Senior prospect researcher jobs in exeter, devon

Sands exists to save babies’ lives and ensure that anyone affected by pregnancy loss or baby death receives the support and care they need. 

We are recruiting a Commercial Business Development Lead to drive growth of Sands’ partnerships programme. This is a new and exciting role requiring an ambitious and entrepreneurial individual, who will focus on securing commercial and strategic partnerships which maximise Sands’ exclusive, new and emerging opportunities.  This includes our award-winning Sands United Football Club, the globally-recognised Baby Loss Awareness Week, our leadership in Saving Babies’ Lives research and flagship UK-wide events such as Ribbon Run, Starlight Walk and others. 

The postholder will be responsible for securing sector-leading, inspiring and memorable partnerships, including but not limited to multi-year collaborations, sponsorship and cause-related marketing. Demonstrable experience in working across sporting and/or event sponsorship is essential as well as in commercially-led partnerships including retail.  The ability to collaborate strategically with those committed to social change is also required.

You will ensure there is an integrated approach across Sands’ functions including other areas of fundraising, engagement, communications and events. This role therefore has a high level of responsibility for the management of internal and external senior relationships.

With a high level of business acumen to identify a robust pipeline, the postholder will seek out partners that align with Sands’ vision, that will place us on the map as the go-to baby charity, thus increasing Sands’ public profile via household brands and high-profile partnership activities.

The post-holder will be able to diversify prospects across different sectors and industries including mental health and wellbeing, health and beauty, groceries, high street retailers, home and leisure, transport, jewellery and commemoration. 

You will be skilled at creating bespoke and engaging proposals that captures the interest, trust and needs of key decision-makers.  An excellent communicator and influencer, you will also be a confident presenter and networker, with the ability to represent Sands externally and produce high-quality prospect research, reports and creative pitch material. 

The ideal candidate will have demonstrable experience in cultivating high-level relationships with corporate partners and individuals across a range of engagement mechanisms – particularly working from home and online. 

OUTLINE OF THE ROLE

Work with the Trustees to devise and lead new fundraising initiatives that fulfil the objectives of the Trust's Fundraising Strategy and annual income budget, with particular focus on regular giving across all alumni, gifts from high-net-worth individuals, and legacies. This will involve:

• Developing and delivering improved communications to build a stronger connected donor network.

• Locating, engaging and retaining alumni to support and promote the Trust, focused on ensuring their long-term impact on the Trust and its beneficiaries.

• Work with the Trustees/Trust Fundraising Committee to devise and implement new fundraising initiatives.

• Work with the Trustees/Trust Fundraising Committee to identify and engage new volunteers to support the Trust's activities.

KEY TASKS

Work with the Trustees and Fundraising Committee to devise and implement the following:

• Improve communications

The Trust has a strong, growing, and engaged network of loyal alumni who already support the Trust's beneficiaries through fundraising and volunteering. However, the Trust's communications need to be improved in order to increase the numbers of donors who provide sustained financial support and inspire all donors to raise their level of donations. Continually find opportunities to engage new donors and ensure clear consistent messaging.

• Manage and maintain donor data

The Trust needs to maintain a full and accurate database of all donors and fundraising activities to support long-term tracking and inform future fundraising. This also requires networking among alumni and being vigilant to changes in alumni data.

• Research and approach alumni whose connection with the Trust has lapsed

Continue to grow the active network through researching and motivating dormant and lapsed alumni to reconnect with the Trust.

• Research untapped prospects

Research the database with a view to identifying dormant and untapped opportunities, especially regarding

high-net-worth individuals and legacies. Ensure fundraising approaches are well-targeted and informed in order to maximise the chances of success. This will expand to include non-alumni sources, including institutional sources such as foundations and other trusts.

• Ensure long-term donor connection

Communicate with all donors to demonstrate the impact they can make by showcasing the current and long-term outcome of programs. Deliver a diverse selection of communications to engage different audiences, with a clear plan for all members of the network. Ensure donors are connected to the Trust, value the Trust's activities and actively help fund opportunities.

• Reporting to the Trustees

Create an annual donor impact report to the Trustees, and other stakeholders such as alumni, that delineates donor statistics, reviews communications and events that have taken place during the past year and identifies potential prospects and events for developing in the coming year. Also provide a lower-level oral report of fundraising activities and communications to the Trustees at their quarterly meetings.

• Deliver income growth target

Acquire enough new donations to meet agreed annual income growth targets set by the Trustees.

You will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by your changing role within the charity and its overall objectives. For instance, organizing fund-raising specific events in different regions. This position could evolve into a full-time commitment with a support team, but at the present time, support to this role will be provided through the existing network of volunteers.

Fundraising Manager 

Salary: starting from £36,853 to £39,669 depending on experience (0.8 FTE considered)

Permanent, home-based (with regular travel). 

