Director of finance and business improvement jobs

Reporting to: Head of Major Giving   

Location of Work: Home based. The post holder will be expected to travel to meet donors, travel to away days and team meetings in London. The role may involve some irregular travel throughout England and Scotland. Expenses will be paid in line with our Travel and Expenses policy.

Contract Type: Ideally full-time, 35 hours per week, although 28 hours/compressed hours may be considered. The role may require occasional evening and weekend work    

Contract Length: Permanent    

Salary: £43,500 

BACKGROUND    

Magic Breakfast’s mission is to end child morning hunger in the UK now and for good. The latest research suggests that 2.7 million children are at risk of hunger, meaning one in five children don’t have enough to eat. When a child is too hungry to learn, they struggle to concentrate, absorb information, and manage their emotions, causing them to fall behind in their studies. 

Magic Breakfast provides a nutritious breakfast to over 350,000 children and young people every school day. We work with schools in areas of high disadvantage, helping staff target children most in need without barrier or stigma.

We work with schools in areas of high disadvantage, helping staff target the children most in need without barrier or stigma. We are now at an exciting point in our journey as we launch Nourishing Futures, our long-term strategy, which capitalises on market changes and government commitments to scale our work, while redefining breakfast spaces not just as places to eat, but as places to thrive. 

In response to a challenging funding landscape, and to seize on the opportunities ahead, we have recently brought together our Philanthropy and Trusts teams into a unified Major Giving function, enabling us to build deep, values-driven relationships with high-value supporters.  

The Major Giving Lead – Individual Donors will play a pivotal role in this new function, leading all relationships with high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and ensuring exceptional donor care and engagement. Reporting to the Head of Major Giving, this role is a senior, strategic position crucial to driving the organisation’s fundraising growth and deliver against our mission. 

JOB PURPOSE   

The Major Giving Lead – Individual Donors is a senior, strategic role within Magic Breakfast’s unified Major Giving function, acting as the organisation’s expert on philanthropy. This role will lead and manage relationships with high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), ensuring exceptional donor care, long-term engagement, and the growth of transformational gifts.  

Working closely with the Head of Major Giving, the Major Giving Lead will help develop and embed a cohesive Major Giving strategy, fostering strong synergies across the Major Giving team. In partnership with the other Major Giving Lead (Trust & Foundations) this role will create unified stewardship programmes, prospect development strategies, and engagement opportunities, ensuring a seamless and compelling experience for donors across all major giving streams. It will also work closely with the Business Development Manager (Scotland) to ensure effective ways of working across devolved nations and to unlock opportunities for HNWI in Scotland.  

This is a high-impact, leadership-focused role for a proactive, strategic, and relationship-driven individual, capable of influencing key stakeholders, shaping organisational approaches to major giving, and driving the growth of Magic Breakfast’s mission to end child morning hunger across the UK.  

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:    

Leadership and team collaboration  

• Act as the senior lead and subject matter expert for HNWI relationships across the organisation.  

• Work closely with the Head of Major Giving and Major Giving Lead – Trust & Foundations to develop and embed a cohesive Major Giving strategy, fostering strong synergies between Major Individual Donors and Trusts, with a clear link to synergies in other teams.   

• Support the Head of Major Giving and Trust & other Major Giving Lead in mentoring and guiding other members of the Major Giving Team.  

• Provide leadership, insights and expertise across the wider organisation to support the delivery of our new organisational goals, including through contributions to the sub-goal working groups and other enabling strategies.   

• Collaborate within the fundraising, and across other, departments to deliver cross-organisational initiatives, events and campaigns, championing opportunities to unlock HNWI giving.    

• Scan the external environment for trends, insights, ideas and best practice that could benefit the Major Giving team and Magic Breakfast’s work, making recommendations for improvements and leading on opportunities as they arise.  

• Work in close partnership with the Business Development Manager (Scotland) to ensure joined-up approaches to HNWI opportunities in Scotland, sharing expertise, aligning stewardship, and enabling effective cross-team working.  

• Flex to provide support across the Major Giving team where necessary, responding and supporting shared team-wide objectives and any trust and foundations work if required. 

Income generation, donor stewardship and prospect development   

• With support from the Head of Major Giving, deliver the 25/26 individual giving income target of c£800k by personally managing a portfolio of new and existing major donors and family foundations, with a focus on securing, renewing and uplifting gifts above £50k+ .   

• In partnership with other teams and departments, develop, test and roll out new data-driven approaches to target and reach new HNWI and other major giving audiences.  

• Work with our Prospect Researcher Manager to identify and execute opportunities to grow our prospect pool, including from across other teams, and to facilitate personal introductions and meetings with yourself or other Magic Breakfast employees/ volunteers – providing relevant briefings where appropriate.  

• Support and collaborate with the Business Development Manager (Scotland) where shared funder relationships or new opportunities arise.  

• Develop and implement tailored cultivation and solicitation strategies for new and existing HNWIs, leveraging and building relationships within and across Magic Breakfast networks’ to support our fundraising objectives.  

