For nearly 20 years, Lively Minds has been proving that parents are the sleeping giants of early childhood development. With strong evidence and a national scale proof point in Ghana, we have shown that parent powered approaches delivered through government systems can transform children's lives at scale.
We are now at a pivotal moment. We have the evidence, the model and the momentum, and we need the funding, profile and influence to match our ambition. This is a rare opportunity to lead income generation and external voice for an award winning NGO entering an exciting new phase of growth. You will lead our fundraising strategy and direct engagement with Funders ensuring that we maximise all funding opportunities as we continue our strategic evolution. You will also shape a compelling external narrative that will help position Lively Minds as the definitive partner for governments strengthening their early childhood development systems.
If you are an exceptional fundraiser and communicator who is equally comfortable in a strategic conversation and writing a winning proposal, we would love to hear from you.
Read the full advert and apply below. Closing date: 3rd September 2026.
About Lively Minds
Lively Minds is an award-winning NGO with nearly 20 years of experience designing, testing and scaling early childhood development (ECD) solutions across the Global South. Our core idea is simple but radical: parents are the sleeping giants of ECD. Governments and donors have long overlooked parents, assuming that poverty and low literacy make them unable or unwilling to support their childrenʼs development. We have spent two decades proving otherwise. With RCT-backed evidence and a national-scale proof point in Ghana, we have demonstrated that parent-powered approaches, delivered through government systems, can achieve meaningful child development outcomes at scale.
Our 2026–2028 strategy marks a pivotal shift. Having demonstrated what is possible, we are now helping pioneer an innovative model of country-led sustainable scale. Rather than delivering programmes ourselves, we provide lean, time-limited technical advisory support to governments to help them integrate parent-powered ECD into their own systems, budgets and institutions. We are currently working with the governments of Ghana, Uganda, Oromia state (Ethiopia) and The Gambia in 2026, growing to six or more country engagements by 2028. Our ambition is to catalyse a sector-wide shift, positioning Lively Minds as the definitive partner for governments seeking to strengthen their ECD systems.
Our scale strategy rests on three interdependent pillars: fixed-term Technical Advisory partnerships with governments; the development of a modular radio model simple and affordable enough for governments to adopt and fund independently; and an advocacy and sector influence agenda designed to make parent-powered ECD the norm globally.
Purpose of the Role
Lively Minds is at a critical inflection point. We have the evidence, the model and the momentum. We now need the funding, profile and sector influence to match our ambition. The Director of Fundraising and Communications is a priority hire, created to provide the dedicated, experienced leadership that this moment demands.
The Director will own and drive Lively Mindsʼ income generation, building new funder relationships, managing and deepening existing ones, and ensuring the organisation has the pipeline, discipline and quality of engagement to meet and exceed its fundraising targets. Working in close partnership with the Founding CEO, who retains ownership of a small number of long-standing strategic relationships, the Director will take primary responsibility for securing the funding that makes the 2026–2028 strategy deliverable, and that opens the door to greater scale beyond it. We need to raise approximately £3.4m over the next 3 years to deliver our strategy. But our ambition is to exceed that target so we can support additional governments.
Alongside fundraising, the Director will provide strategic leadership to Lively Mindsʼ communications and advocacy work, ensuring that the organisationʼs external voice is compelling and that we are building credibility in the spaces where funding decisions are made. The Director will lead and provide strategic coherence to a small but outward-facing team, including Head of Partnerships and Advocacy Lead who are active on the international stage. Lively Minds is committed to thought-leadership and active external engagement, but equally committed to ensuring that communications resource is deployed with discipline and rigour. The Director will set a clear strategic filter for where the organisation shows up, what it publishes and who it engages: prioritising focus and quality over volume, and always asking whether external activity is building the relationships and reputation that ultimately drive income and/or systems change.
Lively Minds is a dispersed, remote organisation. The Directorʼs team the Advocacy Lead, Development Manager and Communications Officer - are internationally distributed. The ability to lead, develop and maintain high standards across a dispersed team is essential. The role requires regular travel to international conferences and events.
Key Responsibilities
Fundraising Strategy & Income Generation
- Own and deliver the multi-year fundraising strategy with clear priorities, targets, income streams and a disciplined pipeline to support the 2026–2028 strategy and future scale
- Steward existing funder relationships, turning strong partnerships into long-term supporters, advocates and connectors to new funding opportunities.
