Finance jobs in houghton regis, central bedfordshire

Background 

People and communities around the world have the solutions to social injustice, authoritarianism, and the climate crisis. But repressive governments, corrupt corporations, and armed groups use violence and oppression to try and silence them.

By building resistance and resilience among those challenging unaccountable power, Open Voices supports a shared vision for a world where communities and ecosystems can thrive. 

As a mission-driven nonprofit, we join forces with grassroots activists, community groups, and social movements at risk. Working together, we strengthen their physical safety, digital resilience, and collective wellbeing. As a social impact consultancy, we help high-profile nonprofits and foundations manage risk and care for their teams and partners.

This dual approach allows us to work at every level of civil society, from the grassroots to the global. 

We have scaled to meet a 66% surge in demand for our support over the past two years, with our international team now responding to 11 new cases every week. Last year alone, we:

• Answered 575 calls for assistance across 100 countries.

• Delivered over 6,000 hours of mentoring and accompaniment.

• Trained over 1,000 activists in 112 holistic security workshops.

Whoever we partner with, we start with questions, not answers. Listening before speaking, understanding before acting. Together, we defend those who speak out. 

We are expanding our diverse, inspired, and purpose-driven team. Will you join us as our new philanthropy coordinator?

Role description

As our philanthropy coordinator, you will play a key role in building new partnerships with philanthropists and high-net-worth individuals, with an immediate focus on the UK, US, and Europe. You will design and implement a comprehensive strategy to build a robust portfolio of individual donors, Family Foundations, Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) and other personal giving vehicles. 

A proactive and thoughtful relationship builder, you will maintain long-term relationships and lead bold strategies to engage new audiences, including millennial and next-generation philanthropists. You will steward Open Briefing’s first global development board, working closely with our CEO and director of development to engage members around a dynamic programme of activities designed to make Open Briefing more fundable and findable. 

Together with our director of development, you will drive forward a multi-year fundraising strategy to resource our work with activists and organisations on the frontlines of human rights, social justice, and environmental action. 

Your primary responsibilities will include: 

• Designing and executing our philanthropy fundraising strategy. Lead a strategy to identify, cultivate, and solicit high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) —including through Donor Advised Funds, Family Offices, Family Foundations, and other giving vehicles—with an immediate focus on the US, UK and Europe. 

• Prospecting and donor acquisition. Manage HNWI prospecting, generate new leads, develop solicitation plans, brief senior leadership in advance of meetings, and coordinate cultivation and networking opportunities.

• Stewardship and relationship management. Build strong relationships with existing and potential donors through tailored stewardship plans designed to grow income over time. Manage donor tracking and communication systems. 

• Nurture and grow our development board - Work alongside our director of development and CEO to identify and engage members and steward the Board through a 12-month action-orientated development campaign. 

• Budget Management. Manage a programme budget for cultivation and stewardship events and activities.

• Collaboration and Communication. Work closely with our communications coordinator, director of development and programme teams in the production and dissemination of donor-relevant reports, updates and other content; and contribute to the conception and organisation of donor-facing online and in-person events.

• Team support. As a key member of our development and communications team, undertaken other duties as reasonably requested relevant to team and organisational goals. 

Person specification 

Essential 

• You will have extensive experience managing a HNWI or major gift portfolio. 

• You will have a proven track-record of personally securing four, five, or six-figure donations from HNWI and/or major gift donors in the UK, US and/or Europe. 

• You will have experience working within a nonprofit focused on human rights, social justice, and/or environmental action. 

• You will have excellent verbal communication skills, including English language skills, both spoken and written. 

• You will have experience working with senior stakeholders and board members to support fundraising activities. 

• You will have an ability to work both strategically and operationally.

• You will have creative thinking and problem-solving aptitude.

Desirable

• You may have experience working within a global nonprofit. 

• You may have knowledge of the human rights, social justice, environmental justice, and/or international development funding landscape. 

• You may understand grant-making and grant-management processes, especially with respect to private philanthropic funding, including family foundations, DAFs, and Family Offices. 

• You may understand tax-efficient donation mechanisms in the UK, US, and across Europe. 

• You may understand the trends in dynastic giving as well as emerging and next-generation philanthropists. 

If you feel you meet some but not all of the criteria, we would encourage you to get in touch. 

Terms and remuneration

This is a remote, home-working role. You will be contracted for 40 hours a week on a full-time, fixed-term contract. Flexible working is available and encouraged. 

