Philanthropy Development Manager

Are you a talented high-value fundraiser that wants to make a real impact? Do you have experience in soliciting major gifts of £10,000 and above from individuals? Can you help deliver a philanthropy strategy at one of the country’s biggest charities?

If so, you could be the Philanthropy Development Manager we are looking for!

About the role

You’ll work closely with the Head of Major Gifts in the Philanthropy team to build and maintain a portfolio of individual prospects and donors with capacity to make gifts of £10,000 - £100,000 (leadership gifts), involving volunteers and staff across British Heart Foundation (BHF) as required.

As an ambassador for the BHF, you’ll proactively identify and qualify new prospects, engage existing and lapsed donors, and work collaboratively with colleagues in the Philanthropy team to manage a new Giving Club that incentivises donors to make multi-year pledges.

Ensuring our database is kept fully up to date, you'll coordinate with other fundraisers and teams to facilitate collaboration across the organisation.

You’ll deliver agreed annual targets and help drive income for research that will save and improve the lives of people affected by cardiovascular disease in this country and around the world.

We have two roles available: One permanent contract and one 12-month fixed term contract, covering family leave.

Working arrangements

This is a dual location role, with your working time split between your Home and several days per month at least in our London Office. As part of the role, you will also need to travel into London and elsewhere for meetings with donors, as and when required. This will allow us to unlock our best work for our cause, blending the best of home and office working.

Here at the BHF we understand that you might need a little help balancing your work and home life. Many of our people work flexibly in many different ways. Please feel free to talk to us about the flexibility you may need; we’re happy to explore what’s possible for you and the role.

About the team

BHF is creating a culture that drives transformational and sustainable income through philanthropic giving, from high-value donors in the UK and overseas. To achieve this vision, we are building a high performing Philanthropy team comprising dynamic fundraisers working with individual donors or trusts and foundations, talented proposition writers, research and insight specialists, and event and stewardship experts.

Sitting within the Philanthropy team, the Major Gifts team focuses on individual donors and is led by the Head of Major Gifts. It comprises two Philanthropy Lead posts (gifts of £75,000 and above) and two Philanthropy Development Manager posts (gifts of £10,000 and above).

To realise our ambitions, we need to raise significant additional funds to accelerate and drive critical research. Raising funds through philanthropy is a key area of our income generating strategy for 2030.

About you

An ambitious and dynamic fundraiser, with a track record of securing gifts of £10,000 or above from new, cold prospects and existing donors. You will have worked successfully with influential volunteers to deliver income in a large and complex organisation.

With a natural flare for identifying and cultivating relationships, and strong planning and prioritisation skills, you’ll be able to manage a portfolio of 100 - 150 prospects, across the various stages of identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.

To be successful in this role you will be:

• An exceptionable fundraiser who can demonstrate building relationships with emotional intelligence, and empathy when working with others.
• A skilled and brave strategic and project manager, who can develop clear, efficient and logical plans to achieve goals.
• Optimistic and positive, with excellent communication skills and able to inspire confidence in donors as well as senior internal and external stakeholders.
• An excellent writer, with a keen eye for grammar who can transform complex project information into compelling stories and content for a high-value audience.
• Meticulous with high attention to detail.
• Proficient at using data and evidence to monitor KPI’s, track trends and help us make informed decisions.
• Driven and ambitious to deliver our high-value income strategy.

About us 

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. By funding research across six decades, we’ve helped keep millions of hearts beating and millions of families together. We’re investing in ground-breaking research that will get us closer than ever to a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases.

We celebrate diversity and make inclusion part of what we do every day. Diversity and Inclusion forms a main pillar in our People Experience Strategy. Our aim is for all of our colleagues and volunteers to bring their true self to work, so we can continue to fund life saving research. 

What can we offer you

To find out more about benefits available at the BHF please download our benefits document at the bottom of this page.

Interview process

The interview process will be held over MS Teams.