Major donor fundraising manager jobs in ilford, greater london
Whitley Fund for Nature
The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a UK charity supporting outstanding grassroots conservation leaders across the Global South. Through project funding (Awards), training, and media profile, we support local solutions to the planet’s most pressing conservation challenges. Our winners are courageous changemakers, working alongside communities to save species and protect ecosystems. Established in 1993, we have channeled £24 million to +220 conservation leaders in 80 countries, benefitting wildlife, landscapes, and people. WFN is governed by a committed trustee board. Our team is dynamic, passionate about our mission, and ambitious. The charity benefits from high profile support from Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, and Ambassadors including Sir David Attenborough.
The Opportunity
This role offers an exciting opportunity for an organised and proactive individual to contribute to high-profile events such as the prestigious Whitley Awards Ceremony, conservation summits and fundraising receptions, while also supporting office management, operational and administrative functions at the charity’s London office.
The ideal candidate will be keen to contribute, have excellent attention to detail, and a passion for environmental and/or charitable work. This is a varied and hands-on administrative role crucial in underpinning the efforts of our small, dynamic team.
EVENTS ASSISTANT - PERSONAL SPECIFICATION
Essential:
- Proven ability to manage administrative systems
- Experience coordinating suppliers and event logistics
- Experience of using a database to maintain accurate records and reporting on results
- IT literate (Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace)
- Excellent organisational and multitasking skills
- Strong attention to detail
- Confident communicator with a friendly, professional manner
- Ability to work calmly under pressure and to deadlines
- Reliable, proactive and willing to take initiative
- Comfortable working as part of a small, busy team.
Desirable
- Previous involvement in the charity or environmental secto
- Experience supporting office logistics
- Experience supporting high-profile or donor events
- Familiarity with Salesforce or other CRM systems
- Interest in conservation, sustainability, or the natural world
- Knowledge of simple budget management or finance procedures.
Additional details and benefits:
- Attractive holiday package totaling 30 days p.a. plus bank holidays (prorated)
- Training and professional development opportunities provided
- The charity operates a Pension Scheme and a Life Assurance Scheme
- Access to 24hr Employee Assistance Programme.
This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship. Only applicants who have the right to work in the UK at the time of application will be considered for this role.
Regrettably, due to limited resources and the high number of applications we receive, we are only able to contact short-listed candidates. If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.
Diversity and Inclusion
At WFN we are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse organisation, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. We celebrate and respect diversity in nature and among the people and partners with whom we work. We need more people and diversity across the environment sector, and to achieve our vision. We therefore encourage applications from Black, Asian or minority ethnic; disabled; LGBTQ+; or from lower socio-economic backgrounds. As a small organisation we are committed to progressing and continuing development across DE&I. Please contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application. Applications are considered solely on your demonstrated suitability for the role.
EVENTS AND OFFICE ASSISTANT - JOB DESCRIPTION
REPORTING TO HEAD OF OPERATIONS
EVENT SUPPORT
Whitley Awards Ceremony
The Whitley Awards are the result of an international search to find, fund, train and put a spotlight on outstanding grassroots leaders and their conservation projects. Finalists are invited to London for a week of training and events, culminating with the Whitley Awards Ceremony, where winners receive their Awards from WFN Patron, HRH The Princess Royal in front of 400 guests and many more tuning in via our livestream.
The Events and Office Assistant (EOA) will assist in the planning and delivery of the annual Whitley Awards Week, including the Ceremony, Friends Reception, NGO Reception, and related activities, particularly in the following areas:
- Arrange team and visitor travel, accommodation, and hospitality logistics
- Manage event guest lists and RSVPs using Salesforce and other platforms; help coordinate mail-outs and e-invitations
- Provide on-the-day event support including set-up, guest registration, and general assistance
- Support event logistics such as venue liaison, catering, AV, décor, merchandise, and materials, assisting with supplier coordination
- Champion WFN’s Event Code of Conduct.