We are looking for someone who wants to embrace this pivotal role within our close-knit team and develop a long-term working relationship with us. You will be properly onboarded and continually supported by experienced and compassionate managers and colleagues. Your line manager will be our director of development, Vicky Nida. 

In return for your time and dedication, we will offer you a remuneration package made up of fair pay, sector-leading benefits, and progressive leave policies, including:

• Salary of £46,900 per annum.

• 7% employer pension contribution.

• Family private medical insurance.

• Employee Assistance Programme, including welfare counselling.

• Unlimited professional coaching.

• Enhanced annual leave of 25 days plus local public holidays.

• Additional leave days for annual closedown.

• Enhanced sick pay.

• Flexible working, including flexitime and remote and home working.

• Access to local coworking spaces.

• Support for climate action:

  • Personal carbon emissions offsetting.

  • Up to two additional leave days for sustainable travel.

  • Up to two additional leave days for climate activism.

• Apple MacBook and peripherals.

If you are based outside the United Kingdom, you will be offered comparable compensation through our local employer of record, Remote. For parity, we contribute 4% above the local statutory requirements into the personal pension plans of staff members employed outside the UK. We will contribute 7% into the personal pension plans of staff members employed in counties where there is no  local statutory provision. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Open Briefing values diversity. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where all can be their authentic selves. We therefore encourage applications from all who meet the person specification and particularly from candidates who are from racialised communities and those under-recognised in our development team. This currently includes people of colour and people from countries in the global majority.

Please read our diversity, equity, and inclusion policy for more information. Our ethical and environmental policies are also available. And you may find our Vision, Mission, and Values statements of interest.

Open Briefing is a Disability Confident Employer and a signatory of the Charter for Employers Who Are Positive About Mental Health. We will make reasonable adjustments for disabled and neurodivergent people during the recruitment process and any subsequent employment. Please let us know in your cover letter how we can be the recruiter and employer you need us to be.

We have checked the text of this advert using the Gender Decoder tool.

Safeguarding

Open Briefing is dedicated to upholding the highest safeguarding standards, ensuring a culture of respect and protection for both our internal and external stakeholders. Our approach encompasses preventative measures and a strong response mechanism to any safeguarding concerns, guided by a survivor/victim-centred ethos. We enforce a strict no-tolerance policy towards any violations of safeguarding policies, ensuring that all concerns are addressed promptly and appropriately. Our safeguarding policy is available here.

How to apply

Please submit your application using our online form and note the following dates:

• Closing date: 30 May 2025

• Interviews: w/c 9 June 2025 

• Desired start date: As soon as possible 

Please let us know on the form if any of these dates are problematic and we will try to accommodate. The successful candidate will need to complete a reasonable vetting process before engagement.

Please identify your notice period and salary expectation in your cover letter.

Note: Unfortunately we cannot support applications from international candidates at this time

As one of the largest federated charities in the UK, with arguably greater reach into the lives of families and educational settings than any other non-Government organisation, Parentkind is on a bold and urgent mission: to support, champion, and empower parents to be partners in their children’s education and wellbeing. To help deliver this, Parentkind's fundraising efforts helped grow Parentkind's income from £1.5m to £10m (including in-kind donations) between 2022 and 2024.

Although best known for our support of almost 24,000 Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), Parent Councils, and Schools, helping them build strong school communities whilst they raise over £130 million each year to enhance children’s education, our work stretches far beyond the school gates. Parentkind is building a powerful movement that recognises parental engagement not as a nicety, but a necessity.

In recent years, families have faced a series of compounding challenges: the cost-of-living crisis, rising child poverty, and deepening educational inequality. These pressures have left many parents struggling to meet basic needs—let alone feel confident engaging in their child’s learning journey.  Parentkind has responded to this moment with compassion, agility and purpose, through a series of transformative campaigns, resources, and partnerships. Our recent transformational journey has seen Parentkind’s network grow by more than 70% of schools, and the income Parentkind has delivered both for itself and for its members by more than 550%. 

Our No Cold Child initiative, launched with FatFace, stepped in to address a stark statistic: over 150,000 children in the UK do not own a winter coat due to poverty. Through our trusted relationships with schools, we distributed 10,000 warm, high-quality coats worth £600,000 to the children who needed them most. Shortlisted for two Business Charity Awards, the campaign has been praised not just for providing warmth, but for restoring dignity, inclusion, and school readiness to thousands of children.

