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Are you an insight-driven leader with experience of service design and development, CRM systems and data management? Do you enjoy turning evidence into action, building effective processes, and helping organisations maximise their impact? Then join Sported as our Network Services and Data Manager and play a key role in developing and evolving the services, activities, and support we provide to grassroots groups across the UK.
About Us
Sported is a charity that delivers funding, resources, and expert volunteer support to grassroots groups that use sport and physical activity to make a positive difference to people and communities.
Our network of 5000 groups reached over one million people across the UK in 2025–26. Through free support, resources and funding, we help trusted local leaders lower the barriers participation, building stronger, fairer communities and improving health and wellbeing, and opportunities for all.
We are now looking for a Network Services and Data Manager to join us on a full-time, permanent basis, working 37.5 hours per week.
Why Join us?
· A supportive, friendly, engaged team, with a great people first culture
· A salary of £39,393 – £45,020 (dependent on experience)
· 25 days’ holiday per annum plus Bank Holidays
· Two additional wellbeing days per year
· Two paid volunteer days each year
· Up to five days’ paid study leave for self-funded training
· Flexible working arrangements
· A confidential counselling service
· Pension scheme
· Cycle to Work scheme
This role is a fantastic opportunity for a strategic and insight-driven professional with expertise in service design, CRM systems, and data management to join Sported's mission of supporting grassroots groups to create lasting change in their communities.
Here you will have the opportunity to provide leadership to a function with significant potential for growth and development. You'll be instrumental in embedding best practice across service design, establishing robust processes, enhancing data capability, and creating a culture of evidence-based decision-making.
The successful candidate will drive continuous improvement, helping to establish a high-performing, strategically focused function that maximises impact across the organisation.
The Opportunity
This is more than a data role
You'll lead the development of Sported's services, CRM systems, and data strategy, ensuring our decisions, processes, and offer to grassroots groups are driven by insight and evidence.
Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, you'll champion innovation, improve how we use data, and help create exceptional experiences for the grassroots groups we serve.
If you're excited by the opportunity to shape strategy, lead change and maximise social impact, we'd love to hear from you.
About You
• An excellent communicator, able to build positive working relationships with the wider team.
• An effective influencer, able to drive change and embed new ways of working across the organisation.
• A self-starter, able to work independently and under your own initiative.
• A curious mind, able to ask questions and pursue answers.
• A critical thinker, able to assess existing approaches and imagine new ways of working.
• A passion for making a difference to marginalised communities and people.
Please see the job pack, where you’ll find details of roles and responsibilities, and required skills and experience.
The closing date for this role is Midnight on 20th August
Sported is an equal opportunities employer, and we warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+ and disabled communities, as well as people with lived experience of tackling inequalities, because we value the insight and strength that diverse voices bring to creating meaningful change.
We want you to feel comfortable and supported throughout the recruitment process. If there is anything we can do to help make the process more accessible for you, please let us know.
We want every candidate to have the best opportunity to showcase their skills. That's why we use a anonymous recruitment process and provide interview questions in advance, supporting a fair, transparent and inclusive selection process.
If you wish to apply, please provide an up to date CV, together with a cover letter detailing how you meet the criteria shown in the person specification. You can use experiences gained from work, volunteering and life experiences. We will not consider applications without these two documents. We also ask you to complete an equal opportunities monitoring form, this is not compulsory but we use the anonymous data to help us improve our recruitment practices and ensure our approach reaches a diverse audience.
Registered Charity
21 - 50
Sported is the UK's leading grassroots sports charity. We transform lives and strengthen communities by helping them unleash the power of sport.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Reporting to: Fundraising Lead
Hours: Full Time (35 hours per week)
Key Relationships: Products Manager, Stewardship Manager, Fundraising Lead, Director of Development, CEO, COO, Trustees, External Partners
Location: Remote Working, with national travel requirements for meetings, events and collaboration.
Overall Purpose
The Partnerships and Philanthropy Manager will both raise money to support the sustainability of NHS Charities Together and contribute to supporting NHS Charities to increase their income.
The focus of the role is on developing and leading partnerships with corporates and philanthropy.
Overall Objectives
- To generate income across a portfolio of corporate partnerships and charitable trusts and foundations
- To support NHS charities to raise income from partnerships
- Work flexibly as part of a Development Team, supporting the range of fundraising and income generation that the team targets.
