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Empowering the next generation
We’re looking for an incredible, self-starting fundraiser to help transform the lives of young people and raise vital funds to support RAF Air Cadets. If you’re passionate about CSR, skilled at connecting supporters to a genuine cause and passionate about providing air cadets with unforgettable opportunities, we’d love to hear from you.
The Air Cadet Charity is an independent organisation dedicated to supporting the RAF Air Cadets. We provide essential grants for activities, cutting-edge equipment, and life-changing experiences that go beyond standard provision. From funding flight simulators and drone technology to enabling international expeditions, STEM projects, and leadership training, we give young people the tools to excel. Operating primarily on voluntary contributions made via cadet subscriptions from across the RAF Air Cadet organisation, we are now strategically expanding our fundraising focus toward corporate support.
This is an exciting role where you will take the lead on building upon our existing corporate foundations and establishing our dedicated corporate supporter network from the ground up. We are a close-knit, collaborative team offering a supportive workplace where your vision and contributions will directly shape our growth.
Please note this role is primarily home-based with travel across the UK for supporter engagement, meetings, and events.
Key responsibilities
- Corporate giving: Identify, cultivate, and secure valuable philanthropic donations and financial support from businesses aligned with our mission, driving the primary focus of the role to grow our corporate donor base.
- Income generation & strategy: Drive income growth by developing and delivering against agreed corporate fundraising targets, building a sustainable pipeline of new supporters, and actively monitoring and reporting on financial progress.
- Diversified fundraising & income generation: Oversee and manage our broader fundraising streams—including individual donors and digital/website giving channels—alongside handling occasional applications, stewardship, and reporting for existing trusts, foundations, and major donors as required.
- Stewardship & relationship management: Deliver exceptional, high-touch stewardship to build long-lasting, meaningful relationships with our corporate donors, individual supporters, and stakeholders.
- Collaboration: Work alongside our team to co-create inspiring case studies, impact reports, and marketing materials highlighting how philanthropic donations directly benefit cadets.
- Representation: Act as an enthusiastic ambassador for our charity at networking functions, corporate meetings, and cadet showcases.
This role reports to the Charity Director and works closely with the Marketing and Engagement Officer, collaborating across income generation and marketing to support our mission.
Person specification
- Essential experience: Proven track record in corporate fundraising within the charity sector, with a strong emphasis on securing corporate donations and an ability to manage multiple income streams as a sole fundraiser.
- Relationship building: Exceptional networking, negotiation, and communication skills with a natural talent for inspiring supporters to invest in our grant-making cause.
- Commercial acumen: Strong understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives and philanthropic giving.
- Working style: Highly self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and capable of working independently in a remote/hybrid environment while contributing to a friendly team culture.
- Travel requirements: A willingness and ability to travel regularly across the UK—including to London and various regional locations—for corporate meetings, relationship building, and charity events.
- General Support: A willingness to undertake other reasonable duties to support our team and wider charity goals.
Desirable skills:
- Familiarity with CRM systems or donor databases.
- Proven ability to plan and deliver corporate engagement events.
- Knowledge of digital marketing and social media to support fundraising campaigns.
- Understanding of the youth sector or uniformed organisations.
- Familiarity with the Armed Forces, defence sector, or military-charity networks, bringing a helpful understanding of defence contacts and sector terminology.
- Background in managing trusts, foundations, individual donors, or major donors and building face-to-face relationships.
- Experience writing compelling applications and stewardship reports for trusts, foundations, and major donors.
Why join us?
- Be part of a friendly, supportive, and dedicated team where your ideas matter.
- Enjoy the flexibility of home-based working while staying closely connected with colleagues and supporters.
- 26 days annual leave (pro-rata for part-time hours) plus bank holidays and a Christmas shutdown period.
- 5% employer pension contribution.
- Life assurance cover at 4x your salary.
- The chance to see the direct, inspiring impact of your work on young people's lives.
How to apply
Submit your CV and a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) detailing your relevant fundraising experience and why you are inspired to support our charity's mission.
Application Timeline & Process:
- Closing Date: 9am Friday 2nd October
- Shortlisting & Interviews: Shortlisted candidates will be contacted shortly after the closing date, with interviews to be held on 22 October in person.
- Interview Format: A single-round interview process featuring a brief, pre-interview practical task to give us a chance to see your skills in action.
The Air Cadet Charity is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people. Successful applicants will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
This is a unique opportunity to lead fundraising for a charity at the cusp of substantial growth, with an exceptional track record of recent fundraising success, an engaged base of supporters and significant untapped potential across multiple channels.
Overview
As Director of Fundraising and Development for Plum Village UK, you will provide strategic leadership of the charity’s fundraising at this critical juncture. Building on the successful campaigns that brought our new Being Peace Practice Centre into being, you will lead the development of a sustainable, diversified fundraising operation across donor stewardship, trusts and foundations, regular giving, legacies, and partnerships, to deepen relationships of trust and gratitude with our supporters.
