Appeal manager volunteer jobs in Edinburgh

Every day people with chest, heart and stroke conditions are leaving hospital scared and alone. You can be part of our mission to make sure that there is no life half lived in Scotland.

By joining Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS) as an Individual Giving Fundraiser you can be the difference between people just surviving and really living.

You will be part of Scotland’s leading health charity providing support to people with chest, heart and stroke conditions and Long Covid to live life to the full again. Our Community Healthcare Support Service provides access to a range of supported self-management and community recovery services to support people across Scotland to manage their health as well as possible and adjust to life after a diagnosis of a chest or heart condition or after a stroke. 

With support from the Donor Development Manager, the Individual Giving Fundraiser will play a key role in growing and sustaining CHSS’s individual donor income by playing a lead role in donor acquisition campaigns, stewardship, and reactivation activity. You will have a strong focus on face-to-face recruitment and compelling multi-channel appeals. As an essential part of the Donor Development team you will be working collaboratively across Income Generation, Communications, Supporter Care, and Data as well as a range of external agencies and suppliers. In all areas, you will ensure compliance with fundraising regulations, GDPR, and marketing standards.

It is an exciting and varied role. We’ll want you to be creative - with support of Communications colleagues you’ll be involved in the crafting of fundraising appeals and campaigns. We’ll expect you to be technically proficient using a fundraising CRM (ideally RE:NXT), highly organised and collaborative. We’ll want you to be able to work with Data colleagues and use insight and analysis to inform decisions.

This role will help CHSS develop targeted campaigns, strengthen supporter loyalty, and ensure high-quality supporter journeys that enhance long-term income stability.

If you are working in a similar role looking for a change or are someone with relevant practical experience in Individual Giving looking for the opportunity to take on some more responsibility, we’d love to hear from you!

CHSS also supports flexible recruitment through Working Families and we are “Happy to Talk Flexible Working”.

In line with our commitment to safeguarding, this role is subject to a Basic Disclosure check. CHSS is committed to equality of opportunity and to providing a service which is free from unfair and unlawful discrimination. We therefore aim to ensure that no applicant, volunteer or member of staff is unfairly treated on the grounds of offending background.

PLEASE NOTE: Applications by CV and covering letter only

Communications Assistant

• 15 hours per week at £15.00 an hour (Actual salary £11,700 - FTE £27,300)
• Hours may be worked flexibly over a minimum of 3 days a week
• Home based with occasional prearranged in person meetings

The Communications Assistant will provide hands-on support to the Communications Manager in the ideation, creation and delivery of our regular external communications. This includes helping to grow our social media following, creating and scheduling content, sourcing and designing images, providing copywriting support, and responding to comments across our channels. The role will also involve drafting and scheduling newsletters and providing administrative support with our databases.

This is a 15‑hour‑per‑week role, with the potential to grow in the future. Ideally, we are looking for someone who can spread their hours across the week to support consistent content delivery, but we are open to discussing alternative working patterns for the right candidate.

The successful candidate will have experience in a communications, marketing or social media role. They will be proficient in Adobe Illustrator and have basic video editing and/or animation skills. Strong copywriting skills and the ability to adapt tone of voice for different channels are essential, as is confidence using Mailchimp or similar email marketing platforms.

We are a busy remote team, and this role offers plenty of scope to work autonomously and flexibly. You’ll gain experience across a wide range of areas and develop your skills in a supportive, hands‑on environment, with opportunities to contribute to the creative direction of our communications.

Closing date: 19th April 2026

Interviews: 29th April 2026

Purpose of the Role

The Clinical & Research Lead role provides senior clinical leadership across Together for Short Lives’ most complex and high-profile programmes. The role leads the design and delivery of national clinical initiatives, strengthens clinical governance and safeguarding oversight, and builds the organisation’s research and evidence capability.

Working closely with the Head of Services & Impact, the postholder ensures programmes are credible, evidence-informed and deliver measurable impact for children, families and the wider sector. The role will lead work that strengthens professional practice, improves outcomes for families, and supports national sector development. The role involves significant external representation, national stakeholder engagement, programme planning, research and data oversight, and leadership of internal and external events.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

· Represent Together for Short Lives in national clinical, policy and professional forums, contributing to the organisation’s credibility and influence across the children’s palliative care sector.

