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Job TitleHead of Communications
LocationHome based (Home working with regular meetings in London)
Salary£45,000 - £55,000
HoursFull Time, permanent
Reports to Chief Policy Officer
About Parentkind
As one of the largest federated charities in the UK, with arguably greater reach into the lives of families and educational settings than any other non-Government organisation, Parentkind is on a bold and urgent mission: to support, champion, and empower parents to be partners in their children’s education and wellbeing.
Although best known for our support of almost 24,000 Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), Parent Councils, and Schools, helping them build strong school communities whilst they raise approaching £140 million each year to enhance children’s education, our work stretches far beyond the school gates. Parentkind is building a powerful movement that recognises parental engagement not as a nicety, but a necessity.
Supporting parents beyond the school gate
In recent years, families have faced a series of compounding challenges: the cost-of-living crisis, rising child poverty, and deepening educational inequality. These pressures have left many parents struggling to meet basic needs—let alone feel confident engaging in their child’s learning journey. Parentkind has responded to this moment with compassion, agility and purpose, through a series of transformative campaigns, resources, and partnerships.
Our No Cold Child initiative with FatFace stepped in to address a stark statistic: over 150,000 children in the UK do not own a winter coat due to poverty. Through our trusted relationships with schools we distributed 10,000 warm, high-quality coats worth £600,000 to the children who needed them most. Winning the Business Charity Awards ‘Fashion & Retail’ Award, and shortlisted for two further awards, the campaign has been praised not just for providing warmth, but for restoring dignity, inclusion, and school readiness to thousands of children.
The All Dressed Up campaign—developed with World Book Day and Rubies Masquerade—confronted the often-overlooked issue of financial exclusion on key celebration days. More than 100,000 free dressing up costumes worth £1.34 million were delivered to children from low-income families. By enabling participation in events like World Book Day, we helped spark imagination, joy, and belonging for children who might otherwise feel left out—boosting self-esteem and supporting a positive connection to learning.Furthermore, helping attract children into school on a day which often sees struggling parents keep their children at home.
Alongside these national campaigns, Parentkind supports families year-round through a growing suite of programmes designed to inform, prepare and empower parents. Our Be School Ready programme offers crucial guidance and confidence to parents preparing their children for the leap into primary education. With a mix of practical advice, developmental tips, and reassurance, through the distribution of 150,000 copies of Be School Ready and an online campaign, it supports families at one of the most formative moments in their child’s life.
We also deliver a wide-ranging series of live expert webinars and parent-friendly resources, covering topics such as managing anxiety, supporting special educational needs, navigating school transitions, and building home-school partnerships. These resources, developed in consultation with experts and rooted in lived parent experience, equip families to feel informed and empowered, no matter what challenges arise.
Our direct support of schools
Our collaboration with Asda on Cashpot for Schools is another example of unlocking support at scale. This innovative community-led funding model allowed shoppers to nominate and fund their local schools simply through everyday spending. This campaign has generated £5.78 million for schools during the past twelve months, supporting everything from basic classroom supplies to vital extracurricular programmes and pupil wellbeing initiatives. Also shortlisted for a Business Charity Award, it is already a model for community-driven philanthropy.
In April, we launched our Parent-Friendly Schools Accreditation Programme, designed to formally recognise schools that go above and beyond in fostering positive, inclusive relationships with parents. The accreditation celebrates schools that actively listen to parent voices, make engagement easy and accessible, and embed family partnership in their culture. It is a practical and inspiring tool to drive long-term change in the sector and offers a roadmap for schools wanting to strengthen their community.
Our focus on Policy & Research
Our work is grounded in evidence. Since 2023, we have conducted the UK’s largest annual parent survey: the National Parent Survey. With approaching 6,000 participants providing 130,000 bits of data to provide invaluable insights into the struggles, concerns, hopes and fears of parents. The findings are fed directly into government consultations and have already informed national debates on school funding, attendance, mental health support, SEND provision, and curriculum reform.
In each of the past two years the number of policymakers, educators, parents and researchers accessing the National Parent Survey exceeded seven thousand, and the survey featured in more than two hundred media outlets each year.Excitingly, the Times & Sunday Times are partnering with Parentkind to raise the profile even further in September 2025 and the survey will be launched at a lighthouse event featuring the Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson), the Ofsted Chief Inspector of Schools (Sir Martyn Oliver), the CEO of Mumsnet (Justine Roberts), the Children’s Commissioner (Dame Rachel De Souza), and our own Chief Executive (Jason Elsom).
In addition to the National Parent Survey, Parentkind undertakes representative polling of parents throughout the year on a variety of important topics, which increasingly find exposure in the media and policy discussion.
Parentkind provides the secretariat for the Westminster APPG for Parents and the Stormont APG for Parental Participation in Education. Two very successful parliamentary groups bringing together policymakers and a variety of stakeholders to consider the challenges faced by parents and act as a voice for them through a variety of policymakers.
Our Media Engagement
Since becoming recognised as the UK’s largest parent charity, with likely more groups and frontline volunteers than the Scouts or Girlguiding, Parentkind has gained increasing prominence in the media.Beyond the reach of the National Parent Survey and our regular polling, Parentkind receives frequent requests for quotes of reflection and input by media in relation to their journalism and from Government and non-Government entities in support of policy announcements.
Beyond this, the Parentkind community of volunteers and PTAs share local or regional media announcements of their own.Whether or not it celebrating the completion of large projects they have invested countless hours and thousands of pounds into realising, or the community event they have worked into the night to deliver for their school communities.
It will be your role to take this much further, gaining increasing exposure for the work of Parentkind, its community, and parents more broadly.
If you believe, like we do, that when parents matter, children succeed, we’d love to hear from you.
