Charity chairperson volunteer jobs

The Sutton Trust is the UK’s leading social mobility charity. We believe every young person should have a fair chance in life, regardless of their family’s income, the school they go to or where they grow up. But today in Britain, the opportunity to succeed is heavily shaped by socio-economic background. Our mission is to change this. Our programmes empower young people to access life-changing opportunities, and our research influences national change to deliver a fairer future.

Each year, together with our university and employer partners, we support over 14,000 young people to reach their potential through our university, apprenticeship and career access programmes. And our support doesn’t stop there. We engage our thriving alumni community to help them to succeed in their professions and to act as advocates for social mobility.

Our rigorous and extensive research shines a light on barriers to opportunity from the early years to the workplace, and we strive to influence national policy change with evidence-based solutions to tackle educational and workplace inequality. Using insights from our programmes and research, we also test and scale new ideas in education and employment practice.

As an independent charity, our work is entirely reliant on the generous support of our community of donors. The need to support our work to tackle Britain’s low social mobility has never been greater.

Fundraising at the Sutton Trust

We are seeking a dynamic and confident fundraiser to be our Corporate Partnerships & Events Manager. The Sutton Trust is at an exciting point in our organisational journey, with a new Chairperson and ambitions to significantly grow our impact and fundraising as part of our 2030 strategy.

Over the past five years the impact of the Sutton Trust has increased, especially with our programmes which have gone from supporting 11,000 young people a year to 14,000 in the 24/25 programme year. We have secured a relatively stable income of c.£6m over several years, and in the last two years this has grown to £7m+. Our organisational strategy, which takes us to 2030/31, will continue this fundraising trajectory with a need to increase annual income on a sustained basis to £12m. With corporate income accounting for nearly half our fundraised income, there is considerable enthusiasm and opportunity in the corporate world for building strategic partnerships with The Sutton Trust.

Our fundraising approach will continue to focus on major gifts and strategic multi-year partnerships, leveraging a range of drivers to secure corporate support. Our highly engaged Chairperson has a commercial background and is keen to leverage contacts in the corporate world, giving a network of prospective contacts to explore.

The role and team

As Corporate Partnerships & Events Manager, you will be an experienced partnership manager and fundraiser, confident in securing new business through active prospecting and networking along with experience in securing and stewarding strategic partnerships with corporates and their associated corporate foundations. You will have an entrepreneurial mindset for income generation, able to confidently manage competing demands to balance securing new partnerships and delivering high quality account management to your portfolio of current and prospective supporters.

The role will lead a portfolio of corporate partnerships, focused on delivering shared strategic goals to increase social mobility in the workplace and supporting a more socio-economically diverse workforce for the future. The role will be the point-person within the Development Team for organisational events, working closely with key colleagues in our marketing & events and programme functions to support delivery of high-quality events. They will also take responsibility for delivering successful stewardship events, including programme visits. It will be crucial to work closely with a range of stakeholders, especially colleagues, to deliver successful stewardship events that showcase the varied work of the Sutton Trust and engage supporters with our work. This will include working closely with existing staff who lead on organisational, advocacy and programme events to ensure donors and prospects are able to attend and engage with the work.

Corporate partnerships are delivered by a talented and growing team, all with their own portfolios based on partnership level and complexity. Team members work on both new business and account management, with ambitious individual income targets.

Main duties
New Business

• Personally scope, develop and secure new five-figure+ corporate partnerships, aiming for a diverse and robust portfolio of partners with multi-year commitments, working with the Head of Corporate Partnerships, other senior staff, and senior volunteers appropriately to secure and steward.

• Proactively approach new business development within the corporate sector, cultivating relationships and networks to grow awareness of The Sutton Trust and secure major gifts.

• Support the Head of Corporate Partnerships in their work with senior volunteers to develop a strong prospect pipeline for major corporate gifts, including support for network mapping to leverage connections and cultivate prospective funders.