This role is ideal for a fundraising leader, whether from a career fundraising background or another field, who brings strategic capability alongside deep alignment with the Plum Village tradition, where fundraising itself becomes a form of engaged practice in service of mindfulness and community transformation.
Fundraising in the Plum Village tradition is fundamentally relational. It is not a matter of extracting income from a base of supporters, but of deepening the relationships of trust, gratitude and shared purpose with those who make our work possible, in ways that embody the values of the tradition. Done well, fundraising is itself a form of engaged practice. The Director will be expected to lead the function in this spirit.
The role comes with a high level of strategic ownership. An initial fundraising strategy has been developed and shared with trustees, providing a framework of priority channels, governance arrangements and resourcing for the next phase. The new Director will inherit this as a starting frame, and will then be empowered and expected to develop, refine and bring forward a fundraising strategy on their own authority, working closely with the Lead Trustee for Fundraising and presenting proposals to the board as appropriate. The role also carries operational ownership of the fundraising mechanics, including the choice and management of supporting systems, databases and tools.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic leadership of fundraising
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Lead PVUK's fundraising strategy, developing and refining the strategic direction, and presenting proposals to the Board for approval and resourcing.
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Set, monitor, and report on fundraising targets across all income channels, in agreement with the Lead Trustee for Fundraising and the Board.
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Provide regular substantive updates on fundraising at quarterly board meetings, working with the Lead Trustee on the preparation of board-level reporting.
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Bring forward analysis and proposals to support the Board in setting wider strategic priorities, including realistic income potential by channel and the investment required to secure it.
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Identify and manage risk in the fundraising portfolio, including channel concentration, donor over-reliance, and the sustainability of resourcing.
Donor stewardship and relationship development
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Lead the stewardship of PVUK’s existing donors, lenders, and supporters with the depth of care that this base deserves, recognising it as the most precious resource of the fundraising function.
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Cultivate and deepen relationships with major donors, including through personal contact, site visits, and tailored communication of impact.
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Work with the Chair of Trustees, the Centre Director, and other senior figures on key relationships that require their involvement.
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Steward the friendly lender base throughout the lifetime of their loans, maintaining trust and keeping them informed of the charity’s progress.
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Build and maintain a culture of gratitude and recognition that appropriately honours the contributions of all supporters.
Income channel development
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Lead delivery and growth across PVUK’s priority fundraising channels: donor stewardship, trust and foundation fundraising, regular giving, legacies and Gifts in Wills, and partnerships with values-aligned organisations and networks.
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Develop trust and foundation fundraising as a substantial new income stream, including scoping aligned funders, building peer-to-peer introductions, constructing tailored funding propositions, and overseeing high-quality application writing and reporting.
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Design and grow a regular giving programme that converts members, retreatants and supporters into ongoing monthly donors.
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Develop a structured legacy and Gifts in Wills programme that normalises legacy giving across PVUK’s communications and supports those who wish to leave a Gift in their Will.
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Develop partnerships with values-aligned organisations and networks where these support both income generation and the wider reach of PVUK’s work, in close consultation with monastics and trustees.
Operations, systems and budget ownership
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Own the operational mechanics of fundraising for PVUK, including the choice, configuration and ongoing management of databases, donor management systems, online giving platforms, and integration with communications tools.
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Manage the fundraising budget, including a discretionary supplementary budget for consultancy, training, materials creation, contracted support and light administrative resource, deployed at the Director’s judgement to develop the function effectively.
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Maintain accurate, GDPR-compliant supporter records and ensure sound data practices throughout the fundraising operation.
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Provide accurate financial reporting on fundraising performance, working with PVUK’s finance function and external accountants as required.
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Make the case for additional resourcing where evidence of need supports it, including the possible recruitment of a Fundraising Officer in due course.
Communications and storytelling
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Lead the development of compelling fundraising narratives that authentically convey the work of PVUK and the Being Peace Centre to multiple audiences, including major donors, institutional funders, individual supporters and the wider public.
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Work closely with the PVUK Communications team on the integration of fundraising communications with the wider communications strategy.
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Commission and oversee the production of fundraising materials, including written content, graphic design, video and digital assets, drawing on contracted specialists where appropriate.
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Ensure that all fundraising messaging about the Being Peace Practice Centre is agreed with the Centre Director before publication.
Working partnerships across PVUK
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Work in close partnership with the Centre Director on all matters relating to Being Peace, with agreed ways of working on messaging, external representation, and any programming commitments made to funders.
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Work with the Lead Trustee for Fundraising as primary day-to-day point of contact at board level, supporting the Lead Trustee to hold strategic oversight of fundraising on behalf of the Board.
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Work with colleagues across PVUK’s communications, dharma programming, sangha-building and partnership functions, with these working relationships developing naturally in the first months of the role.
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Draw on external advisors and specialists as needed for support and assurance, both in technical fundraising disciplines and in sector-specific knowledge.
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Engage volunteer capacity from within the community where this can valuably supplement the fundraising operation.
Registered Charity
11 - 20
We build mindful communities in the UK inspired by the teachings of ‘Father of Mindfulness’ Thich Nhat Hanh.