Our collaboration with Asda on Cashpot for Schools is another example of unlocking support at scale. This innovative community-led funding model allows shoppers to nominate and fund their local schools simply through everyday spending. In just the last year, this campaign has generated £5.78 million for schools—supporting everything from basic classroom supplies to vital extracurricular programmes and pupil wellbeing initiatives. Also shortlisted for a Business Charity Award, it is already a model for community-driven philanthropy.

Meanwhile, our All Dressed Up campaign—developed with World Book Day and Rubies Masquerade—confronted the often-overlooked issue of financial exclusion on key celebration days. More than 100,000 free dressing up costumes worth £1.34 million were delivered to children from low-income families. By enabling participation in events like World Book Day, we helped spark imagination, joy, and belonging for children who might otherwise feel left out—boosting self-esteem and supporting a positive connection to learning.

Alongside these national campaigns, Parentkind supports families year-round through a growing suite of programmes designed to inform, prepare and empower parents. Our Be School Ready programme offers crucial guidance and confidence to parents preparing their children for the leap into primary education. With a mix of practical advice, developmental tips, and reassurance, through the distribution of 135,000 copies of Be School Ready and an online campaign, it supports families at one of the most formative moments in their child’s life.

We also deliver a wide-ranging series of live expert webinars and parent-friendly resources, covering topics such as managing anxiety, supporting special educational needs, navigating school transitions, and building home-school partnerships. These resources—developed in consultation with experts and rooted in lived parent experience—equip families to feel informed and empowered, no matter what challenges arise.

This month, we launched our Parent-Friendly Schools Accreditation Programme, designed to formally recognise schools that go above and beyond in fostering positive, inclusive relationships with parents. The accreditation celebrates schools that actively listen to parent voices, make engagement easy and accessible, and embed family partnership in their culture. It is a practical and inspiring tool to drive long-term change in the sector and offers a roadmap for schools wanting to strengthen their community.

Our work is grounded in evidence. Every year, we conduct the UK’s largest parental engagement study: the National Parent Survey. In 2024, over five thousand parents participated, providing invaluable insight into what families think about the education system. The findings are fed directly into government consultations and have already influenced national debates on school funding, attendance, mental health support, SEND provision, and curriculum reform. We believe passionately that parents must not be the missing voice in education policy—and we work tirelessly to ensure their views shape the decisions that affect their children’s lives.

Today, through Parentkind’s federated network of more than 130,000 parent and teacher volunteers, our work impacts the lives of millions of parents, carers, teachers and children throughout the UK through our membership, programmes, advocacy and campaigns. But we know we can—and must—do more.

We’re looking for someone with passion, purpose, and creativity—someone who understands that a warm coat, a World Book Day costume, or a parent’s voice at the table can all be catalysts for lifelong change.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our growing Fundraising Team and play a leading role in shaping a brand-new trust fundraising programme from the ground up. We’re looking for someone with experience in securing income from trusts and foundations—someone who’s a confident communicator, both in writing and in person, and who brings a curious and strategic mindset to prospect research.

You’ll help craft compelling cases for support and develop a portfolio of proposals and reports that showcase the impact of our work—amplifying the voices of parents and schools and demonstrating how Parentkind is driving positive change. Strong attention to detail is essential, along with the ability to manage multiple priorities and work independently.

If you believe, like we do, that when parents matter, children succeed, we’d love to hear from you.

You’ll have:

• Proven experience in trust and statutory fundraising, securing five- and six-figure grants.
• Demonstrable success in developing compelling proposals and reports for funders.
• Strong relationship management skills with a track record of stewarding long-term partnerships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to convey impact effectively.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Knowledge of the education, family support, or community development sectors.

You’ll get:

• To join a fast-moving charity with an exciting future
• To build your own team, playing a key role in driving forward the charity’s strategy and shaping our fundraising activity
• Remote working full-time with a great online team culture
• 25 days holiday in addition to UK public holidays.

How to apply

A full candidate pack is attached on this listing. To apply, please submit a CV and covering letter outlining your motivations for applying for the role and how you meet the Person Specification.

Interviews will be held on a rolling basis via video conference.

Parentkind is committed to a policy of equal opportunities and we ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and equally.  We would be grateful if you would complete the equal opportunities monitoring questions when applying online to help us check that we are carrying out our policy of equal opportunities for all people.  The information will be kept confidential and will be separate from your application.  It will have no bearing on your application.

Parentkind is committed to meeting the needs of applicants with disabilities.  Please let us know if you require any adjustments to your application or interview process.