Other WFN Events
Throughout the year WFN holds other fundraising and engagement events ranging from intimate dinners with supporters, winner talks, events as part of our Next Gen programme, and major initiatives such as Royal dinners, Galas and Biodiversity Summits which will require the EOA’s assistance.
- Manage ticketing and Q&A platforms and associated activities
- Coordinate volunteer involvement where required
- Support the organisation and logistics of fundraising and engagement events, including acting as venue liaison, arranging catering, managing guest lists, etc
- Assist with production of event materials as needed (signage, name badges, merchandise).
OFFICE ADMINISTRATION AND OPERATIONS
Smooth running of the WFN office and systems is vital for the charity to work effectively, with this role helping to support the team. The WFN office is a busy and welcoming environment, with regular visits by winners and supporters.
Office Management
- Ensure the office is a welcoming, tidy, and well-functioning space
- Greet visitors and manage incoming calls, emails, and enquiries
- Liaise with team and suppliers to order office materials and manage contracts (utilities, cleaning, stationery, refreshments, merchandise etc.)
- Manage post, deliveries, and waste removal procedures
- Oversee and liaise with the office cleaners to ensure they have the products they need and are paid in a timely manner.
Administrative Support
- Assist with diary management and scheduling meetings (in person and online)
- Arrange team and visitor travel, accommodation, and hospitality logistics
- Draft routine correspondence, thank-you letters, and other administrative communications
- Review and respond to general email enquiries (info inbox)
- Support the Head of Finance with basic administrative and data entry tasks
- Help maintain and update WFN’s CRM database (currently Salesforce) with contacts, donors, suppliers, event attendees
- Support the team with data entry, filing, record keeping, and maintaining digital and physical systems.
GENERAL DUTIES
- Represent WFN professionally at all times
- Adhere to WFN’s financial and operational procedures
- Undertake any other duties as reasonably requested from time to time. This job description is not exhaustive and may evolve.
Registered Charity
6 - 10
Whitley Fund for Nature is a fundraising and grant-giving nature conservation charity supporting grassroots practitioners across the Global South.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Chief Executive Officer – The Abbey Centre
Location: The Abbey Centre, Westminster, London (site-based role, flexible working available)
Salary: £90,000 – £95,000 per annum
Contract: Permanent (Full-time, 37.5 hours/week; regular evening attendance for events as required)
Could you lead a much-loved community hub through its next chapter of stability, growth and civic impact?
About The Abbey Centre
Our charity has served the community of south Westminster since 1948 and has occupied The Abbey Centre building, a converted Victorian public bath house a stone’s throw from Westminster Abbey, since 1991. We are a site-based community hub and social enterprise, combining community services, training and outreach with venue hire, an on-site café and catering to generate income that supports our charitable work.
We work across employability, health and wellbeing, volunteering and practical support for vulnerable residents; the Centre welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds, and sees over 1,000 visits each week. Our strong partnerships with Westminster City Council, statutory bodies and corporate donors underpin commissioned activity and solidify our position as a trusted local delivery partner.
This is an opportunity for a visionary but hands-on leader to preserve the Centre’s warm, inclusive culture and outstanding reputation while further professionalising systems, developing our income, and shaping a multi-year strategy that secures the building and grows impact.
As our next Chief Executive Officer, you will:
• Strategy & Impact: lead a collaborative listening phase and then develop and deliver a 3–5 year strategy and rolling business plan that defines the Centre’s core offer and impact targets.
• Governance & Finance: own the annual budget and medium-term financial modelling, deliver full-cost recovery across activity lines and present timely, accurate management information to trustees.
• Operational Leadership: ensure continuity of community services, venue trading and café operations and strengthen operational systems including safeguarding, H&S and business continuity.
• Income Generation: drive commercial performance of venue hire, events and catering, professionalise fundraising (major donors, legacies, corporate partnerships) and lead bids for multi-year statutory contracts.
• Community & Partnerships: sustain and deepen strategic relationships with Westminster City Council, commissioners, local partners and corporate supporters to secure commissioned work and philanthropic income.
