Head of major donor fundraising jobs in Bermondsey, greater london
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Head of philanthropy
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About the Role
We are seeking an exceptional Head of Philanthropy to lead and transform our major donor programme. This role is full time, based at our King’s Cross office in London, with hybrid working in place. The successful candidate will work 2–3 days per week on site and meeting donors, with the remainder worked remotely.
This is a critical senior leadership role responsible for developing and delivering an ambitious philanthropy strategy that builds a sustainable pipeline of five, six and seven-figure, multi-year gifts from high-net-worth individuals.
You will shape and grow a sector-leading major donor programme – strengthening stewardship, building influential networks and inspiring transformational support for people with complex disabilities.
What You’ll Lead
Strategic Income Growth
- Develop and deliver an ambitious philanthropy strategy.
- Build and manage a sustainable, multi-year pipeline of five, six and seven-figure gifts.
- Review and enhance stewardship journeys and relationship management standards.
- Expand and develop mid-level giving programmes to grow supporter volume and value.
- Identify, engage and steward key ambassadors and networks.
- Deliver high-impact events that generate strong return on investment.
- Develop compelling, emotionally engaging proposals and presentations.
Leadership & Culture
- Lead, inspire and develop a high-performing philanthropy team.
- Coach and empower managers to drive accountability and continuous improvement.
- Model inclusive, values-led leadership.
- Partner with senior leaders across the organisation to align strategy and propositions.
- Embed collaboration and co-production across fundraising activity.
Performance & Governance
- Take full accountability for budgets, KPIs and income targets.
- Monitor and forecast income performance, taking corrective action where needed.
- Lead cross-team strategic initiatives that strengthen capability and shared learning.
- Ensure compliance with the Fundraising Regulator Code of Conduct, GDPR and data protection requirements.
About You
We are looking for a strategic, relationship-led fundraising leader with a proven track record of securing transformational support from high-net-worth individuals.
You will bring:
- Demonstrable experience of transforming a major donor programme.
- Proven success securing and stewarding multi-year, five and six-figure gifts (and above).
- Significant leadership experience within the not-for-profit sector.
- Strong financial acumen including budgeting, forecasting and performance analysis.
- Data-driven decision-making skills (ideally with experience of Power BI, MS Dynamics or similar).
- Exceptional communication, negotiation and presentation skills.
- A values-led approach that authentically includes people with lived experience.
- The ability to operate confidently within a large and complex organisation.
You will also be willing to travel within the UK and attend occasional evening and weekend events.
About Sense
We believe that every disabled person should have the opportunity to connect with others and be included in the world. We use our knowledge and expertise to deliver personalised, creative and flexible support at every stage of life. Sense is proud to be a disability confident leader.
Working at Sense can be incredibly rewarding; we offer the opportunity to work in a large, diverse and successful charity where people can develop their skills, knowledge and careers in a supportive and flexible environment. In addition, we have excellent training and development, the opportunity for you to join our Group Personal Pension scheme and a generous annual leave entitlement.
To apply
Please use the link below to complete your application. Managers will use your application to shortlist candidates for interview; in relation to the Personal Specification. Therefore, it is very important you complete this section thoroughly.We would recommend that you read the candidate guidelines, job description and person specification (found at the base of this advert) before applying.
Please note to avoid disappointment, we advise you to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close posts at any time.
Sense is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and adults and expects all employees to share this commitment. Therefore, all offers of employment, where appropriate, are subject to a DBS check; level dependent on the nature of the role.
For this role we particularly welcome applications from candidates from underrepresented ethnic minority backgrounds and candidates with disabilities. Sense is committed to equality of opportunity, and to promoting and celebrating the diversity of staff, volunteers and the people we work with. Everyone's contribution is valued and we ensure they're given the opportunity to realise their potential. We welcome applications from talented people from all sections of the community who share our values and belief that no one, no matter how complex their disabilities, should be isolated, left out, or unable to fulfil their potential.
No agency submissions please: any submissions without prior authorisation from the Sense Recruitment Team will be treated as our own and as such no fee will be payable.
Registered Charity
More than 1000
We believe that every disabled person should have the opportunity to connect with others and be included in the world.
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
Leukaemia UK – Our Charity
We are a ‘small but mighty’ charity with one big ambition: to stop leukaemia devastating lives. Over the next 10 years we want to help save and improve the lives of more people with leukaemia through finding and funding life-changing research and campaigning for change.
Despite progress in recent decades, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer every 16 minutes and survival rates are among some of the worst of any cancer. And the physical and psychological impact can be lifelong.
Our current 5-year strategy outlines our plan to increase our investment into ground-breaking world class research and policy development focused on improving access to kinder, more effective diagnosis, treatment and care for leukaemia and other blood cancers. To do this, we have embarked on a period of significant growth, investing strategically to grow our income, profile, influence, and engagement and impact.
We are seeking an experienced, driven and passionate Head of Philanthropy to lead on delivering income from our High Value (HV) audiences and income streams. We are looking for someone with energy and ambition, who can demonstrate strategic leadership to maximise fundraising opportunities across Major Giving, Trusts and Foundations, Special Events and Corporate Partnerships. The post holder will be a key part of the Fundraising Leadership Team, helping to grow our supporter networks, optimise supporter experience and contributing to the development of the overall fundraising growth strategy, at this crucial stage as we complete the current cycle and move into our new 5-year strategy period in 2027.
