Head of Public Fundraising (Maternity Cover)
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Contract Type: Fixed Term, up to 12 months (Maternity Cover)
Full Job Description including essential & desirable criteria is listed on our careers page.
Make-A-Wish UK is seeking a visionary and strategic leader to join our team as Head of Public Fundraising. This is a pivotal maternity cover role that offers the opportunity to lead one of the most impactful fundraising portfolios in the charity sector. If you’re passionate about driving income growth, enhancing supporter experience, and shaping the future of fundraising, we want to hear from you.
About Make-A-Wish UK
Make-A-Wish UK exists to grant life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses. Every wish is as unique as the child who makes it, and every wish brings hope, strength, and joy when it's needed most. Our work is powered by the generosity of supporters across the UK, and public fundraising plays a vital role in enabling us to reach more children every year.
Role Overview:
The Head of Public Fundraising is a strategic leadership role responsible for the direction, planning, delivery, and long-term growth of all public fundraising and supporter engagement activity. This includes oversight of multiple income streams and operational leadership of the Supporter Care team.
You’ll lead a multi-disciplinary team of around 20 professionals across four core functions, delivering high-performing fundraising programmes and sector-leading supporter care. You’ll contribute to over 50% of the charity’s total fundraised income and play a critical role in shaping our long-term sustainability.
As part of the Extended Leadership Team (XLT), you’ll report to the Director of Income & Engagement and influence decisions at Board level through strategic investment planning and performance reporting.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategy and Planning
* Develop and own the Public Fundraising strategy, aligning it with organisational goals to ensure scalable and sustainable income growth.
* Shape long-term plans across all public income streams: individual giving (cash, regular giving, lottery, payroll), legacies, in-memory giving, challenge events, community fundraising, owned products, and innovation.
* Use insight, segmentation, and lifetime value data to inform planning across acquisition, engagement, and retention.
* Lead the development of scalable propositions and product strategies tailored to audience needs.
* Establish new income streams with robust financial models to support Board-level investment decisions.
* Oversee the engagement strategy for supporters, ensuring alignment with income growth and supporter satisfaction.
* Deliver a comprehensive Supporter Care Roadmap to ensure high-quality, compliant, and values-aligned supporter interactions.
* Provide strategic leadership to the Supporter Care function, embedding it into the fundraising model and preparing it for future growth.
* Lead strategy on audience journeys and supporter touchpoints, including Make-A-Wish’s Contact Strategy.
* Contribute to organisational strategy through XLT engagement and cross-functional planning.
Operational Delivery
* Oversee delivery of public fundraising programmes, ensuring alignment with income, supporter volume, and ROI targets.
* Lead development and testing of new fundraising propositions and products.
* Manage multi-channel campaigns across DRTV, direct mail, F2F, telemarketing, digital, and social.
* Ensure supporter journeys are aligned, data-driven, and optimised for engagement and retention.
* Oversee Supporter Care operations, ensuring efficient income processing and prompt, compliant responses.
* Drive continuous improvement across supporter care workflows, including training and KPI development.
* Ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements, including Fundraising Code, Gambling Commission, and GDPR.
* Lead strategic projects that enhance supporter engagement and operational scalability.
* Manage multi-million pound income and expenditure budgets.
* Lead business planning, investment proposals, budgeting, and reforecasting for 5–10 year plans.
* Build and manage multi-year investment models for high-potential income streams.
* Monitor and report on financial performance, providing insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders and the Board.
* Support senior managers in effective budget management and financial adaptability.
* Ensure cost-effective and high-value operations within supporter care.
People Leadership and Culture
* Lead a team of approximately 20, including four senior direct reports.
* Set a clear team vision and foster a supportive, inclusive culture focused on shared goals and continuous improvement.
* Embed a high-performance culture through coaching, accountability, and development plans.
* Champion innovation and cross-team collaboration.
* Ensure Supporter Care staff are resourced and trained to deliver exceptional supporter experiences.
* Lead culture change within Supporter Care, embedding shared purpose and understanding of its impact on retention and income growth.
* Shape future team structure and capability to support long-term growth.
Stakeholder and Supplier Management
* Lead strategic supplier relationships across media, creative, F2F, print, and fulfilment.
* Build strong internal relationships with Brand, Digital, Tech, Finance, Data, and Wishgranting teams.
* Collaborate with internal stakeholders to deliver integrated, insight-led supporter journeys.
* Work with the Head of Brand & Comms to ensure fundraising communications reflect the brand and engage audiences.
* Represent Public Fundraising at XLT, contributing to cross-charity strategy and project delivery.
* Act as an internal ambassador for supporters, using feedback to shape propositions and operations.
Data, Insight and Innovation
* Partner with Data & Impact to develop insight tools and performance dashboards.
* Oversee segmentation, journey mapping, and predictive analytics to inform planning.
* Lead the innovation pipeline within Public Fundraising, identifying and scaling new product opportunities.
* Monitor market trends and competitor activity to ensure relevance and responsiveness.
* Deliver the supporter care improvement programme, embedding satisfaction and service level measurement.
Reading, England, United Kingdom – 1 day ago
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