- Lead the shift towards Big Bet and catalytic funding, personally cultivating and negotiating high-value, multi-year partnerships and positioning Lively Minds for system-level scale
- Maintain a high standard of fundraising quality, pipeline management and forecasting, while coaching the team to produce compelling, sophisticated fundraising materials
- Build and continuously strengthen a diverse funding pipeline, identifying emerging opportunities, new funding markets and strategic partnerships that reduce concentration risk and support long-term financial sustainability
Communications, Brand & Advocacy
- Own and deliver Lively Mindsʼ communications and marketing strategy, balancing visibility and sector influence with the need to strengthen fundraising and systems-change objectives
- Partner closely with the CEO to shape and steward a coherent external narrative, brand and messaging framework across all audiences and channels
- Oversee high-quality core communications and fundraising materials, including cases for support, pitch decks, website content, proposals and donor reports
- Provide strategic communications expertise to Advocacy, Partnerships and MEL, ensuring evidence and learning are translated into compelling narratives and consistent external messaging
- Lead efforts to strengthen Lively Mindsʼ profile and thought leadership in the ECD sector, identifying opportunities for strategic media, events, publications and external platforms that reinforce its positioning and influence
Organizational Leadership&TeamDevelopment
- Contribute actively to SMT and organisational strategy, bringing funder intelligence, external perspective and communications expertise to strategic decision-making.
- Work closely with Finance and MEL to align fundraising targets, forecasting, budgets and evidence, ensuring proposals are credible, accurately costed and evidence-led
- Act as the organisationʼs communications subject matter expert, providing guidance and challenge to ensure high-quality, consistent external communications
- Lead and develop the Advocacy Lead, Development Manager and Communications Officer, fostering a team culture of quality, accountability, strategic clarity and continuous improvement
- Build strong cross-organisational collaboration, ensuring teams understand how fundraising, communications, advocacy and evidence work together to advance Lively Mindsʼ strategic priorities
Person Specification
Essential Experience & Skills
- 10+ years of significant senior-level fundraising experience within international development, education, philanthropy or a comparable sector
- Proven track record of securing major grants from foundations, institutional donors and high-net-worth individuals, alongside demonstrated experience securing or meaningfully progressing large-scale, catalytic funding from Big Bet philanthropy programmes such as the Audacious Project, Skoll Foundation or comparable funders. A strong understanding of what these funders look for and how to position an organisation compellingly within their processes is essential
- Exceptional fundraising writing skills, with the ability to personally develop compelling cases for support, funding proposals, award applications and pitch decks tailored to sophisticated impact funders. This is a hands-on role requiring both strong writing capability and the ability to coach others to consistently produce high-quality fundraising content
- Experienced in developing and owning a marketing and communications strategy, with a strong understanding of how to balance organisational visibility, thought leadership and sector influence with coherence, strategic focus and income generation
- Demonstrated ability to work closely with a Founding CEO to shape and steward the organisationʼs external narrative and brand. Comfortable working in a founder-led environment, providing expertise and constructive challenge while ensuring the organisation maintains a clear, consistent and coherent external voice
Desirable Experience
- Experienced fundraising for a technical advisory, systems change or government-facing organisation
- Knowledge of the ECD, education or early childhood sector and its funding landscape
- Familiarity with the Big Bang Philanthropy network or equivalent impact-focused funder communities
- Experience working alongside advocacy and partnerships teams, providing communications expertise and strategic coherence to their external activity
- Familiarity with the funding landscape for organisations operating in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Experience working remotely across multiple countries and effectively collaborating with cross-cultural teams
Behaviours & Ways of Working
- A doer, equally comfortable in strategic conversations and writing a funding proposal
- Sets a high bar for quality and clarity in all external communications and holds it consistently
- Builds a strong, trust-based partnership with the Founding CEO, provides honest challenge and operates effectively within a founder-led dynamic without losing their own voice or judgement
- Collaborative and cross-organisational. Invests in strong relationships with programme, MEL and finance colleagues, understanding that the best fundraising is grounded in organisational reality
- Calm and focused under pressure - able to manage competing priorities and maintain quality when the stakes are high
What We Offer
- Competitive salary commensurate with experience
- 25 days annual leave
- Health insurance
- Pension contribution
- Generous learning and development budget
- Flexible, remote working
Application Instruction
Interested candidates are encouraged to read the Job Description carefully before applying to ensure they understand the role and meet the required criteria.