Team
We are a close-knit team, who are all passionate about Leukaemia UK and putting those affected by the disease at the heart of everything we do. We are all focused on “keeping it real” with pragmatic, practical solutions, as well as ensuring that our charity maximises voluntary income to invest in more life-changing research, so that we can continue to have impact for those with a leukaemia diagnosis.
From us you can expect all the laughter you can handle, as well as great challenge and support. We are all about delivering exceptional supporter experience and making a real difference to people’s lives.
You will be part of an ambitious fundraising team driving growth across the portfolio, so we can fund more leukaemia research and save more lives from this devastating disease. You will report to the Director of Fundraising, working alongside the Head of Public Fundraising, and collaborating across the wider organisation to ensure fundraising aligns with our organisational priorities and values (Bold, Collaborative, Curious) and feels insight-driven, strategic and competitive in a crowded marketplace.
Leukaemia UK and You
In 2025 we invested in growing our fundraising team so that we could fund more life-changing research, to increase our understanding of leukemia as a disease, and accelerate the development of kinder, more effective treatments. This included investment to grow the Philanthropy fundraising team, develop new fundraising products, increase our supporter networks, and build a stronger pipeline. As a result, we have seen significant year-on-year growth for a charity of our size and are keen to maintain this trajectory with the opportunities in front of us.
We are in the final year of our current 5-year organisational strategy cycle and in the process of developing our new 5-year fundraising strategy, so you will be instrumental in bridging the gap, delivering against agreed income targets for 2026 and driving forward new plans into 2027.
Reporting to the Director of Fundraising, the post holder will at times be required to work both strategically and operationally, autonomously and collaboratively, as a critical member of the Fundraising Leadership Team. You will be results-driven with an appetite to innovate and drive continuous improvement, leading to increased conversions, deepened relationships, and long-term high value support to upscale our research programme.
Skills and Experience
- Previous experience of being a Head of Philanthropy, demonstrating strategic leadership with a remit that includes oversight of a broad High Value fundraising portfolio, across multiple income streams.
- Experience of applying the principles of Philanthropy fundraising to develop and nurture a growing pipeline of 5- and 6-figure gift opportunities for supporters able to give at the highest levels.
- Experience of managing engaging Major Giving and Trusts & Foundations fundraising programmes to generate a warm pipeline of 5- and 6-figure gifts.
- Experience of overseeing a Special Events programme, comprising both fundraising and cultivation events.
- Experience of overseeing a Corporate partnerships portfolio and representing the charity at a senior level.
- Demonstrable experience of managing a high-performing team, focussing on creating a culture where people thrive as individuals.
- Strong experience of building effective relationships with internal and external partners, senior stakeholders and suppliers, leading on the key relationships for the charity.
- Strong written and oral communication skills with a real talent for connecting and influencing people at all levels.
- Strong project-management experience, including managing budgets, schedules, creative development, and supplier relationships for fundraising events and campaigns.
- Proven experience of driving effective High Value stewardship programmes to maximise supporter experience.
- Great listening skills and the ability to interpret the needs of individuals, teams, and organisations.
- Ability to think through complex issues and produce evidenced-based judgements.
- Experience of setting and managing annual budgets, monitoring, and reconciling results and financial performance in income and expenditure. Providing associated narratives and monthly reforecasts.
- Working to a wide range of financial and non-financial KPIs set in annual activity plans.
- Ability to work well cross-organisationally, recognising different teams’ priorities and workloads.
- Entrepreneurial and results-led, with the ability to lead programmes of fundraising activity, with strategic, well thought through resourcing to deliver growth.
Knowledge
- Excellent specialist knowledge of the principals and methods underpinning successful Philanthropy fundraising and stakeholder management across Major Giving, Trusts and Corporate partnerships.
- Up-to-date knowledge of current fundraising trends.
- High level knowledge of Salesforce CRM and how best to steward supporters.
- High level knowledge and understanding of charity law in relation to legacy fundraising, GDPR, PECR, data protection and other relevant fundraising regulation.
Role specifics
- Hours: 0.8 FTE are 30 hours per week – days and times to be agreed
- 12 months fixed term contract – maternity cover
- Location: We are very flexible! Whilst our hybrid working policy is a minimum of two days per month in our London office, for this role we would typically expect the role holder to be in the office once a week.
- Salary range £55,000 - £65,000 (FTE)
Applications
If you feel you have the passion for our work and the right mix of experience, skills, energy, and flair to embrace this broad and challenging leadership role and enable our strategy to fly, then we would love you to apply. Please also see the full job description attached to the advert.
- First interviews will be held via Teams Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th March 2026
- Second interviews will be face to face in our London Offices – at 26 Great Queen St, London WC2B 5Bl on either Tuesday 24th or Wednesday 25th March 2026
- We are proud of our benefits – see a summary on our website in the section Work With Us
Application instructions: To minimise unconscious bias, we use anonymous recruitment and are unable to consider direct applications. Please apply via the CharityJob website with your CV and covering letter.
Closing Date: Midnight Sunday 8th March 2026
I look forward to hearing from you!
Holly Hastings-Payne
Director of Fundraising
Registered Charity
21 - 50
Together we can find and fund the research that matters most to people living with blood cancer.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.