Fundraising innovation manager jobs in Birmingham

Head of Volunteering

Shape the future of volunteering at one of the UK's leading charities for disabled children. Lead an ambitious strategy to transform how thousands of volunteers contribute to changing lives across retail, fundraising, and community programmes.

About Newlife

As one of the UK's leading charities providing essential specialist equipment to children with disabilities, Newlife is dedicated to making life better - for the families we serve, and for the people who help us to make that happen.

Through grants and emergency equipment loans, we ensure children get the vital equipment they need, when they need it, while our free nurse helpline offers crucial support and information – as well as a listening ear. Our campaigns help to give children with disabilities and their families a voice, advocating for change to benefit the families we serve. And we support adults with additional needs with volunteering and employment opportunities, providing an introduction to the workplace and a means for career development.

Across the whole of Newlife, our teams are crucial to our success – it's not just a job; here you'll be helping us to change lives every day.

What you'll be doing

You'll lead the development and delivery of an ambitious volunteering strategy that increases Newlife's capacity, reach and impact. Working across retail, supply chain, warehouse, fundraising and community-based activities, you'll significantly grow volunteer involvement over the next three years.

Strategic Leadership

• Lead development and delivery of Newlife's Volunteering Strategy
• Implement annual volunteering plans supporting organisational growth
• Identify emerging trends and best practice in volunteering and charity retail
• Contribute to strategic leadership as a member of the Charity Leadership Team

Volunteer Growth and Engagement

• Significantly increase volunteer recruitment, retention and engagement
• Ensure volunteering opportunities are accessible, inclusive and rewarding
• Monitor volunteer satisfaction and impact using data and insight
• Champion volunteering as key to strengthening communities and improving outcomes

Innovation and Experience

• Explore technology-enabled and partnership-based approaches to volunteer engagement
• Develop contemporary volunteering models supporting operational growth
• Promote best practice in volunteer management, recognition and development
• Ensure volunteers are equipped and empowered to make meaningful contributions

Partnerships and Growth

• Develop relationships with corporate partners, educational institutions and community organisations
• Identify skilled volunteering and employer-supported volunteering opportunities
• Contribute to funding bids and partnership proposals
• Represent Newlife externally as an ambassador for the charity

What we're looking for

Experience

• Significant experience leading national volunteering programmes in charity, retail or not-for-profit sectors
• Developing and implementing strategic plans and improvement programmes
• Managing teams and delivering organisational growth through volunteering
• Partnership working with businesses and community organisations
• Budget management, performance monitoring and quality assurance

Skills

• Strong understanding of volunteering best practice and engagement
• Knowledge of contemporary charity retail and volunteer-led operating models
• Strategic leadership and people management abilities
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills
• Passion for improving outcomes for disabled children and their families

Location: Hybrid (2 days per week in Cannock – visits to retail locations and other sites as required)

Reports to: Charity Director

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checking may be necessary for this role.

Ready to transform volunteering?

Join us as Head of Volunteering and lead the strategic growth of volunteer engagement across one of the UK's most impactful charities. Help us build a movement that changes lives for disabled children and their families.

About the role

Are you ready to use your marketing expertise to back Indigenous people and protect the world’s rainforests? 

As our Digital Marketing Manager, you won’t just be managing channels; you’ll be the voice for Indigenous and local communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. 

We are looking for a creative powerhouse to lead our digital and press presence, turning complex climate issues into compelling stories that inspire action. This is your chance to shape how the world sees rainforest conservation and drive the engagement we need to meet our most ambitious goals yet.

About Cool Earth 

Cool Earth is a climate charity that protects the rainforest by supporting the people who live there. We have been working alongside local and Indigenous rainforest communities for over 15 years in the three largest and most important rainforests in the world, the Amazon, The Congo Rainforest and the Papua New Guinea Rainforest. Indigenous and local communities have been protecting the rainforest for thousands of years, but unfortunately are now facing a humanitarian crisis, lacking necessities like safe drinking water, infrastructure, healthcare, and stable incomes.

This makes rainforest communities vulnerable to exploitation by illegal loggers and extractive industries, who pressure them to sell their land. Once these industries take over, Indigenous peoples are displaced, losing their ancestral homes, culture, and traditional ways of life, and the rainforest is destroyed. Without these forests to regulate the earth’s temperature the climate crisis will only worsen. So what do we do to help?