About Voice 21

Speaking and listening skills underpin our success in school, work and throughout our lives. Developing young people’s oracy skills equips them with the tools needed to navigate education systems, pursue career ambitions and achieve their potential. Like reading, writing and maths, oracy is an essential, foundational building block that prepares young people to thrive in society.

Despite extensive evidence that high quality oracy education increases students’ confidence, wellbeing, engagement, progress and attainment, oracy is not an essential, everyday feature of every child’s school experience. Unlike literacy and numeracy, it is not commonly understood and provision across the system is not universal or consistent. This disadvantages children from low income backgrounds, who are significantly more likely than their better-off peers to start school without vital oracy skills.

Voice 21 is the national oracy education charity. We exist to enable economically disadvantaged pupils in the UK to develop the necessary oracy skills to thrive in education and beyond. We do this primarily by building the capacity and motivation of teachers and schools to provide high quality oracy education for every child, every day. Great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for their pupils. We train thousands of teachers each year and support their schools to sustainably embed our evidenced approach. We focus where we can make the most difference, in schools with the highest numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals.

Since Voice 21 was established by educators in 2015, we have grown rapidly to become the UK’s trusted oracy education experts, upskilling teachers, promoting excellence in schools, setting the standard and spearheading national change. Our mission is to secure every child’s entitlement to a high quality oracy education. To achieve this, alongside delivery of our flagship Oracy Schools programme, we share our learning widely, add to the compelling evidence base for oracy, work to influence public awareness and help shape education policy. 

About this opportunity

Help us make oracy education an everyday entitlement for every child, in every school, by growing and diversifying Voice 21’s voluntary funding. 

As Voice 21 embarks on its ambitious next five-year strategy, we are looking to strengthen our team with a talented and ambitious Fundraising Manager. Your role will support the Head of Fundraising, CEO and wider team to develop new sources of high value support for Voice 21, working flexibly across trusts and foundations, corporate and philanthropic fundraising.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a knack for identifying funding opportunities and discovering new prospects. With excellent research, communication and relationship-building skills, you’ll work collaboratively with senior colleagues to strengthen our pipeline and drive long term growth in voluntary income. You’ll also contribute your ideas and initiative to develop and deliver compelling engagement opportunities for current and potential supporters, and lead on reporting impact to funders. Ultimately the post-holder is expected to grow in this role, to manage their own portfolio of high value donors. 

You’ll be joining the fundraising team at an exciting time as we look to build out the function in the coming years. The Head of Fundraising has been in post just over a year, and has put solid foundations in place to support long term growth. With a healthy pipeline already developed for the current and next financial year, you’ll have plenty of lead time to find your feet, with a realistic (shared) fundraising target of securing c.£500K of new voluntary income in 2027. There is significant untapped potential in fundraising for Voice 21. This is a great opportunity for an adaptable, proactive fundraiser to make their mark, gaining experience and developing expertise across high value streams. 

Key responsibilities

• Research and develop a qualified pipeline of trust/foundation and corporate prospects to ensure we achieve voluntary income targets in 2027/28 and beyond. 

• Draft winning funding bids and support the Head of Fundraising and/or CEO to develop compelling proposals and/or pitches. 

• Support and manage the CEO to lead relationships with funders and prospects.

• Lead on managing the funder reporting cycle and ensuring we deliver on our funding agreements, producing timely and inspiring impact reports.

• Drive awareness and understanding of fundraising internally by making connections with colleagues across the organisation and working collaboratively to support achieving fundraising goals. 

• Maintain the quality of data in the fundraising team CRM (Salesforce), managing contacts and pipelines through the database and producing accessible reports on fundraising performance and forecasts. 

Essential knowledge and skills

• Previous high value fundraising experience (trusts and foundations, corporates or philanthropy), with a track record of successfully securing significant donations and achieving income targets.

• Demonstrated ability to maintain a varied workload, deliver to deadlines, and successfully manage multiple work streams and projects.

• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, with the confidence and evidenced ability to be able to nurture and maintain successful relationships with high value external stakeholders and senior colleagues. 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with an ability to translate complex projects and/or ideas into accessible and persuasive narratives that inspire and motivate. 

• The instincts and initiative to spot and seize fundraising opportunities; with the resilience, flexibility and tenacity to guide long term fundraising activities through to successful outcomes. 

• Passionate about reducing educational inequalities and transforming learning and life chances for young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Where you’ll work: All Voice 21 staff work remotely and this is a home-based role. Regular travel to our central London office (by Victoria station) is expected for meetings. Regular travel to visit our projects in schools and/or to meet funders will also be expected. Occasional overnight stays may be required too. Voice 21 pays travel and accommodation expenses. The package of salary and expenses will be considered when agreeing a starting salary with the successful candidate. 

