+ alumni and elumni across the world.

As Alumni Networks and Groups Manager, you will be responsible for developing and delivering the strategy for our global alumni Chapters, Ambassadors and special interest groups. You’ll manage a diverse portfolio of international volunteer leaders, support the growth of key alumni communities and coordinate global engagement activities aligned with Oxford Saïd’s strategic priorities.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a global engagement strategy for alumni Chapters, Ambassadors and alumni groups.
• Cultivate, support and manage a portfolio of 20+ international alumni chapters and 70+ individual volunteers.
• Act as a key liaison for global alumni leaders, offering guidance, sharing best practices and ensuring alignment with School strategy.
• Coordinate and support global alumni events, often in partnership with faculty and senior leadership.
• Contribute to internal reporting, communications strategies and volunteer recognition programmes.

You will bring substantial experience in managing international volunteer networks with a strong strategic focus on alumni relations. You will possess excellent communication and relationship-building skills across global audiences, alongside proven expertise in project management, budgeting and ROI analysis. Strong organisational abilities, diplomatic acumen and cultural sensitivity are also essential.

You must have the Right to Work within the UK as this position may not amount to enough points under the points-based immigration system in the UK.

Further information on this role can be found in the job description.

At Saïd Business School we believe in fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone can thrive. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities to bring their unique perspectives and experiences to our team. Join us to build a brighter, more equitable future, where we celebrate diversity, advance equity, and nurture inclusion across everything we do.

We offer very generous benefits, some of which are:

• Generous holiday allowance of 38 days including bank holidays
• Hybrid working
• Membership of the Oxford staff pension scheme
• Discounted bus travel
• Subsidised onsite catering
• Cycle loan scheme
• Plus, many other University benefits

All applications must include a CV, Supporting Statement/Cover Letter and Current Salary.

The closing date for applications is 16 July 2025 at 12.00 noon. Interviews will likely be held 22 July 2025.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead our Alumni Engagement team who provide support to an alumni base of almost 40,000 contactable alumni of the Sutton Trust programmes. These are generally young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds who move into highly competitive universities, courses and careers. The alumni community has grown rapidly over the past 3 years and now expects around 6-7000 new alumni to join each September. Engagement covers supporting their transition to university and into the workplace through communications, events and programmes. It also spans alumni volunteering, our Alumni Leadership Board, and working with our Development team towards alumni giving.

The role is dynamic and diverse, requiring you to be able to think strategically whilst devising and delivering on operational delivery plans, and we are looking for a confident and experienced team leader during a period of maternity leave.

This role is part of the Programmes Leadership Team and will work closely with the Director of Programmes, Head of Employability Programmes and Head of University Access & Digital on shaping the strategic direction of the team and its programmatic work. The role will also connect closely to the work of the Development Team as we look to devise and implement a segmented alumni giving scheme, as well as the Communications and Policy team, and may evolve to take on new projects over time.

Main duties

• Strategic leadership to alumni engagement, including:
  • Embedding alumni relations and programming across the organisation, ensuring alumni are considered or involved in all areas of the Trust’s work
  • Managing budget and project timelines to ensure projects are delivered effectively
  • Working with the wider programmes team to ensure a smooth transition for Sutton Trust beneficiaries between programmes and the alumni community

• Alumni Engagement and Volunteering:
  • Refining and communicating the alumni strategy across the Trust and to donors and external stakeholders
  • Growing the Sutton Trust alumni network and developing a long-term strategy for alumni engagement, including communications and events, identifying key areas of focus and setting out benchmarks and KPIs
  • Overseeing a suite of volunteering opportunities for alumni to give back to, and represent the Trust in (for example on programmes, with our funder base, in our research and policy work, or to benefit the alumni community)
  • Managing the online alumni platform (STA) and its integration with other platforms .
  • Overseeing the recruitment to and engagement of the Alumni Leadership Board and new Changemaker/Ambassador programme to build on our advocacy work, and ensuring effective engagement with the work of the Trust and the wider alumni community
  • Ensuring that the above complements a long-term plan which would enable alumni to fundraise for the Trust or make donations in support of the Trust

• Programme management and Alumni Support:
  • Support delivery of access to the workplace and employability programming for alumni alongside the Head of Employability Programmes
  • Overseeing the delivery of bursary support programmes (including the Opportunity Bursary funded by JP Morgan) by the Alumni Programmes Manager from recruitment to evaluation and reporting
  • Overseeing the delivery of a series of employer-led events (working with employer-facing colleagues across the Trust) across a range of industry sectors that support student access to workplace opportunities, and the chance to build employability skills (such as networking / interview skills etc)
  • Overseeing the development of content and activities to support young alumni transitioning to HE
  • Overseeing the evaluation and scoping for potential growth for alumni-alumni mentoring with the Alumni Connect programme (piloted in Spring 2025)
  • Ensuring appropriate systems and processes are in place to manage programmes and events for alumni

• Alumni Giving and Relationship Management
  • Working closely with the Development team to provide support for key funding partnerships including those that directly fund/ work with the Alumni team.
  • Working with the Director of Development/ Head of Philanthropy to input into a new strategy to build funding from our alumni
  • Working with the Development team to implement an ongoing segmented fundraising communications plan to build awareness of our need for funding and directing alumni to appropriate giving schemes depending on their life/career stage
  • Identifying potential mid to high level alumni donors and working with the Development team to cultivate
  • Representing the Trust and facilitating introductions via senior alumni for new and potential employer or delivery partners