• Estate Stewardship: manage day-to-day stewardship of the Centre’s significant ageing building, overseeing maintenance, lease/compliance obligations and contractor relationships.
• People & Culture: build a cohesive senior team, embed clear role accountabilities, performance management and development, and protect the Centre’s welcoming culture while managing change.
• Brand & Profile: act as a visible ambassador locally and with funders to raise the Centre’s profile and champion its social value.
Who you are:
• A seasoned senior leader with proven experience in a small/medium charity, community organisation or social enterprise that combines front-line delivery with significant premises/estate responsibility.
• Demonstrable track record of leading strategic development and delivering organisational growth while balancing hands-on operational leadership.
• Strong commercial and earned-income expertise, with experience of running successful commercial – ideally site-based - operations.
• Confident in winning and managing statutory contracts and multi-year grant programmes; credible with local authorities, commissioners and corporate partners.
• Financially literate with direct budget and cash-flow accountability and experience of full-cost recovery modelling.
• A collaborative, visible and warm ambassador who builds trust quickly, communicates clearly and can present concise management information to trustees.
Why The Abbey Centre?
• A powerful mission: deliver practical services, companionship and opportunity for south Westminster residents in a civic, high-impact setting.
• A prominent, historic central Westminster location and a cherished community building offering scope for strategic estate planning and growth.
• A warm, loyal staff team and an engaged board navigating a positive leadership transition.
• A social enterprise model where successful trading directly funds frontline services and creates a platform for entrepreneurial leadership.
• The opportunity to shape a multi-year strategy that secures the long-term future of the charity and grows its impact in the community.
For full details of the role including how to apply, please download the full appointment brief. For an informal and confidential conversation about this position, please contact Jenny Hills at Harris Hill via the apply button with times to speak and (optional but appreciated) a CV or professional profile which will be treated with the strictest confidence.
Closing date for applications: 9am, Monday 12th January 2026
As leading charity recruitment specialists and a certified B Corp, Harris Hill is committed to high and ever-improving standards of equitable and inclusive recruitment. We actively welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexuality and other protected characteristics.
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Closing Date: 5 January 2026
Ref 7225
Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and influential individual with a strong background in business development and fundraising to join us as our Business Development Lead within our Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) on a one-year maternity cover contract. In this role, you will work across the HLA, Save the Children UK, and external partner networks to diversify and grow income streams that strengthen locally led humanitarian action.
About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.
About the role
As Business Development Lead, you will drive the growth and diversification of the Human Leadership Academy's charitable income. You'll lead the business development strategy, identify and cultivate new funding opportunities, and build strong partnerships that enhance HLA's financial sustainability and long-term impact. Working closely with colleagues across the HLA and wider organisation, you will be instrumental in positioning the HLA as a leading force for locally led humanitarian leadership development.
In this role, you will:
- Oversee and shape the HLA's business development pipeline, ensuring a balanced mix of funding that supports strategic and programmatic objectives.
- Identify and pursue new funding opportunities across institutional, philanthropic, and corporate markets.
- Build, manage and cultivate relationships with donors, funders and strategic partners across the humanitarian and development ecosystem.
- Coordinate the end-to-end business development process—from opportunity identification to proposal development and smooth handover into delivery.
- Work collaboratively with teams across SCUK and the international movement, ensuring strong internal alignment and representation of HLA in external forums.
- Ensure compliance with internal fundraising processes, maintaining accurate, donor-compliant and audit-ready information throughout the project cycle.
To be successful, it is important that you have:
- Significant experience in institutional and/or philanthropic fundraising, with a proven track record of generating substantial income.
- Strong ability to build partnerships and develop compelling, fundable proposals with clear budgets and value propositions.
- Excellent account management skills with partners and donors across diverse sectors, including governments, institutions, private foundations and corporates such as the Clinton Foundation, Google, AWS, and ECHO, with particular experience in working with FCDO and other institutional donors.
- A solid understanding of the humanitarian system, including funding landscapes, trends, and opportunities.