Contract: Permanent, subject to successful probation review after three months.

Why work for Voice 21?

Tackle a vital challenge, with great people. Voice 21 exists to transform childrens’ learning and life chances through talk and we are aiming to be working with 2,000 schools a year by 2025. To reach this goal we recruit great people and give them real responsibility, training and support. 

Output focused culture, with flexible working opportunities. We have an agile and flexible approach, our team can work when and wherever works best to deliver the requirements of their role. For staff working at home, we support them to create a workspace and provide technology that enables them to work effectively. 

Real development opportunities. We believe in supporting people to develop the skills they need to be excellent – whether this means funding external training, finding a mentor to support them or giving them the time to learn from others in the organisations through our regular CPD sessions. We also offer paid study leave for team members taking part in formal studies outside of work. 

Great benefits. 36 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays and Christmas closure period). Holiday entitlement increases linked to length of service, 5% employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket, cycle and technology loans, employee assistance scheme. 

Remuneration. Our pay is a band and spine point approach where there is up to 7 years progression available (depending on starting point) 

Application details 

To apply:  Application is by CV and cover letter (which should be maximum two sides of A4). Applicants are advised to carefully consider the job description before applying, tailoring your CV and cover letter to demonstrate clearly how you match the specification for this role. Applicants who do not address how they match the essential knowledge and skills listed above, are unlikely to progress to interview. 

Closing date:  9am Monday 23rd June

Interview dates:  

• 1st round informal interviews will be virtual (via Zoom), scheduled on either Tues 1st or Weds 2nd July.  Questions will be shared in advance so candidates can prepare their answers. 

• 2nd round panel interview, also virtual, will be scheduled on either Tues 8th or Weds 9th July. Candidates invited to the 2nd round may be asked to prepare a short presentation as part of the interview – a brief for which will be shared in advance, after the 1st round.

Questions: Please contact Voice 21’s Head of Fundraising, Deborah Benson, if you would like to discuss this opportunity before applying

Valuing every voice

Voice 21 believes that every voice should be heard and valued. We are committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and do not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. 

Voice 21 is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join us. By offering a salary range, we demonstrate our commitment to considering a wide range of applicants who may bring different perspectives and levels of experience.

Fundraising Manager

Salary: Manager Level 1 – £38,316

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: Full Time (typically 09:30-17:30, with flexibility)

Location: Elephant & Castle, London / remote

Responsible to: Director of Fundraising, Marketing, and Communications

Application Deadline: 5pm 27 June

Interview Dates:  1st round interviews: 8 & 9 July

Our Commitment to Equity

We believe everyone has potential. We are committed to increasing equity among business owners, and we want to do the same for our team. Research shows that some underrepresented groups tend to only apply for roles if they meet every single requirement. At Hatch we are interested in your future potential just as much as your past experience. So if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t tick every box on the job description, we’d love it if you went ahead and applied anyway.

We want to ensure that our team represents a wide cross-section of society, and we know that means we have to make an effort to understand and accommodate different people’s needs. If you would require any reasonable adjustments to be made to support you to apply, interview or join the Hatch team please contact us.

Role Purpose

Hatch is on a mission to build a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem, one where underrepresented founders have the resources, support, and funding to thrive. We are looking for a relationship-driven Fundraising Manager to secure, steward, and grow funding partnerships across trusts and foundations, corporates, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI).

You will play a key role in unlocking income growth through strong relationship management, compelling bid and proposal writing, and strategic prospect research. While managing your own portfolio of funders, you will also support senior fundraisers to progress high-value partnerships, developing your skills and confidence as you grow your own partnerships.

At Hatch, we are not limited by opportunities but by capacity. Demand for our programmes is greater than ever, from beneficiaries as well as from funders.  Over the past four years, we have made significant strides in fundraising, growing our income from £500k per year in 2019 to over £2m in 2024. We have built a strong pipeline, developed innovative funding models, and positioned ourselves as leaders in enterprise support for underrepresented founders, earning recognition as  finalists for the Third Sector Fundraising Team of the Year in 2022.

Your role will focus on:

• Developing and managing partnerships across corporate, trust and foundation, and individual giving audiences.

• Securing new funding opportunities and supporting income growth, working closely with the fundraising and marcoms team.

• Leading engagement activities including funder and prospecting events and  funder experiences.

• Ensuring strong reporting and impact measurement for our funders.

• Drafting compelling applications that forge an emotional connection and securing financial support to transform the lives of our beneficiaries.

• Representing Hatch externally to deepen relationships with funding and strategic partners, securing long-term commitments and increasing brand awareness.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work with experienced fundraisers, build game-changing partnerships, and contribute to a highly impactful team. If you thrive in an environment that combines relationship management, strategic fundraising, and social impact, we’d love to hear from you.