• Team Management:
  • Leading the alumni team to ensure effective engagement of our alumni community, including line management responsibility, team meetings, pastoral support and appraisals
  • Line managing, motivating and proactively supporting the Alumni Programmes Manager and Senior Alumni Officer in their professional development
  • Working with Director of Programmes and Heads of Programmes on team management, culture and long term planning
  • Working across the organisation on cross-team projects, such as with the employer working group, youth voice, Changemaker pilot, alumni giving, and STO/STA platforms strategy.
  • Member of extended-SLT

• Other duties as necessary from time to time

Person Specification

We welcome applications from individuals who have experience in:

• Professional experience of alumni relations, or managing other similar membership communities, ideally within the education or charity sector.
• Has experience working within or an understanding of the not for profit sector and/or the education sectors;
• Experience of developing strategies, frameworks and operational plans to support alumni relations, programmes and events for young people, or equivalent
• Strong understanding of databases, data processes and experience using a CRM (ideally Salesforce)
• Experience in project management, monitoring and evaluation, managing budgets, financial control and administration
• Building relationships with significant, diverse stakeholder groups
• Experience of managing volunteers and volunteer stewardship
• Excellent verbal and written communication and strong analytical skills
• First-class interpersonal skills - a natural ambassador able to represent the Sutton Trust in a range of settings
• Working collaboratively across teams and within a small team
• Line management and leadership of a small team
• Adapting to new opportunities and trialling new initiatives
• Personable, flexible and discreet; able to fit in to a small team

We are also looking for an individual who:

• Has experience of building philanthropic support through alumni
• Is sympathetic to the aims of the Trust and its mission to address educational disadvantage;
• Has excellent attention to detail;
• Is eligible to work in the UK (see here for information about right to work)

Terms of Appointment

• • Contract: 13-month Fixed-term Maternity cover contract starting November 2025. Our ideal dates are from 1 November 2025 – 30 November 2026, however we can be flexible if needed for the right candidate.
  • Salary: £60,000-£64,000 per annum
  • Working location: Minimum of 2 office days per week
  • Office location: The Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Our home working policy gives staff the option to work from home for up to 60% of the time, with approval from their line manager.
  • Hours: The standard working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and may also be required to attend events / meetings outside of their normal working hours during weekday evenings and occasionally at weekends
  • DBS check will be required

Interviews

Applications should reach us by midnight, Sunday 20th July, with first round interviews held over Zoom on Tuesday, 29th July, and second round interviews held at our London offices on Tuesday, 5th August.

Safeguarding statement

The Sutton Trust believes that a child, young person or vulnerable adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. Therefore all posts undergo a safer recruitment process, including but not limited to, disclosure of criminal records where necessary and eligibility to work in the UK. We have procedures in place to promote safeguarding and a safe culture at the Trust.

Contextual recruitment

The Trust is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and that all applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented at present at the Trust, to apply for this role. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. We are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming place to work and know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the young people we support.

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates throughout our recruitment process and during employment.

We also operate contextual recruitment at the Sutton Trust. Our application process gives you the option to include information about your background, such as whether you were eligible for free school meals, whether your parents went to university, or whether you attended a state school. For more examples and information on contextual recruitment, please see our website.

“Without [Tramshed] youth theatre, I would never have won the Booker prize.” – Alumni and Ambassador Bernardine Evaristo

Tramshed Arts Ltd is a community arts charity in Southeast London. As Woolwich’s home of participation, we change perspectives and increase social cohesion, through offering creative spaces across generations of the local community. 

Job Purpose:

The Business Development Manager will play an integral role in growing our organisation and securing its future. You will develop authentic important relationships and partnerships to:

· Increase and diversify sustainable income streams, making the best use of our creative community space and talent.

· Foster connections with local businesses to attract corporate sponsorship and payroll giving.

· Research new opportunities for raising income such as events and training programmes.

You will be inspiring, ambitious, and unafraid to do things differently whilst embracing our core value of being a truly inclusive community space.

Benefits include  some hybrid working, friendly team, accessible working space, 6 complimentary tickets per season for you or your friends and family, Continued Professional Development plan.

For the full role specification please refer to the attached JD. 

Please note: This role can be based out of either location and please state in your answer to the screening question, which office you would prefer to be based out of. 

We are excited to announce a new position within our Philanthropy, Engagement and Partnerships (PEP) team. The role of the Fundraising Officer is to support the development of effective relationships with donors, contributing to ongoing revenue generation for the College.

The role is key front-line fundrasing role and will involve identifying, and delivering new donors, as well as furthering a portfolio of current and past donor relations to secure funding for UWC Atlantic College. You will manage a portfolio of prospects and donors across alumni, parents, and other individuals to cultivate, solicit, and steward financial contributions.

You will hold key relationships with Alumni, parents, external and internal stakeholders, colleagues, and students. The role will also involve collaborating with various colleagues to plan and execute a program of donor-related events.

You will provide strategic contribution which supports UWC Atlantic’s strategies to acheive fundraising goals.

The opportunity is available to be based at UWC Atlantic, St Donats or Hybrid working from the UWC International Officer, 55 New Oxford Street and from home.

For a recording of the information session for this role, please contact us so that we can send details accross.

Completed application forms should be emailed to our recruitment email address.

Please note that potential candidates will be asked to fill out our application form as we are a college and this is a requirment to be selected.

UWC Atlantic is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.