Head of Philanthropy

This is a strategically important position for GlobalGiving UK and will hold responsibility for securing significant unrestricted and restricted gifts that will contribute towards GlobalGiving UK’s core operations and sustainability. This will support our community-led nonprofit partners in over 175+ countries all to deliver significant social change and impact.

Building upon our success with major donor fundraising so far, the Head of Philanthropy will identify major donor opportunities, cultivating and managing a portfolio of major donor prospects in the UK & EMEA to secure six-figure funds.  Working independently to plan and implement creative strategies to increase philanthropic gifts, you will need to collaborate effectively with colleagues within UK Growth and other teams across the organisation. With the support of Growth team colleagues, you will prepare written donor proposals, and service major donors and deals efficiently and successfully in support of GlobalGiving’s mission. To enable this role to fully focus on fundraising, there are no initial line management responsibilities. 

This role reports to the CEO for GlobalGiving UK, whilst working as part of the UK Growth team under the strategic leadership of the Director of Growth & Strategic Communications. The Head of Philanthropy is responsible for leveraging GlobalGiving’s unique capabilities and assets to provide an excellent experience for our key donor segments across the UK and EMEA regions. GlobalGiving’s initial focus for Europe is on France and Germany; wealth markets where we have existing mechanisms to ensure donors based in these territories are able to make tax-efficient, cross-border donations to GlobalGiving in the UK.

Responsibilities

Leadership

This role has no initial line management responsibilities, but as a senior position, wider leadership responsibilities include:

• Foster a culture of philanthropy and customer service, ensuring that major donor engagement is executed in a way that underscores our “community-led” ethos, aligns with the organisation's values, vision, and mission.
• Represent GlobalGiving across stakeholder groups in the UK and EMEA markets.
• Support content creation and promote brand awareness in service of GlobalGiving’s aspirations.
• Champion cross-functional, collaborative team culture and a collegial approach to achieving revenue targets. 

Major Donor strategy, engagement and retention 

• Execute donor engagement with the wealth sector related to our 2030 strategy, updating the strategy as new opportunities or market changes occur, to achieve annual income growth. 
• Execute GlobalGiving UK’s comprehensive segmented donor strategies, for high net worth individuals, DAFs, Trusts and Foundations, and the wealth sector. 
• Develop and execute the strategy as it relates to major donor prospecting, management and retention:
• Using market intel and data, develop and implement strategic prospecting strategies in order to cultivate significant six-figure gifts and drive adoption of GlobalGiving’s range of products and services.
• Implement retention strategies for existing major donors and wealth advisors, utilising tools and resources to strengthen relationships, upsell new opportunities and service major donors and partners effectively alongside the wider Growth team. 
• Monitor and capture data and metrics relevant to major donor deals and retention, reporting these to the CEO and wider GlobalGiving team.
• Review programmatic proposals and agreements as appropriate. 

Major Donor development and execution

• Grow annual income to cover both GGUK core costs (2025 target £1M p.a.) and non-profit partners (£3M - £4M p.a.) from relevant wealth segments to support organisational sustainability and growth goals.
• Provide leadership and coordination for major donor development activities including major gifts, campaigns and funds:

• Build a robust portfolio of partners and major donors, including developing and maintaining trusted, long-term relationships with major donors and prospects to become THE place donors come to give.
• Support the cultivation of a portfolio of major donors and ensure GlobalGiving UK builds key, lasting, relationships.
• Represent and articulate GlobalGiving’s mission, products and services to potential donors, stakeholders and supporters. 

• Interact with external networks and organisations, increasing our presence in targeted spaces to strengthen our brand and the reach of our messaging.
• Serve as the first point of contact for major donors and the wealth sector and provide exceptional customer service to those looking to partner with GlobalGiving.

Market Insights

• Maintain an external focus on relevant research and giving trends and use this information to orient GlobalGiving’s key learnings and messaging for an external audience and identify prospects that lead to increased donations. 
• Develop a deep understanding of the philanthropic market and GlobalGiving’s competitive landscape; feed these insights back into the organisation.
• Use data and analytics for decision making and measuring effectiveness. 

Revenue Operations

• Track progress, using data, towards income targets and goals, coordinating with relevant teams on resource allocation and demand planning; communicate progress to CEO, staff and board.
• Ensure compliance with all regulations and laws, as well as contract requirements.
• Establish performance measures, monitor results, and evaluate the efficacy of each strategy.
• Utilise Salesforce and other internal tools to maintain a real-time snapshot of relationships and forecast future revenue opportunities.

Requirements

The ideal candidate:

This role is perfect for someone who is highly motivated by the opportunity of securing significant levels of philanthropic capital held by High Net Worth individuals in the UK and across Europe. 

You will have extensive experience and demonstrable success of working with major donors, perhaps in private wealth management channels, philanthropic advising, major gifts stewardship or in a major donor trust or foundation. You will bring proven ability to build trusted, long term and impactful relationships with wealth holders that generates philanthropic giving.

To be successful in this role, you will be committed to learning more about our work and can bring enthusiasm and passion in all of your interactions with existing and new contacts. 

• Previous demonstrable, high value fundraising or philanthropic experience, securing six figure gifts from major donors in the last three years.
• A natural relationship-builder capable of growing and deepening a large and sophisticated donor base, as well as bringing contacts and network from the major donor/private wealth space to GlobalGiving.
• Self-motivated, resourceful, creative and a strategic thinker, comfortable working independently and collaboratively with high personal accountability.
• Skilled in creating powerful, compelling written and oral communications; and able to convey complex ideas through succinct and compelling content.
• A strong team player, with an authentically collegial approach to working with others in producing fundraising success. 
• Able to take organisational ambiguity and turn it into an action plan with desired outcomes, benchmarks and deadlines.
• A strong growth mindset and can-do attitude, able to identify solutions to overcome any barriers to giving.  
• Commitment to the GlobalGiving mission and values.
• Ideally a strong understanding of tax-efficient donor giving and evidence of deploying effective donor due diligence. 

Benefits

Salary range: £55,000 - £68,000 (FTE) dependant on relevant experience and contacts

We are open to being flexible to secure the right individual for this role. It could be performed full time, part time, or on a freelance basis. 

Location: Remote - Home based within the UK, with access to a beautiful central London coworking space, expectation to travel to London regularly for meetings and events. The postholder may be required to travel for short periods within the UK or overseas, particularly the US and Europe.

The initial contract term is for a 12-month period with the potential of the role becoming permanent. The position holder will report to the CEO of GlobalGiving UK. Benefits include remote work (within the UK), access to a beautiful central London co-working space, professional development opportunities* and a meaningful role where you can go home at night and say, "Today, my work helped more than 700 kids get their essential health and educational needs met." (One of many true stories). 

And of course, as an employee we've also got you covered with a range of benefits, including: company pension, Group income protection, an online health and wellbeing assistance programme, paid sabbaticals, and generous holiday entitlement.

Applicants must have the full legal right to work in the UK without restriction prior to application.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organisation. We do not discriminate on the basis of. age, gender, race, disability, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and religious background

* Employed staff only

Application Process

Please submit a CV and a detailed 2 page covering letter addressing how you meet the specific requirements of this role, providing evidence and examples.  Please also provide evidence of the wealth of contacts and connectivity you are able to bring to this role. Also specify the basis on which you are applying: full time, part time, freelance, etc. and how you propose to achieve the targets on that basis.  Lastly, ensure you include any current notice period/client obligations and when you would be available to start work. We encourage applicants to apply as soon as they can, as we will close the recruitment process as soon as the right candidate is secured.