Key responsibilities

• Manage partnerships - Steward a portfolio of trusts, corporates, and individual donors, ensuring consistent communication, timely reporting,  and strong funder retention.

• Lead on bid and application writing - Write tailored and compelling funding applications, proposals, and case materials for grant-giving bodies, corporates, and HNWIs.

• Support senior fundraisers across the team - Assist colleagues working on major partnerships by providing background research, preparing proposals and meeting materials, and helping to coordinate follow-up actions.

• Provide regular updates and comms to funders - Ensure all funders receive timely, engaging updates on programme delivery, impact and outcomes, maintaining trust and strengthening long-term relationships.

• Identify and qualify new prospects - Proactively research and assess new funding opportunities. Bring warm leads into the pipeline and contribute insight to support strategic alignment.

• Respond to inbound funding enquiries - Manage and convert lower-level inbound opportunities, ensuring prompt and appropriate responses that align with Hatch’s offer and impact areas.

• Maintain accurate CRM records and support reporting - Keep the fundraising pipeline up to date in Salesforce and Monday. Track deadlines, ensure data accuracy, and support internal reporting and team coordination.

• Coordinate cross-team collaboration - Work with Programmes and Marcoms teams to gather inputs for applications and reports, prepare for funder meetings, and ensure aligned messaging.

• Use data and storytelling to showcase impact - Contribute to the development of reports, updates, and communications that clearly demonstrate Hatch’s value and the impact of our work with funders.

Person specification

We are looking for a relationship-driven fundraiser who can grow and manage a funder portfolio, write compelling funding bids, deliver employee engagement and volunteering opportunities, and support wider team success. You’ll need to be confident working across income streams and motivated by social impact.

Essential skills and experience:

• Excellent relationship management skills, with experience stewarding funders or clients

• Strong bid and proposal writing skills, with the ability to produce clear, compelling content

• Proven ability to research, assess, and qualify new prospects

• Ability to provide timely, well-crafted funder communications and updates

• Experience in creating and delivering funder volunteering and engagement activities.

• Highly organised and comfortable managing multiple projects and deadlines

• Strong attention to detail, particularly in maintaining records and reporting

• Confident communicator with strong written and verbal skills

• A collaborative approach and willingness to work cross-functionally

• Proactive, self-motivated, and solutions-oriented

Desirable skills and experience:

• A background that reflects the lived experiences of underrepresented communities Hatch exists to support, including but not limited to those marginalised by race, gender, disability, or socio-economic background

• Experience working in fundraising across multiple income streams

• Familiarity with funder reporting requirements and impact measurement

• Experience with high-net-worth individual giving or corporate partnerships

• Understanding of Hatch’s mission and commitment to equity

• Experience using CRM systems and project management tools (e.g. Salesforce, Monday)

This role offers an exciting opportunity to shape and grow strategic partnerships, contribute to a dynamic team, and make a real difference in creating a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem. If you thrive on building relationships, securing funding, and driving impact through emotionally compelling storytelling, we’d love to hear from you.

Benefits

We care about our people and giving them the things they need to succeed, and we are passionate about Hatch being a great place to work.

We are a hybrid working organisation, and our head office in Elephant and Castle is available for anyone to work from as much or as little as they’d like. Although we offer the flexibility to work from home,  there are times when it is useful for us to get together in person for collaboration,  meetings and team days.

Our benefits include:

• Flexible working - work from home or in the office and at the times that work best for you 

• 38 fully flexible holiday days (including the 8 UK bank holidays) in 2025

• Paid time off for dedicated learning and development opportunities

• Access to Hatch programmes and events free of charge

• L&D Learning Platform - Access Learning

• Employee Assistance Programme - Health Assured

• Team Days/get togethers

• Four days per year paid time off to volunteer

• Four Wellbeing days per year

• Employee pension scheme - Salary Sacrifice Scheme 

• Enhanced parental leave

• Cycle to Work Scheme

• Eye care scheme

• Enhanced sick pay leave

• Interest free loans to purchase season tickets for travel to work

To Apply

In order to apply for this role, we ask all candidates to provide a CV, a cover letter and a response to the following bullet points:

• What excites you about Hatch as an organisation and about this role in particular?

• Give an example of an organisation we should approach for a mutually beneficial partnership and explain why.

• What would you do in this role that would really make an impact?

Please note we are only able to accept applications from candidates who have the right to work in the UK.  In addition, we only accept applications via the portal which is accessible on our website. 

If you have any questions or need any help with your application, please drop us a line (recruiters will be politely turned away).

If you apply, we will process your personal data for recruitment purposes only and in accordance with our Data Privacy Policy.