Context and Background

The NSPCC’s commitment to fight for every childhood is only made possible through the support of people across the UK. Over 80% of the NSPCC’s vital work is funded by public support. We are committed to providing the best possible experience for our supporters and ensuring that a supporter centric approach is taken in all the work we do.

The Individual Supporters department is responsible for the largest single source of income for the NSPCC and we are committed to recruiting new supporters to help grow our income. The Direct Fundraising team has been established to ensure best practice and a high quality supporter experience through one-to-one fundraising channels.

We are looking for a self-motivated, enthusiastic and well-organised professional to join the team.

Candidates for this position should have experience  and skills that cover:

• Highly developed written communication skills to understand, interpret and present complex information in a clear and persuasive way for a range of audience
• Well-developed ability to apply effective numeracy skills in entering and recording financial data, interpreting, analysing, and presenting financial data in clear and accurate format to meet desired outcomes
• Experience in using Windows based software packages including word processing, excel spreadsheets, e-mail and the internet, in order to deliver tasks and projects.
• Willingness to travel within the UK via car or public transport to conduct mystery shopping. 
• Being dynamic and a team player is essential.

Join us at this exciting time and you’ll become part of a team that cares about the work they do and the people they work with. You’ll discover opportunities to grow, along with challenges and a shared purpose that’ll bring the best out in you. And you’ll get to find your own way to make a difference that means more, and that impacts millions of young lives. We want to ensure roles are accessible and inclusive of everyone, which is why the NSPCC offers a high degree of flexibility around ways of working.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is at the heart of what we do. At the NSPCC, we understand how important it is that our workforce is representative of the people we support and who support us. We believe that every individual has the right to be their true self and to live a full life without prejudice, fear or barriers. This is the starting point for all our commitments and actions and underpins our commitment to be there for all children.

Job purpose

This role sits in our Direct fundraising Team within the Individual Giving department. The key purpose of the job is to:

•  Support the Associate Head and Senior Fundraisers to continue to grow and develop face-to-face direct recruitment and telephone fundraising activity at the NSPCC.
• To work with Senior Fundraisers and Associate Head within the Direct fundraising team to deliver agreed campaigns in line with business requirements.
• Advocate and reinforce the team’s ethics and values across compliance, safeguarding, supporter experience and best practice fundraising.
• Enhance the supporter experience and protect the NSPCC’s reputation when working with professional fundraising agencies.
• Through mystery shopping, call listening and other activities, ensure all activity, by agency partners and relevant internal teams, is compliant with regulation, codes of practice and NSPCC policies.
• Monitor campaign performance and income, ensuring that campaign KPIs and metrics are reported accurately and consistently.
• Monitor expenditure, including financial processes such as raising POs, checking invoices and reporting against budgeted expenditure figures.
• Work with data, including checking data selections for telephone activity.
• Work effectively with other departments within Individual Giving, Communications and Fundraising Directorates and other functions within the NSPCC to maximise income for children. Also working with external agencies to deliver large scale campaigns.
• Work as part of a larger team to meet the same objectives and work effectively with other teams within the NSPCC to maximise income for children.
• Working on behalf of stakeholders and representing brand values in the work that you produce. Being dynamic and a team player is essential.

Main duties and responsibilities

1. With the Associate Head of Direct Fundraising, agree and deliver face-to-face and telephone  direct fundraising activities in line with the Individual Supporters department’s annual business plan and budget to enable the NSPCC to plan its activity and services.
2. Work with the Associate Head to maximise the opportunities by which the fundraising activity can contribute to the NSPCC’s mission of fighting for every childhood over and above fundraising objectives.
3. Be responsible for the development of relationships and delivery of income from potential supporters engaged through face-to-face activity
4. Work with internal NSPCC support teams to set up new agencies and campaigns.
5. Keep up to date on best practice and developments within the charity sector generally and particularly changes to fundraising regulations, compliance and codes of practice relating to direct dialogue fundraising. Updating existing or creating new processes and working with agencies to implement changes in activity.
6. Work with internal compliance teams and external agencies to plan and implement a monitoring schedule in line with the most up to date codes of practice, guidance and regulations.  This should include regular mystery shopping and call listening.
7. To work with the Associate Head to maximise the opportunities by which the fundraising activity of the Direct Fundraising team can contribute to the NSPCC’s mission of ending cruelty to children over and above fundraising objectives.
8. To carry out research through a range of sources, including the Internet, Intranet, publications and other external contacts, including other charities, in order to obtain relevant information that can contribute to the fundraising activities of the Direct fundraising team.
9. To work cross-functionally to ensure that fundraising activities are managed and developed in a way that maximises income for the NSPCC.
10. To undertake specific fundraising projects and activities as necessary or as required to support the department’s fundraising as a whole.

