Trusts and foundations bid writer jobs

Do you have a passion for working in the heart of your local community and are driven by making a difference?  Then Citizens Advice Mid Mercia is the organisation for you.

Our free and independent advice helps people solve problems in a confidential and impartial manner. Whatever the problem, we won’t turn people away.  We make a difference. Our trusted brand and the quality of our research mean we make a real impact on behalf of the people who rely on us.

We are seeking an experienced Bid Writer to join our established funding team. The successful candidate will develop persuasive, compelling and compliant tender responses to support income generation for our charity. The role requires excellent writing skills, creativity, attention to detail, and the ability to collaborate with colleagues across various departments.

We are looking for someone who:

• Has excellent communication skills
• Can manage own time effectively with a keen eye for detail
• 2-4 years of bid writing experience
• Experience of contributing to or supporting high-quality written submissions (e.g. bids, tenders, funding applications)
• Ability to understand complex information and present it clearly and concisely

Responsibilities / Key Tasks:

• Write, edit and improve tender responses and supporting documents
• Develop clear, concise, and persuasive content demonstrating impact and outcomes
• Create supporting materials such as case studies and summaries
• Work with colleagues across funding, operations, finance and partnerships to gather information
• Translate service delivery information into clear, structured written responses
• Support the coordination of tenders, timelines and requirements

What we offer in return:

• 28 days entitlement plus bank holidays pro-rata
• Opportunities for further training and continuous professional development
• Internal progression opportunities
• Supportive environment
• Remote/flexible working opportunities, subject to management approval
• Paid DBS application, where applicable
• 5% pension contributions
• 3 month’s full contractual pay for maternity, upon meeting qualifying criteria

The essentials

• Salary: £35,000 – 40,000 per annum
• Hours: 37.5 hours per week
• Location: Hybrid Working – mainly from home with occasional travel to one of our offices
• Contract: permanent

Please visit our website to find the full Job Description and Person Specifications for this role and a helpful Candidate Guide on our recruitment process

To apply: send your CV and cover letter, explaining why you would be suitable for this role 

Closing Date: 11 August 2026

Thank you for your interest in our vacancy.  The above role is advertised on a rolling recruitment basis.  We reserve the right to withdraw or close this vacancy at any time, without prior notice, before the advertised closing date. Please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

If you do not hear back from us within 10 working days after the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.  Please do not be discouraged from applying for other positions within our organisation. 

We are a Disability Confident Employer

Citizens Advice Mid Mercia are an accredited (Level 1) Disability Confident employer, and values diversity and promotes equality. We encourage and welcome applications from suitably skilled candidates from all backgrounds. We follow the social model of disability which believes that it is the barriers created by society which disable people. We will use reasonable adjustments wherever possible to remove those barriers. 

This is an exciting opportunity for a proactive fundraiser who enjoys both bid writing and relationship building.

Working closely with the Fundraising Manager, you will play a key role in securing income from trusts and foundations, supporting donor stewardship, and helping to grow community fundraising activity. You will contribute directly to the financial sustainability of the charity while helping more children gain access to books of their own.

The role is ideally suited to someone who is highly organised, a strong writer, and confident managing multiple fundraising activities simultaneously.

Part-funded by a generous donation from Backstage Trust, this is a new and pivotal role designed to transform Theatre Centre's fundraising capacity by strengthening systems, increasing income diversity, and building long-term financial resilience. The postholder will play a key role in helping the organisation capitalise on its artistic impact and case for support, while building momentum towards its 75th anniversary in 2028.

This role will keep us focused on our development strategy and will have support from across the whole company: the Board, Executive and the core TC team. We have been steadily building our foundations and have some good funding relationships in place, committed individual givers, a strong, evidenced case for support, some incredible stats and feedback and above all an inspiring and exciting programme of work to offer for young people, artists and teachers across the country.

Our Development Manager will help us to bring in resources so that we can continue share our high-quality, specialist work as far as we can. We see development as a collaborative effort and we understand the need for the whole team to support development, that effective fundraising needs to be resourced with realistic timelines and expectations.

About the Role

Contract type: Fixed term to March 2028

Hours: 30 hours per week (0.8 FTE) - we're happy to discuss flexible working patterns that work best for you.

Salary: £24,000 per year (based on £30,000 per year pro rata)

Location: This role can be hybrid or predominantly home based, with some time spent working with colleagues in the office. Theatre Centre is based near Three Bridges station at Unit 4 Crawley Business Centre, Stevenson Way, Crawley, RH10 1TN.

Job Requirements

• A strong affinity with Theatre Centre's mission and a passion for creating opportunities for young people through the arts.
• A values-driven approach, with commitment to equity, inclusion, social justice and environmental responsibility.
• Collaborative, open and transparent working style.
• Comfortable working in a changing environment.
• Proven experience of fundraising within an arts organisation.
• Strong strategic thinking skills.
• Good written communication skills, including the ability to develop compelling cases for support and reports.
• Good understanding of the financial context of this work.
• Experience of building and managing relationships with funders, donors and stakeholders.
• Strong organisational and administrative skills, including data management.
• Experience of monitoring and reporting to demonstrate impact.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, work flexibly under pressure, and meet deadlines.

Job Responsibilities

The Development Manager will lead delivery of a phased fundraising strategy:

Phase 1 - Foundation: Build on our strong systems and processes and give us consistency in fundraising delivery, including building a robust pipeline of Trusts & Foundations and developing place-based income in Crawley and the Gatwick area.

Phase 2 - Private Phase: Expand individual giving by deepening relationships, developing major donors, and securing multi-year funding partnerships.

Phase 3 - Public Bring together all strategic and fundraising priorities in our 75th year, amplifying them into a public campaign that advocates for our change-making work.

If you'd like more information you're welcome to visit our website and download the job pack.