Secretary jobs in carlisle, cumbria

Job Title: Corporate Partnerships Executive

Location: Home based (Home working with regular meetings in London)

Salary: £30,000 to £40,000 

Hours: Full Time, permanent 

Reports to: Head of Corporate Partnerships

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). 

If you believe, like we do, that when parents matter, children succeed, we’d love to hear from you.

Main purpose and scope of this role:

With guidance from the Head of Corporate Partnerships, you will identify, secure, and manage new corporate partnerships to fund Parentkind's mission.

You will build and maintain a new business pipeline to support a sustainable corporate partnerships income stream, targeting a wide range of partnerships (including COTY, corporate grants, commercial and strategic relationships) with regional and national businesses with the capacity to support at a 5,6, and 7-figure level.

You will carry out prospect cultivation, develop tailored proosals and pitches, and manage corporate partner relationships to secure excellent supporter experiences.

By collaborating with key internal stakeholders and securing approirate partnership opportunities, you will enhance support for parents, schools, children and young people.

Duties and key responsibilities 

New Business

• Identify and research prospective corporate partners who align with Parentkind’s mission; complete due diligence and compile reports and partner profiles.
• Planning: proactively plan and drive tactical and timely approaches to potential partners.
• Proposal development: produce high‑quality proposals, applications and pitches to secure financial contributions from corporate partners.
• Lead management: respond promptly to new‑business leads, delivering excellent relationship management from initial contact to formal partnership.
• Resource development: contribute to the development and maintenance of key resources for fundraising activities.
• Community Team contribution: contribute to the Community Team’s fundraising initiatives for PTA members.

Partnership Management

• Account management: oversee and manage relationships with selected corporate partners in Parentkind’s portfolio.
• Partnership planning: create and deliver comprehensive, bespoke plans for each partnership, considering all financial and non‑financial opportunities to generate support and mutual value.
• Regular communications: hold regular meetings with partners to ensure partnership objectives are on track; propose compelling partnership content and campaigns.
• Impact reporting: create compelling reports for partners that demonstrate the impact of their contributions and support renewals.
• Coordination of contributions: coordinate gift‑in‑kind/pro‑bono contributions from partners in collaboration with internal teams.

Relationship Management

• Relationship building: cultivate relationships with prospects, developing tailored engagement strategies and keeping key contacts informed of our work.
• Partnership agreements: negotiate clear, mutually understood and appropriate contracts with new corporate partners.
• Network utilisation: leverage organisational networks for introductions and referrals; collaborate with the Head of Corporate Partnerships on network mapping; identify links to target organisations and engage key stakeholders for introductions, referrals and nominations.
• Representation: represent Parentkind at events and networking opportunities.
• Internal collaboration: foster positive relationships across the organisation, ensuring fundraising activities align with the charity’s needs and priorities.

Managing systems

• CRM management: maintain accurate and up‑to‑date records on Parentkind’s CRM (Salesforce), tracking all corporate partnerships activity.
• Monitoring and reporting: contribute to regular monitoring and reporting on corporate partnerships.
• Process management: manage internal processes related to corporate partnerships, including use of third‑party platforms.
• Record keeping: maintain and communicate detailed records of corporate partnerships activities to inform future planning and strategy.
• Finance processes: ensure all corporate partnerships income is accurately coded, allocated and reconciled in line with agreed finance processes.
• Process improvement: contribute to the development of effective processes and systems for managing corporate fundraising activities.

General responsibilities

• Ensure Data Protection procedures are followed at all times.
• Stay informed on relevant issues, educational policy and legislation affecting key audiences.
• Be flexible within the remit of the post and undertake other duties as reasonably requested by senior leadership.
• Contribute to Fundraising Department planning, reporting and cross‑team projects.
• Be self‑servicing and participate in Parentkind’s performance, development and training programmes.
• Abide by organisational policies, codes of conduct and practices.
• Be responsible for the health, safety and welfare of self, colleagues and visitors.

This job description may be amended from time to time and does not form part of the employment contract.

For person specifcation see the attached JD.