Head of Philanthropy - Maternity Cover 12 months

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