To apply, please complete the pre-screening questions and submit your updated CV
PLEASE NOTE - Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Timeline
Closing Date: 3rd September 2026
Our Stance
Lively Minds operates a strict Safeguarding Policy and is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of children and vulnerable people. As part of our recruitment process, the suitability of successful candidates will be verified through appropriate background checks including professional references and police checks.
Lively Minds is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and to providing equal opportunities throughout our recruitment process. We want this commitment to be reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, experiences and perspectives.
We are committed to ensuring that recruitment decisions are based on merit, skills, experience and suitability for the role, and that all candidates are treated fairly and with respect throughout the recruitment process.
Registered Charity 
21 - 50
Thank you!
We are looking for an Operations Executive Assistant to join our Operations Team. This is a varied role at the heart of the organisation, combining operational coordination and executive support. Working across every part of Purposeful Ventures, you will help ensure colleagues have the systems, processes and support they need to do their best work.
Working closely with the Director of Finance and Operations, you will coordinate operational priorities, anticipate issues before they arise, and ensure the organisation runs smoothly, enabling senior leaders to remain focused on strategic work.
No two days will be the same. You might be coordinating a new starter's first day, overseeing office operations, preparing papers for senior meetings, implementing a new operational process, coordinating organisational compliance activities, supporting grant administration, or resolving an operational issue before it becomes a problem.
This is a role for someone who enjoys making things work well. You will be trusted to take ownership, build strong relationships across the organisation and continuously improve how we operate. You'll need to be equally comfortable supporting senior leaders, coordinating projects, solving practical problems and paying close attention to detail.
This role sits at the centre of Purposeful Ventures. You will work with colleagues across the organisation, gaining a broad understanding of how we operate while taking ownership of the systems, processes and coordination that help enhance how the organisation works. If you are someone who enjoys understanding how organisations work and finding practical ways to make them work even better, you will have plenty of opportunities to make a difference.
Job Description
Purpose
The Operations Executive Assistant plays a central role in the efficient running of Purposeful Ventures by providing operational management, executive support and administration across the organisation.
The role is varied and post holders are expected to have, and will be supported to continue to develop, expertise across a broad range of operational activities.
Responsibilities and duties
Executive support
Working closely with the Director of Finance and Operations and Management Team:
- Monitoring operational priorities and proactively following up actions on behalf of the Director of Finance and Operations.
- Preparing briefing notes, reports and background information to support decision-making.
- Coordinating cross-organisational activity on behalf of the Directors, ensuring actions are progressed and deadlines met.
- Providing proactive executive and administrative support to members of the Management Team.
- Managing diaries, scheduling meetings and coordinating logistics where required.
- Providing holiday and absence cover for the Executive Assistant to the CEO, ensuring continuity of support.
- Preparing agendas, coordinating papers and tracking actions from meetings.
- Organising meetings, workshops and events.
- Anticipating administrative requirements and proactively resolving issues to enable senior leaders to focus on strategic priorities.
- Coordinating operational issues across the organisation, using judgement to resolve matters independently and escalating where appropriate.
- Handling confidential information with professionalism and discretion.
Operations and Business Administration
- Working closely with colleagues across operations, communications, philanthropy, finance and project teams:
- Being a first point of contact for enquiries, correspondence and shared mailboxes, ensuring a consistently high level of customer service.
- Managing calendars, room bookings, registering and greeting visitors, organising meetings and organisation wide events.
- Ensuring the effective management of organisational documents, templates and operational systems.
- Maintaining CRM records and contributing to operational reporting.
- Coordinating document administration including agreements and approvals.
- Driving continuous improvement of organisational systems and processes, for example:
- Leading small operational improvement projects.
- Coordinating the implementation of new systems and operational processes.
- Support organisational change initiatives.
- Acting as first point of contact for our external IT provider (Penelope), managing internal IT operations
- Coordinating our operational compliance calendar, ensuring key activities are completed on time, including:
- Supporting the implementation and review of organisational policies and operational procedures.
- Coordinating annual policy reviews and maintain version control.