Responsibilities for all staff within the Income Generation directorate

• A commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.
• To update databases and supporter information systems on a regular basis in line with Data Protection legislation and NSPCC policy and procedures.
• To actively participate in regular department and team meetings, contributing to strategy, discussions and decisions which will be beneficial to the Directorate and wider NSPCC activities.
• To adhere to all the NSPCC’S service standards, policies and procedures.
• To evidence an understanding of and commitment to the demonstration of NSPCC’s values.
• To maintain an awareness of and comply with NSPPC data protection regulations and to ensure currency of changing GDPR regulations.
• To be responsible for personal learning and development, to support the learning and development of others and the whole organisation.
• To work in a manner that facilitates and encourages inclusion.
• To be pro-active in identifying ways to improve personal and team performance.
• To maintain an awareness of own and others’ Health and Safety and comply with the NSPCC’s Health and Safety policy and procedures.
• To take personal responsibility for keeping up to date with NSPCC work to end cruelty to children, including securing updates on project and service developments and general NSPCC news.

Key Relationships - Internal

• Reports to Associate Head – Direct Fundraising.
• A member of staff in the Direct Fundraising team, within the wider Individual Supporters department.
• Work with Compliance Team to mitigate risk and ensure compliance in face-to-face activity.
• Work with Finance Department to assist with reporting budget and reforecast all activity.
• Engage with staff in other NSPCC functions, as necessary to increase engagement between potential supporters and professional fundraisers to further fundraising relationships. 

Key Relationships – External

•  Work with a range of agreed agencies to engage the public through a supporter centric approach to fundraising, providing engaging content and materials, and ensuring that professional fundraisers align with our values and cause whilst maintaining high levels of compliance.

Person Specification

Skills and abilities

1. Highly developed written and verbal communication skills to understand, interpret and present complex information in a clear and persuasive way for a range of audiences.
2. Ability to collect data from various sources, analyse findings, identify opportunities, evaluate their viability and present findings clearly in a way that meets desired outcomes.
3. Well-developed ability to build, manage and develop relationships with individuals within an organisation and externally and achieve objectives through these relationships.
4. The ability to plan, monitor and implement projects/events/initiatives to agreed deadlines often with conflicting priorities.
5. An ability to organise and plan own work, identifying conflicting demands and establishing clear priorities in order to meet agreed objectives.
6. Well-developed ability to apply effective numeracy skills in entering and recording financial data, interpreting, analysing, and presenting financial data in clear and accurate format to meet desired outcomes.

Knowledge and experience

1. Experience in using Windows based software packages including word processing, excel spreadsheets, e-mail and the internet, in order to deliver tasks and projects.
2. A personal commitment to ending cruelty to children.

Personal characteristics

1. Commitment to apply NSPCC’s values and behaviours to all aspects of work.
2. Willingness to travel within the UK via car or public transport to conduct mystery shopping and to work flexibly in approach to work and/or work time requirements.

Safer Recruitment

As an organisation, we are committed to creating and fostering a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children and adults at risk.

Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work with our children and adults.

The recruitment and selection of our people will be conducted in a professional, timely and responsive manner and in compliance with current employment legislation, and relevant safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance.

Our principles:

•  Always seek to recruit the best candidate for the role based on merit including their skills, experience, motivation and competencies. Our robust recruitment and selection process should ensure the identification of the person best suited to the role and the organisation.
• Committed to diversity and equality of opportunity and will interview all applicants (internal and external) who self-declare at application as having a disability and who meet the minimum requirements in the person specification of the vacancy they are applying for.
• We will make reasonable adjustments at all stages of the recruitment process in order to enable successful candidates who declare disabilities to start working or volunteering their time with us.
• Any current member of staff or volunteer who wishes to apply for vacancies and is suitably qualified will be considered and addressed fairly and objectively based on their merit.
• As an organisation committed to safeguarding, we will ensure all under 18’s joining the organisation will have ongoing risk assessments to ensure their role and activities are safe and appropriate
• All documentation relating to candidates will be treated confidentially in accordance with the GDPR legislation.