Major gifts and special events officer jobs
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Join Wings for Life and take the lead in shaping one of the most exciting and impactful event portfolios in the charity sector. You will drive the strategy, growth and delivery of a diverse programme of premium fundraising events, mass participation experiences and high-profile partnerships that inspire supporters, engage world-class brands and generate vital funds to find a cure for spinal cord injury.
Your portfolio will span exclusive owned fundraising events such as Mikey’s Mountain Miles, our skiing fundraiser with Mike Tindal MBE; The Clay Day, a premium sporting and hospitality experience with our Formula 1 partners; and two established golf events, including an owned event, Gourmet Golf, and a supporter-led initiative. You will also play a central role in maximising opportunities through major third-party events and partnerships, including the Wings for Life World Run, the London Marathon 2027, and high-profile Red Bull events.
This is more than event management. It is an opportunity to identify new opportunities, develop innovative event concepts and create unforgettable supporter experiences that stand out in a crowded fundraising landscape. Working closely with senior leadership, ambassadors, partners and supporters, you will combine creativity, commercial acumen and flawless execution to grow income, build awareness and strengthen Wings for Life’s position as a leading charity brand. Whether enhancing existing events or creating entirely new experiences within and beyond the Red Bull universe, you will play a pivotal role in delivering ambitious growth and lasting impact.
What We're Looking For
We’re seeking an ambitious, creative and highly organised event leader who thrives on turning great ideas into exceptional experiences. You will have a proven track record of delivering high-quality events, achieving ambitious commercial and fundraising targets, and building strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. Equally comfortable developing strategy and rolling up your sleeves to deliver flawless event execution, you will bring the energy, entrepreneurial mindset and attention to detail needed to drive growth across our events portfolio.
As a manager, you will lead and develop our Event & Fundraising Specialist, providing coaching, support and professional development while fostering a collaborative, high-performing culture. You will also play an active role in supporting our individual fundraising programme and championing a ‘one team’ approach across the organisation.
Success in this role will require strong commercial awareness, budget management expertise and the confidence to negotiate, influence and present to senior stakeholders, partners and Board members. You will be adept at managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment, while maintaining a relentless focus on delivering outstanding supporter experiences and maximising return on investment.
Experience working with premium brands, VIP audiences, luxury hospitality or high-end events would be advantageous, as would a passion for identifying new opportunities, creating innovative event concepts and challenging conventional thinking. Above all, you will be a solutions-focused self-starter with exceptional relationship-building skills, a genuine passion for our mission and the drive to help Wings for Life achieve extraordinary impact.
We value experience, talent and results over formal qualifications. If you have the vision, energy and expertise to grow one of the most exciting event portfolios in the charity sector, we'd love to hear from you.
Wings for Life have one sole mission: to find a cure for spinal cord injury. As the charity partner of Red Bull, 100% of our fundraising goes directly to scientific research as they cover all our costs.
Registered Charity 
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The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Placement Officer to join our Business Commissioning and Placements Team, on a twelve-month fixed term contract starting in October 2026. The role of Placement Officer is to provide high quality support to all placement, admission and discharge processes associated with all children’s placements.
You will provide centralised administrative support planning, attending, and minuting meetings, as well as managing and executing processes associated with children’s placements, including managing and updating our children’s records system, supporting on billing processes, in particular debtors’ management, and contracting, whilst also supporting the wider business development and commissioning team on clerical matters, ensuring operations run smoothly.
Staff benefits include, shuttle bus, and more… Read more below
Role Requirements
· Circulating enquiries/referrals, coordinating assessments, gathering information from internal and external counterparts and formatting, and circulating Referral Screening Reports alongside Referral Manager in preparing for placements.
· Coordinate admission planning tasks including arranging parental accommodation, putting together welcome letter and parental agreement, informing reception, and updating relevant spreadsheets.
· Drafting and circulating pre-admission commissioning paperwork such as ICB letters and funding applications.
· External liaison with parents, referrers, and funders to ensure they are kept updated throughout the pre-admission process, alongside the Referral Manager.
· Supporting with in-person and virtual tours for children and their families directed by Placement Managers.
· Provide cross cover to main aspects of Placement Manager or Referral Manager role short-term, if required e.g. sickness, annual leave.
· Minute taking of meetings (including but not limited to complex discharge/transition planning meetings), and distribution of minutes within timely manner following meeting.
· Coordinating children placement reports, including chasing completion, formatting, and circulation in liaison with Placement Managers/Senior Placement Managers.
For more detail, please see the Duties and Responsibilities in the candidate briefing pack.
Interview Date: Week commencing 27th July 2026.
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY – ‘How to Apply’
PLEASE NOTE: The Children's Trust Application Form MUST be completed and submitted, for your application to be considered. As part of the shortlisting process, gaps in employment will be examined and further explored during the interview process.
AI Statement
We recognise the value of AI tools, particularly in supporting individuals who may benefit from assistance with writing. However, applications created mainly by AI can often appear generic and may not fully reflect an applicant’s, skills, knowledge, and experience.
We’d really like to hear from you so please use your own words and personal experiences when completing the application form to give us the best chance of understanding what you can bring to the role.
To apply for this role please click on the apply now button at the bottom of the advert.
Strictly no agencies, please.
As we often receive high levels of applicants for our roles, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interviews. Therefore, if you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume you have not been shortlisted for an interview on this occasion.
Terms and Conditions
As a charity organisation independent of the NHS, we do not follow Agenda for Change terms and conditions. Consequently, we are unable to take into account NHS incremental dates or continuous service for salary, annual leave, or related entitlements such as absence pay at the point of recruitment. Whilst we do not directly match NHS terms, we offer a competitive salary and a range of staff benefits.
About Us
The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.
Boasting a beautiful 24-acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.
Staff Benefits
The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits, including our staff flexible benefits platform, on-site nursery, free eye tests, enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms and time off for gender reassignment.
We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.
Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable), Teacher’s pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Rehabilitation of Offenders
Many roles at The Children’s Trust are exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020) and as such, are subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, which will disclose all unspent convictions and adult cautions and any spent convictions or adult cautions that would not be protected. The exceptions to this are our retail roles within The Children’s Trust shops, which are subject to Basic DBS checks which will disclose unspent convictions or adult cautions.
Equal Opportunity Employer
To help us achieve our ambition to give children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability the opportunity to live the best life possible, we want to accurately reflect the UK’s diverse population. We want equity, diversity, and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do, and our people, services, and culture to reflect the diverse needs of all. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we have made a commitment to increase the diversity of our charity and create an inclusive culture. We have networks across the organisation working to ensure that these aims are met - including an LGBTQIA2S+ group, Ethnic Diversity Group, and Spark – our broad EDI group. Read more about our EDI work here. We welcome applications from all who share our ambition regardless of background. We will strive to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are made in respect of interview and working arrangements.
Online Searches
In accordance with statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance, online searches will be conducted for shortlisted candidates before interview. The online searches will be conducted by a person who is independent of the interview and selection process and will focus on relevant information returned via searches of the candidate’s name (and variations thereof). Social media searches will be limited to professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Any concerns relating to suitability for work with children and young people will be forwarded to the interview panel, for discussion during the interview.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.