By working in collaboration with these communities we help support their livelihoods, improve health, sanitation and education and provide tech to help monitor their rainforest. Our main programme involves giving direct unconditional cash to rainforest communities so that they can decide how best to use it in order to improve their quality of life. Rainforest communities can only defend their land from illegal loggers and greedy land grabbers when they themselves are resilient and strong. We help them get to that point.

What you’ll be doing

Strategic leadership and impact: we have the digital strategy, now we need someone exceptional to deliver it and keep us on our upwards trajectory.

You’ll lead the charge across our website, social media and email to skyrocket our visibility and engagement. By managing our talented Digital Officer, you’ll ensure every campaign isn't just seen, but drives action. Helping to deliver the KPIs that will define our success through 2026 and 2027. 

Social Media and storytelling: in collaboration with our in-country coordinators, you’ll turn raw, frontline stories from people who live in the rainforest, and experts across the team into compelling, high-quality content. You’ll also help us develop key individuals to become the face of Cool Earth’s social. You’ll oversee our organic and paid social strategies (awareness and lead gen), working with our agency partners to ensure every post and every ad isn't just noise, but a meaningful step toward increased engagement and donor conversion. 

Digital innovation and website excellence: you will champion our digital home, working with our web agency to deliver a seamless, high-performing website experience. From SEO housekeeping to major content overhauls for AEO and GEO visibility, you’ll ensure our site is more than just a resource, it’s an accessible, optimised journey that captures the imagination of every visitor and converts visitors into supporters and/or donors. 

PR and influence: You’ll amplify our press work to help break through the noise. By nurturing relationships with our ambassadors and seeking out global influencers, you will secure the kind of content that puts Cool Earth at the center of the climate conversation.

Movement building via email: you’ll lead our email marketing strategy, working with our fundraising team to email supporters weekly with impact, stories from the forest, quizzes and more. You’ll use DotDigital and Salesforce to build deep, automated journeys for new supporters. By working with our CRM lead, you’ll ensure our donors receive the right message at the right time, turning one-time supporters into lifelong advocates for the rainforest.

Data-Driven Growth: You’ll constantly monitor performance and review the data,  providing the Head of Marketing and Communications with the insights needed so we can keep pivoting and growing. 

You’ll be proactive, testing, optimising, and implementing agency recommendations to ensure our supporter base is constantly expanding and our conversion rates are always climbing.

Who you are

You’re a strategic storyteller: You have a proven track record of building high-impact PR and marketing strategies that don't just reach people, they move them.

A digital native: You live and breathe social trends and AI capabilities, knowing exactly how to optimise content for engagement and conversion across every platform.

A natural leader: You thrive on coaching and inspiring teams, whether they are Digital Officers in the UK or content coordinators across the globe.

Data-driven and creative: You can dive into Google Analytics or CRM data to find insights, then use your imagination to turn those numbers and our exceptional content into a winning campaign.

Relationship builder: You’re as comfortable negotiating with a national journalist as you are collaborating with our advocacy and programmes teams.

Mission-aligned: You have a genuine, deep-rooted commitment to environmental justice and the humanitarian principles that define Cool Earth.

Desirable skills & abilities 

• AEO/GEO understanding 

• Experience in the environmental or social justice sector 

• Experience in international fundraising and marketing 

• Fluent in written and spoken Spanish 

Equal Opportunities

At Cool Earth we are committed to equal opportunity and celebrate the unique backgrounds, identities, and experiences of all applicants and employees.

We don't discriminate based on factors like gender, race, age, physical abilities, religion, or sexual orientation. 

Our application process is designed to be accessible and inclusive, and we value your contributions regardless of these characteristics.

Frequently cited statistics show that women and underrepresented groups are more likely to only apply to jobs if they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. We encourage you to apply even if you feel that you do not meet all of the above requirements.

Safeguarding

Cool Earth is dedicated to strengthening the rights and resilience of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) living in rainforests. Cool Earth believes that a child, young person, or adult should never experience abuse of any kind. Protecting their safety and their freedom is integral to our work and our values.

Cool Earth is committed to keeping the IPLCs we work and engage with safe from any harm that could be caused by coming into contact with our organisation. This includes potential harm arising from the conduct and behaviour of staff, partners, or affiliates of Cool Earth, or the design and implementation of our programmes and activities.

We maintain a strict zero-tolerance approach towards any attitudes, behaviours or actions that put others at risk of harm.

Therefore, all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks as per the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. For more information see our Job Applicant Privacy Notice.