- Experience managing complex bids and partnerships ideally in excess of £1 million or more.
- Resilience in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, with the ability to adapt and maintain performance under pressure.
- The ability to work proactively, flexibly, and collaboratively in an emergent, people-centred, and agile environment.
- Excellent communication and representational skills, able to articulate strategic vision and influence senior stakeholders.
- A commitment to Save the Children's vision, mission, and values.
What we offer you:
Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance.
- We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
- We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day.
Closing date: 5th January 2026
Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
Location & Ways of Working:
The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but at times you will be required to come to your contracted office (usually between 2–4 days per month, depending on the needs of your role, team, or service). For many roles, this is likely to be the minimum required to deliver impact.
This will be discussed and agreed with your manager / team and we encourage candidates to discuss our ways of working in more detail at interview stage.
Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense.
Flexible Working - We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be "Free to Be Me". We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think.
We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences - of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability - help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.
Thank you!
Chief Executive Officer - FoodCycle
Location: Vauxhall, London (flexible working; regular travel to Projects and for meeting with key stakeholders required)
Salary: circa £75,000
Contract: Permanent, full-time (35–37.5 hours per week)
Are you ready to lead FoodCycle through a period of consolidation and sustainable growth, protecting its volunteer-led, guest-centred model while building reliable income streams and scaling proven pilots?
About FoodCycle
FoodCycle is a national charity running volunteer-powered community dining projects that combine rescued surplus food, spare kitchen space and local volunteers to deliver free, hot, sociable three-course meals. Our work sits at the intersection of food-waste reduction, food-poverty relief and loneliness prevention. Nationally scaled but locally delivered, FoodCycle has grown rapidly, enjoys strong volunteer goodwill and is developing promising trading and schools pilots to strengthen sustainability.
As our next CEO you will:
• Shape strategy & impact - co-create and implement a clear 3–5 year strategy and a focused 12-month operational plan with measurable milestones.
• Stabilise leadership & culture - provide visible, warm and practical leadership across Projects; develop the senior team and protect volunteer trust.
• Secure financial sustainability - own the income strategy, diversify revenue across trusts, individual giving, corporate partnerships and trading, and present credible cashflow plans to the board.
• Build commercial & trading capacity - drive Manor House and other trading pilots towards viable, repeatable income models.
• Safeguard quality & risk - ensure robust safeguarding, food-safety and operational thresholds for opening new Projects.
• Raise profile & partnerships - act as FoodCycle’s principal ambassador to corporates, funders, local authorities and policy audiences.
Who you are
• A senior leader with experience stabilising and growing people-facing, delivery-focused organisations.
• Proven at generating income from multiple streams, with commercial fluency to develop simple trading models and convert corporate engagement into lasting partnerships.
• Financially literate - comfortable owning budgets, forecasting and discussing risk with trustees.
• Excellent at people and change management - able to build and motivate small national teams and large volunteer cohorts.
• Data-driven, curious and pragmatic - tests pilots, embeds what works and sets clear go/no-go criteria for scale.
• Values-driven and visible - passionate about food justice, guest dignity and volunteer leadership.
• Right to work in the UK and satisfactory DBS checks required.
Why FoodCycle?
• Lead a nationally recognised, volunteer-led movement tackling food waste, food poverty and social isolation.
• Play a pivotal role growing promising trading and schools pilots to create sustainable income.
• Work with an engaged Chair and committed board, and a small, passionate national team.
• Be part of a friendly, non-hierarchical culture where leaders are visible in Projects.
For full details of the role including how to apply, please download the full appointment brief. For an informal and confidential conversation about this position, please contact Jenny Hills at Harris Hill at via the apply button with times to speak and (optional but appreciated) a CV or professional profile which will be treated with the strictest confidence.
Closing date for applications: 9am, Monday 19th January 2026
As leading charity recruitment specialists and a certified B Corp, Harris Hill is committed to high and ever-improving standards of equitable and inclusive recruitment. We actively welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexuality and other protected characteristics.