· Lead the planning, coordination and delivery of internally hosted stakeholder meetings, including the Leaders of Care Forum and other professional engagement events.

· Provide professional and reflective input into complex organisational decisions relating to clinical practice, programme design and ethical engagement.

· Build strong relationships with practitioners across health, social care, education and voluntary-sector partners to support implementation of clinical programmes and foster collaboration.

· Engage with Integrated Care Boards, Strategic Clinical Networks, and children’s palliative care providers to ensure our work aligns with national priorities and regional needs.

Programme Leadership & Project Oversight

· Provide senior leadership for the planning, development and delivery of clinical and service-improvement projects, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy.

· Oversee the development of project briefs, initiation documents, outcome measures, risk registers, evaluation plans and implementation timelines.

· Hold responsibility for monitoring progress, quality assurance, and risk management, escalating concerns to the Head of Services & Impact as required.

· Coordinate cross-functional project teams and ensure effective collaboration with external organisations, hospices, NHS partners and charitable funders.

· Ensure projects are delivered within agreed scope, timelines and budgets.

· Support the development of robust programme models, theories of change and outcomes frameworks that strengthen the organisation’s ability to secure external funding.

· Contribute to the development of cases for support and programme proposals in collaboration with fundraising colleagues.

Research, Evidence & Insight

• Lead the organisation’s research prioritisation programme and support development of a national children’s palliative care research agenda.
• Build and maintain relationships with academic partners, research institutions and clinical leaders to strengthen the evidence base for children’s palliative care.
• Support development of evaluation frameworks that demonstrate impact, learning and outcomes across programmes.
• Contribute to the organisation’s longer-term ambition to develop a ‘Centre of Impact’, positioning Together for Short Lives as a national authority on evidence and insight in children’s palliative care.
• Ensure research and evaluation activity is ethically robust, appropriately governed and aligned with sector priorities.

Data, Impact & Reporting

· Provide oversight and leadership for data collection, monitoring and reporting processes across the Services & Impact portfolio.

· Line manage the Data & Impact Officer, ensuring robust reporting systems, high-quality data, and meaningful evaluation of programmes.

· Ensure outputs are translated into insights that demonstrate effectiveness, equity, reach and learning - supporting fundraising, influencing and strategic decision-making.

· Support development of improved feedback mechanisms from families and professionals to evidence the impact of support offers and clinical programmes.

Professional Support, Education & Sector Development

· Contribute to the development and dissemination of clinical resources, guidance, toolkits and training for professionals working with children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.

· Support national programmes of work, including definitions of children’s palliative care, categories of need, standards, workforce development and professional education.

· Facilitate knowledge exchange and best-practice sharing across the sector through networks, events, workshops and targeted professional engagement.

· Deliver presentations, training sessions and clinical briefings to a wide range of audiences.

Family and Service Engagement

· Work with colleagues across the Services & Impact team and external partners to ensure projects reflect the lived experiences and priorities of children and families.

· Support co-production activities and ensure family voice is meaningfully incorporated into project design and evaluation.

· Promote and signpost to the Family Support Hub and relevant offers, ensuring clear and consistent messaging about available support.

Governance, Quality & Reporting

· Provide additional clinical oversight and challenge across the organisation’s work relating to safeguarding, ethical engagement and complex family situations.

· Contribute to strengthening organisational clinical governance processes and risk management.

· Provide expert advice to colleagues on safeguarding, ethical engagement with families, and complex clinical issues arising from programme work. Contribute to internal reporting cycles, board updates, quarterly programme reviews and funder reports.

· Maintain accurate project documentation, data dashboards and risk logs.

· Provide expert advice to colleagues and stakeholders on clinical considerations and best practice in children’s palliative care.

General Responsibilities

· Provide effective line management, supervision and support to allocated staff.

· Attend team meetings, leadership meetings and organisational events as required.

· Commit to continuous professional development and reflective practice.

· Undertake other duties relevant to the role as required by the Head of Services & Impact.