- Monitoring mandatory organisational compliance activities and escalating any risks.
- Maintaining relationships with operational suppliers; coordinating contract renewals; monitoring service delivery and escalating issues.
- Coordinating office health and safety arrangements, working closely with the building management company. Coordinating workplace risk assessments, maintaining accident records and coordinating fire marshal/first aid arrangements. Acting as Fire Marshal following appropriate training
People operations and onboarding
Working closely with the People Coordinator and colleagues to deliver an outstanding onboarding experience by:
- Carrying out Right to Work and DBS identity verification processes through our Due Diligence Checking platform, including video identity checks where required.
- Managing IT onboarding requests, including Penelope onboarding forms.
- Coordinating system access including EdCity passes and user set up.
- Preparing first-day arrangements including laptops and merchandise; welcoming new starters including building orientation, team introductions, and IT set up.
- Scheduling induction meetings, one-to-one introductions and team coffees.
- Setting colleagues up on the compliance learning system and assigning mandatory training. Monitoring new starter and refresher training to ensure completion and compliance.
- Maintaining organisation charts and onboarding documentation.
Office and Facilities
Ensuring that Purposeful Ventures provides a welcoming, productive and well-organised working environment by:
- Coordinating the day-to-day running of our fully serviced office at EdCity.
- Welcoming visitors and supporting colleagues in the office.
- Managing office supplies and equipment.
- Liaising with building management and external suppliers.
- Coordinating office IT equipment and ensuring new and existing colleagues have the equipment they need.
- Supporting the organisation of internal events and team activities.
Supporting Incubating Organisations and New Projects
Working with organisations that Purposeful Ventures is incubating by:
- Providing ad hoc administrative support to them and new projects.
- Assist with processes, communications, and administration.
- Support teams with coordination and project delivery activities.
The job description is subject to change and the postholder may be required to undertake tasks not specifically referred to above. Such duties, however, will fall within the scope of the job description.
Who we are looking for
We are looking for a highly organised, proactive and collaborative professional with experience providing executive and operational in a fast-paced environment. You will take ownership, build trusted relationships across the organisation, and be passionate about creating efficient systems and delivering an outstanding experience for colleagues and stakeholders.
You will bring an appreciation of the charity and social impact sector and a commitment to Purposeful Ventures' mission and values, recognising the importance of working for the good of the wider system.
Key requirements
The successful candidate will have:
- A strong understanding of office, operations and business administration, with an appreciation of how effective operational processes enable organisations to deliver meaningful outcomes and impact.
- Knowledge of executive support and the principles of providing proactive, high-quality support to senior leaders and management teams.
- An understanding of employee onboarding, colleague experience and the importance of creating a welcoming, well-organised and inclusive environment for new starters.
- Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 and confidence using and administering a range of digital systems, with the curiosity and agility to learn new technologies quickly.
- An understanding of organisational policies and procedures, and the importance of maintaining compliance, consistency and good governance within a charity.
- An understanding of the role of the Charity Commission and Companies House, and an appreciation of the governance and compliance responsibilities of charitable organisations.
- An understanding of information governance, confidentiality and UK data protection legislation (including GDPR), and the importance of handling sensitive information with integrity and professionalism.
- Right to work in the UK
Experience
The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience of:
- Providing proactive executive or senior administrative support to senior leaders or management teams, anticipating needs and enabling others to focus on strategic priorities.
- Coordinating complex diaries, meetings, events and logistics while balancing multiple competing priorities.
- Managing office operations or business administration within a busy, collaborative and fast-paced environment.
- Coordinating multiple operational priorities while exercising sound judgement and working with a high degree of autonomy.
- Delivering a positive onboarding experience through coordinating new starter administration, systems, induction activities and colleague support.
- Taking ownership of operational processes and continuously identifying opportunities to improve systems, simplify ways of working and enhance the experience of colleagues.
- Building positive and trusted relationships across teams and with external suppliers, partners and stakeholders.
- Working with confidential and sensitive information, consistently exercising sound judgement, discretion and high ethical standards.
- Working collaboratively across functions to achieve shared objectives and support organisational success.
Desirable:
- Experience within the charity, education or social impact sector.
- Experience supporting governance, Board or senior leadership meetings.
- Experience coordinating compliance processes such as Right to Work, DBS checks or mandatory training.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.