The role will involve:
· Promoting our parent polling data and work across social media platforms with eye catching content.
· Providing comment on topical issues for social media so that we are part of the conversation.
· Build the right relationships to dramatically increase the number of of media organisations seeking input and thought leadership from Parentkind.
· Build relationships with broadcast media so we get asked to appear on broadcast media more often. There’s a chance for you to be a talking head too.
· Help to draft parent polls and reports with a focus on compelling questions that will hit the front page. We need a brilliant writer, able to turn facts and figures into engaging narratives with bold headlines and strong messages that catch the eye. Boring writers need not apply…
· Draft eye catching press releases with bold headlines and a compelling narrative to promote the work we do across the charity. You’ll also place the press releases with national journalists leading to high profile coverage.
· Support the authoring of articles, op-eds and blog posts by members of the Executive Leadership Team.
· Be responsible for media monitoring, measuring our media hits, and reporting on coverage and interesting themes for the Executive Leadership.
Your mission is to massively increase our online, in print and social media presence to make us the highest profile parent charity in the UK. We don’t need you to be an education expert, we need someone to get us on the front page.
We have a huge amount of data on what parents think and we need you to get it seen. This is a great job for someone who wants to grab hold of a “comms” function and make it their own.
Parentkind is a UK wide charity, you will be expected to support our work in other parts of the UK where necessary.
For 'Person Specification' please see the job description
UK-based applications only will be considered.
Registered Charity 
21 - 50
Thank you!
We have an exciting opportunity within our Communications Team on a part time basis for a Media and Communications Officer. This post is for a one-year fixed term contract.
The Down’s Syndrome Association is the only organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland focusing solely on all aspects of living successfully with Down’s syndrome. The Down’s Syndrome Association aims to create the conditions that all people with Down’s syndrome need to live full and rewarding lives.
The successful candidate will cover the whole spectrum of duties in relation to media and communication areas and needs to be able to think strategically and work operationally. You will lead the development of our media strategy, build and maintain a strong media contracts database and nurture relations both online and across other offline platforms. Your work will amplify the voices of people who have Down’s syndrome and help shape public understanding through inclusive and impactful storytelling.
We are looking for candidates with at least three years proven experience in either media relations, journalism or communications. An understanding of the key ingredients of success in developing relationships with local and national media engagement, as well as managing performance in line with budgets are also essential.
A valid UK driver’s licence is essential, as well as a willingness to be flexible about hours and location of work as there may be some occasional travel in UK with overnight stays as required. The post-holder will also be DBS checked.
The successful candidate will report directly to the Head of Policy and Strategic Communication. (The full-time equivalent salary for this role is £30,000 pa)
Informal inquiries are welcome and should be made to the Head of Policy and Strategic Communication, Sharon Smith at the Down's Syndrome Association or email her directly.
To download the full job description, visit the Down’or ss Syndrome Association website or see attached.
Please apply via Charity Jobs directly or submit a CV and covering letter to Sharon Smith. If you need any help with this or have any questions, please contact Sharon directly.
Closing date: Friday, 8th August 2025
Interview date: w/c Monday, 18th August 2025
Candidates can apply either via Charity Job or directly to Sharon Smith at the Down's Syndrome Association
Thank you!
Harris Hill are delighted to be working with a fantastic charity to recruit for the Head of Individual Giving in order to lead on the development and delivery of a forward thinking Individual Giving strategy that drives donor acquisition, retention and income growth.
You will manage and grow a diverse range of fundraising products across Regular and Personal Donations, Payroll Giving, Legacies, In Memory, and Mid Value Donors. With the support of experienced colleagues in Events, Partnerships and MarComms, you will build a seamless and supporter focused experience that boosts engagement across all touchpoints.
you’ll be responsible for growing awareness and diversifying income through well planned, evidence based fundraising and strategic communication. You’ll lead campaigns, manage digital and offline channels, coordinate fundraising events, and report clearly on performance and progress.
You’ll work closely with the CEO and senior leadership, shaping messaging that inspires donors and stakeholders, while also managing volunteers and apprentices to support campaign delivery. The role is varied, rewarding, and deeply rooted in creating a more inclusive society.
As a Head of Individual Giving you will:
- Lead the design and execution of an integrated Individual Giving strategy
- Develop engaging supporter journeys using automation and personalisation tools
- Test and scale new giving products to reach wider and more diverse audiences
- Use data and insight to guide decision making and evaluate success
- Work cross functionally to align fundraising and communications for a cohesive supporter experience
- Manage the delivery of donor appeals and campaigns from concept to execution
About You:
You’re an experienced Individual Giving specialist with a strong track record of delivering income growth across multiple channels. You understand the value of data, automation and personalisation, and know how to turn supporter insight into action.
You’re creative, proactive, and results driven, with excellent communication and relationship building skills. You bring energy, innovation, and a genuine passion for building meaningful supporter relationships that last.
To be successful, you must have experience:
- Significant experience in Individual Giving, Legacy or Personal Giving, including digital
- Strong understanding of donor journeys, segmentation, and CRM systems
- Proven ability to develop and deliver integrated fundraising campaigns
- Experience managing budgets, agencies, and campaign performance
- Exceptional communication and influencing skills
Salary: £50,000 - £55,000 DOE
Location: Remote (occasional travel to regional Hubs in the North-East, Manchester, and Norfolk)
Contract: Permanent, Full-time (37.5 hours/week)
Closing date: 28th August at 9am
Interview: w/c 1st September
Recruitment process: Cv and Supporting Statement to
If this sounds like you, then please do get in touch ASAP!
Unfortunately, due to resource capacity, we will only contact candidates that are shortlisted for interview. Therefore if you do not hear from us within 2 weeks of the closing date please note your application has been unsuccessful.
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.