• Support, and where required lead, on the delivery of cross-organisational projects including any major giving campaigns, collaborating closely with colleagues across the organisation, including Brand & Marketing, and other relevant teams, to project manage effectively and ensure activity is informed by insights and organisational expertise, and delivers against its KPIs with a strong return on investment.  

• Maintain a strong knowledge of the organisation strategy, business plan and opportunities for innovation and ‘value-add’, to identify and build accurate and inspiring giving propositions, wish lists and a persuasive case for support  

• Ensure exceptional relationship management and donor reporting, with high-quality donor care and stewardship techniques that speak to the motivations and interests of our donors, exploring ways to build our donor community – such as through giving circles.  

• Work with colleagues across the Major Giving and other income generation teams to design and deliver a calendar of bespoke engagement opportunities, events and experiences for donors and prospects, ensuring high-quality execution and timely reviews.  

• Champion innovation in donor journeys, engagement campaigns, and communications to maximize supporter impact and retention, ensuring everyone is aligned behind clear, measurable goals and delivers with purpose and consistency.

• Work with the Head of Individual Giving and Engagement to establish a clear mid-level giving programme and to ensure opportunities and leads are recognised and developed where possible and that there is a high-level of stewardship.

Financial Processes, Reporting, and Due Diligence  

• Support the Head of Major Giving to conduct effective annual planning and budgeting, setting, measuring and reporting against agreed KPIs and utilising data and insights to inform decisions and future planning.   

• Support the Head of Major Giving to prepare phased budgets and reforecasts, identifying and recognising opportunities and risks to income in line with activity plans and progress.  

• Ensure all HNWI income and activity is reconciled and recorded on Magic Breakfast database systems (Salesforce) with relevant supporting documents, including gift aid and gift instruments in place.  

• Work with finance and performance and relevant business leads to manage programme budgets and restrictions.  

• As requested, provide regular reports and updates to the Head of Major Giving, Director of Fundraising & Development and other stakeholders as required.    

General   

• Maintain strong communication and alignment with the Business Development Manager (Scotland), ensuring funder and donor activity is coordinated and opportunities are maximised across nations.  

• Ensure all donor due diligence is completed and compliant with ethical fundraising standards, GDPR and organisational policy.  

• Contribute to team meetings, sharing best practice and supporting team members where necessary  

• Help to maintain a positive working environment; keeping the vision of Magic Breakfast at the heart of everything we do  

• Uphold a culture that keeps children and young people at the heart and encourages openness, collaboration, bravery, compassion and a solutions-focussed approach  

• Work collaboratively across the organisation more widely to build good working relations across the organisation and provide ad-hoc support to other teams and members of staff  

• Adhere to all Magic Breakfast policies and procedures  

• Ensure that all activity is compliant with current legislation, GDPR and child safeguarding requirements (training provided)  

• Participate in occasional work-related events at external venues and perform support related activities, as required. Be willing to undertake occasional work outside of regular office hours and UK travel  

• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role  

PERSON SPECIFICATION   

Knowledge and Experience    

• Experience generating income and developing a sustainable pipeline of revenue from high-net-worth individuals.  

• Experience of working with high level volunteers and/or committees to deliver major fundraising targets.   

• Excellent and proven knowledge of major gift fundraising methodology including prospect research, managing databases for major account portfolio management, proposal preparation and the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors.   

• Proven track record of successfully identifying, securing and cultivating six and seven figure commitments from HNWI.  

• Experience of building, leading and contributing to effective teams and relationships to achieve a high level of performance.  

• Understanding of Magic Breakfast’s cause and the challenges faced by families and children with respect to morning hunger.  

• A good understanding of the fundraising and philanthropy landscape in which Magic Breakfast operates and the relevant fundraising and data legislation and best practice.  

• Experience of effectively and authentically incorporating the voices and views of people with lived experience in fundraising activities.  

Skills and Abilities    

• Skilled and confident in soliciting major gifts, with a natural ability to ‘make the ask’.  

• High emotional intelligence and creativity to develop compelling campaigns, cases for support, and donor relationships.  

• Strong analytical and constructive thinking, with the ability to problem-solve, adapt, and develop innovative solutions to complex challenges.  

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with confidence presenting to a variety of audiences.  

• Ability to build and maintain strong, positive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, both internal and external.  

• Excellent time management and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.  

• Strong attention to detail and commitment to high-quality outputs.  

• A collaborative team player with the ability to work both independently and across teams, proactively engaging colleagues.  

• Skilled in identifying, escalating, and managing risk effectively.  

• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel (advanced level) and other Microsoft Office products; ease with IT packages such as Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.  

• Experience using fundraising databases (ideally Salesforce) as well as other systems, such as asana, to support performance management and reporting.   

• Ability to keep accurate and up-to-date records, adapting processes where needed to meet organisational requirements.  

• Understanding of Health and Safety and other regulations as they apply to events.  

WHAT WE OFFER

At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to thrive. For more information, please visit our recruitment pack via our webiste. 

APPLICATION PROCCESS

Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, HR @ magicbreakfast. com

Shortlisting - w/c 6th April

Interview 1 - 20th and 22nd April

Interview 2 - 27th April

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.