Community Fundraiser

Make-A-Wish International; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 32,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading children's charity is seeking a Fundraising Officer based in Reading, UK, to manage relationships with supporters and grow fundraising income. This role involves planning local fundraising initiatives, maintaining donor relationships, and working collaboratively across teams. Candidates should have significant experience in fundraising or a related field, strong communication skills, and be able to travel across the UK. The position includes flexible working options and various employee benefits.

Benefits

26 days annual leave

Paid Birthday leave

Flexible working arrangements

Salary exchange pension scheme

Access to wellbeing support services

Qualifications

• Minimum 1 year experience in fundraising or equivalent sales/customer service experience.
• Experience working towards financial and non-financial targets.
• Experience in account management with various clients/supporters.

Responsibilities

• Develop local fundraising plans with the Community Fundraising Manager.
• Take ownership of your area and tailor asks for fundraising.
• Identify and convert fundraising opportunities to maximize income.

Skills

Fundraising experience

Relationship management

Salesforce experience

Numerical and analytical skills

Knowledge of charity law

Excellent communication

Ability to travel

Proactive work style

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Location: Reading, Hybrid (travel to the office, around your local area and across the UK when required)

Hours: Full time

Salary: £31,500 per annum

Contract Type: Permanent

Campaign Closes: 18th February 2026

First Stage Interviews: 25th February 2026

Second Stage Interviews: 2nd March 2026

On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible

At Make A Wish UK, we create life changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. The Community Fundraising team plays a crucial role in generating the income and inspiration that make every wish possible.

We are looking for someone who can deliver thoughtful, high‑quality stewardship to deepen supporter relationships, manage community groups and small business partners, and create meaningful journeys that connect fundraising to the heart of each wish. By inspiring others, supporting volunteer‑led activity, and working collaboratively across teams, you’ll help drive income growth and ensure more children receive the wishes that matter most.

To be successful in this role you will need:

• Minimum 1 years experience in a fundraising role or able to demonstrate transferrable skills from a role in a sales or customer service setting
• Experience working towards financial and non-financial targets
• Experience of account managing a wide variety of clients/supporters/customers
• Experience managing own workload, prioritising and responding to changing demands
• Experience of relationship management in either a charity or corporate setting
• Experience of reporting on financial and KPI performance
• Excellent numerical and analytical skills, with a keen eye for detail, ensuring data accuracy and a strong understanding of reports.
• Experience of working to and exceeding financial targets and KPI’s
• Ability to work proactively and make data driven decisions
• Experience of using Salesforce
• Strong knowledge of charity law (data protection, GDPR, Gift Aid and Fundraising Standards)
• Experience of securing financial and non-financial support through proactive work
• Ability to travel around local area and UK wide
• Able to work flexibly as and when required

Key Responsibilities

• With the support of the Community Fundraising Manager, develop and deliver plans for local fundraising across a broad range of markets, activities and products.
• Take ownership of your geographical area, tailoring asks and fundraising products where appropriate
• Work proactively to identify a pipeline of future support and new fundraising opportunities, varying across Small & Medium Corporates, Groups and Associations, Individual support and Third-party activities, converting prospects into confirmed supporters to maximise income growth.
• Contribute to the creation of plans for the growth and delivery of Community Fundraising, working with the Community Fundraising Manager to develop and promote Make-A-Wish fundraising products and ideas.
• Work to an agreed income target with the aim of exceeding and growing income.

Stewardship, retention and supporter journeys

• Be a key contact to deal with community fundraising supporter queries above £1,000 value, responding promptly and efficiently. This includes both supporters and volunteers taking part in fundraising activity.
• Plan and deliver excellent supporter journeys for community fundraisers to retain donors, maximise fundraising, and promote further engagement.
• Provide effective supporter-focused stewardship to retain donors, maximise fundraising, and promote further engagement through cross selling different fundraising products such as Lottery and Gift in wills.
• Maintain effective relationships with Make-A-Wish UK colleagues and all supporters, maximising retention and long-term value, and identify cross-departmental opportunities where appropriate by working collaboratively
• Manage a range of different supporter groups and small businesses up to the value of £30k, using excellent stewardship to go above and beyond, increasing income raised and retention rates to Make-A-Wish, working with other teams to develop successful volunteering opportunities to support this.
• Actively use Salesforce to keep supporter records up to date, logging all communications and ensuring accuracy and attention to detail
• Working with the Community Development Manager, develop relationships with Wish Families with a view to building sustainable family fundraising groups. Identify and implement new opportunities to align the supporter journey with the wish journey.

Operational delivery of the community fundraising plan

• Work with the Community Fundraising Manager to deliver the annual community fundraising plan within your area.
• Manage own workload in a cost effective and proactive way, whilst delivering against the plan.
• Work under own initiative to respond to local fundraising opportunities, referring to line manager as appropriate.
• Give regular talks and presentations both in person and virtually to a wide range of different audiences, inspiring people to support Make-A-Wish UK
• Contribute and create resources to support volunteer-led fundraising across the organisation.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Monitor community fundraising performance against agreed targets and KPI’s
• Present results and learnings in monthly meetings with the wider Public Fundraising team.
• Use learnings to feed into the ongoing development of the overall community fundraising strategy.
• Be accountable for set income and acquisition targets, continually monitoring performance against targets, using initiative to spot opportunities for improvement and areas of growth and acting on these opportunities.
• 26 days annual leave with the option to buy/sell annual leave (pro rata for part time)
• Paid Birthday leave
• Flexible & Hybrid working arrangements
• Salary exchange pension scheme
• Pirkx subscription - Access to wellbeing support, GP appointments, training and events, retail discount platform, and much more!