Events, Account Management and Development

• Manage and grow the Trust’s leadership and partner level corporate partnerships in your portfolio, including leveraging existing relationships to maximise financial income and partnership longevity.

• Appropriately leverage senior staff and volunteers to secure multi-lateral relationships with corporate partners and prospects, with the aim of retaining partnerships and uplifting income.

• Working closely with key colleagues to be the first point of contact for the Development team to support organisational events, and working with Development leadership to deliver diverse and engaging stewardship events.

• Working closely with key colleagues, support delivery of key donor messaging through Campaign Monitor or other platforms as appropriate, to align with the stewardship events goals of further engaging donors and prospects with the work of the Sutton Trust.

• Be accountable for achieving agreed corporate income targets, looking for opportunities to grow funding and diversify corporate income.

Fundraising, Finance and Reporting

• Act as an ambassador for the Trust with external audiences in the corporate space, representing the Trust with gravitas and confidence to secure major gifts and develop relationships.

• Work with colleagues across Development and Finance to ensure accurate forecasting, income tracking and reporting for your portfolio of corporate partnerships.

• Working closely with colleagues, provide corporate fundraising expertise to increase awareness of viable funding opportunities and develop organisational understanding of best practice for working with corporate partners and funders.

• Ensure you appropriately follow policies and procedures on due diligence, Salesforce and data management, account management, stewardship, and reporting.

• Stay up to date with corporate fundraising best practice, learning from senior members of the team, and keep abreast of developments and opportunities within the wider fundraising space.

• Other duties as necessary from time to time.

Person Specification

We welcome applications from individuals who have experience in:

• Experience in successfully securing, managing, and developing corporate partnerships at five-figures-plus level, from initial prospect research to contracting and ongoing stewardship.

• Experience successfully securing and/or managing corporate-charity partnerships, including engaging senior leadership on both sides to deliver strategic goals and mutual benefit.

• Experience network mapping and networking to build and manage relationships that lead to corporate donations to non-profits, particularly with senior non-profit volunteers.

• Experience planning and delivering events that provide high-quality stewardship to donors and prospects, engaging them with the work of a non-profit and promoting strong relationships.

• Experience managing events with an organised and clear project management approach, including influencing and working with a variety of stakeholders internally and externally.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including networking at C-suite and senior management level and strong presentation skills, with the ability to prepare and deliver engaging and persuasive cases for support.

• First-class interpersonal skills - a natural ambassador able to represent the Sutton Trust with gravitas and confidence in a range of settings, especially the corporate world and with senior leaders.

• Knowledge and experience of the education and/or not-for-profit sector.

• Knowledge of the UK fundraising environment, including corporate fundraising trends and regulations that affect corporate partnerships.

• Experienced at using Salesforce or other fundraising CRM software to accurately record funding relationships.

We are also looking for an individual who:

• Sympathetic to the aims of the Trust and our mission to increase social mobility.

• High degree of initiative and the ability to take responsibility for corporate fundraising activity.

• Dynamic and entrepreneurial fundraiser, with a passion for personally engaging supporters.

• Able to think strategically about the bigger picture and manage hands-on fundraising.

• Proven ability to influence stakeholders at all levels and encourage giving.

• Excellent attention to detail with strong analytical skills.

• Able to work independently and as part of a team

• Is eligible to work in the UK (see here for information about right to work)

Terms of Appointment

• Contract: Full time, Permanent

• Salary: £42,025-£46,000

• Working location: Minimum of two office days per week. 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.

• Office location: The Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP.

• Hours: The standard working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. This role is likely to also be required to attend events / meetings outside of normal working hours during weekday evenings and occasionally at weekends, in line with organisational policies.

Interviews

Applications should reach us by 10am, Monday 25th May, with first round interviews held on Tuesday, 4th June, and second round interviews held on Wednesday, 10th June. Both rounds will be held in our London office.

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.