Key Responsibilities
The main duties and responsibilities of the role holder are as outlined below:
Partnership Development & Delivery
- Manage the range of existing partnerships across corporate and philanthropic audiences, creating and implementing bespoke solicitation and stewardship plans, generating income for the organisation or NHS Charities
- Translate our work into compelling and bespoke cases for support, making relevant and appropriate asks and soliciting multi-year strategic partnerships
- Identifyand develop new partnership opportunities whichbenefitour organisation or NHS Charities
- Develop opportunities for and deliver sponsorship income for our activity and events
Collaboration & Sector Support
- Work collaboratively with member NHS Charities to understand their fundraising needs, challenges, and opportunities.
- Build strong relationships with key stakeholders across the sector, supporting them to understand the most appropriate role for partnership-based fundraising
- Share learning and best practice from partnership relationships to inform future developments and sector growth.
- Contribute to supporting NHS Charities to raise their income, providing advice and guidance 1:1 and through supporting the delivery of member events
- Where required support the delivery of paid for consulting support to NHS charities on fundraising
- Keep abreast of trends in fundraising within and beyond the health sector.
Leadership & Financial Management
- Establish clear objectives, KPIs, and evaluation frameworks for all partnerships
- Monitor the performance and financial return of our partnerships work, producing regular reports and insights to inform decision-making.
- Provide effective line management to team members, ensuring they have clear objectives, professional development, and deliver high performance.
- Manage budgets as required, monitoring income and expenditure to ensure targets and forecasts are met, and reporting any variances promptly.
- Produce regular performance and income reports and insights to inform strategy and continuous improvement.
- Contribute to the effective running of the team, and participate in relevant training and team meetings.
- Ensure donor records are kept up to date on the fundraising database, and ensure our CRM records of key relationships are maintained
- Ensure all appropriate due diligence is undertaken and necessary gift agreements are in place.
- Ensure that all fundraising activity complies with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice and relevant legislation.
Cross-Team Collaboration & Stakeholder Management
- Liaise with teams across the organisation to collaborate on member facing activity and ensuring our product offers fit with our member segmentation approaches.
- Support the team on other fundraising activity, for example around events, or in the cultivation and recruitment of individual donors
Competencies
Teamwork – ‘One charity’, working within and across teams
- Collaborates across teams, ensuring our activity is aligned with our wider support of members.
Building trust and respect – listen, feedback and learn
- Models our values through their work, seeking to support colleagues and understand their perspectives.
- Proactive, and adaptable to support the wider work of the organisation as required.
Responsibility – owning your part in our success
- Demonstrates commitment to delivering exceptional partnerships.
- Takes responsibility for developing and leading successful relationships which generate income.
Professionalism – creating an environment to achieve success
- Takes a learning approach to ensure we continually improve.
- Upholds the highest standards of integrity, ethics, and transparency, ensuring we always work within the Fundraising Code.
Stakeholder focus – understanding the needs of our key stakeholders and audiences
- Passionate about supporting NHS charities and helping them to increase their income.
- Seeks to understand the needs of NHS charities, shaping our support to maximise our impact in supporting them to raise income.
- Ensures our own fundraising does not compete with members.
Acumen – Sound decision-making
- Adapts and shapes partnerships based on learning to deliver success.
- Identifies and shapes member support around what is most effective.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Fundraising Qualification, Chartered Institute of Fundraising, or equivalent
- Significant experience of fundraising, and the role and theory of fundraising through partnerships and/or philanthropic relationships
- Experience of securing significant partnerships of at least 5 figures from corporate partners, individuals or family foundations and managing relationships with major supporters
- Knowledge of the current philanthropy and High Net Worth Individual and/or corporate landscape and insight into future trends
- Excellent project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders.
- Creative thinker with a commercial mindset
- Collaborative working style with excellent stakeholder management skills
- Experience managing and developing team members.
- Influencing skills, with experience of working across teams or partner organisations.
- Experience of database management and using a fundraising CRM system
- An excellent communicator, in person and in written work
- Experience working within an NHS charity or large health-related fundraising environment.
- Experience in building credibility with senior external stakeholders and managing relationships with diplomacy
- Experience managing external relationships with suppliers
Other duties
- Visibly live NHS Charities Togethers values, including our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
- Carrying out the duties of postin accordance withNHS Charities Togethers policies and procedures on Health and Safety and take responsibility for ensuring personal health and safety.
- Working flexibly, prioritising workload, and working effectively as part of a team. Demonstrating an ability to work calmly and effectively when under pressure of tight deadlines, to deliver work on time and to a high standard.
- Adhere to relevant legislation, best practice, policies, and processes including, but not limited to charity law, the fundraising regulator, GDPR and professional codes and standards.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of duties. The need for flexibility is required, and the post holder is expected to carry out any other related duties that are within the employee’s skills and abilities whenever reasonably instructed.
