Head of Fundraising

We’re looking for an ambitious, strategic and commercially minded Head of Fundraising to join YMCA South Midlands at an exciting stage of our growth. You'll work closely with our CEO and wider leadership team, helping shape how we grow our income and secure the funding needed to deliver our ambitions for young people and communities.

This isn't a role where you simply manage existing fundraising activities and hope the income follows. We want someone who can think strategically, identify where the greatest opportunities lie and build a high-performing team that consistently delivers results.

We want someone who understands that successful fundraising isn't about doing more of everything. It's about knowing where to focus, making smart decisions and building a sustainable, diversified income portfolio that delivers the greatest impact.

The opportunity

We're an ambitious organisation with exciting plans to grow our services, income and reach.

As our Head of Fundraising, you'll have the opportunity to shape and deliver a fundraising strategy that supports our wider organisational ambitions, strengthens our financial sustainability and enables us to make an even greater difference.

You'll lead a team working across trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships and individual giving, alongside developing opportunities for statutory commissioned income and overseeing fundraising events.

But we're looking for much more than someone who can oversee multiple income streams.

We want someone who can see the bigger picture. Someone who understands where the organisation is heading, identifies the funding opportunities that will help us get there and has the judgement to prioritise those with the greatest potential.

You'll set ambitious but achievable income targets, develop a strong and sustainable funding pipeline and ensure the team's time, energy and resources are focused on the activities that will deliver the best return.

A key part of the role will be developing a proactive, motivated and high-performing team. You'll create clarity, set high expectations, support people to succeed and build a culture where everyone takes ownership of delivering results.

You'll have the autonomy to challenge existing approaches, introduce new ideas and make meaningful decisions about how we develop our fundraising function.

What you'll be doing

You'll lead our Fundraising function and take ownership of

• Developing and delivering an ambitious fundraising strategy with clear, achievable income targets and sustainable growth
• Building a diversified income portfolio across trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships, individual giving and other appropriate funding opportunities
• Leading and motivating the fundraising team to think big and exceed targets
• Aligning fundraising priorities and activity with our wider organisational strategy and future service development plans
• Identifying, developing and securing significant new funding opportunities and strategic partnerships
• Building a strong, forward-looking income pipeline with clear targets, forecasts and accountability
• Prioritising fundraising resources, investment and activity to achieve the greatest return on investment
• Developing compelling funding propositions and securing support for existing and new services
• Exploring statutory commissioning opportunities that align with our strategic priorities
• Monitoring fundraising performance, challenging underperformance and adapting plans to deliver results
• Working closely with our CEO, leadership team and trustees to support organisational growth
• Just as importantly, you'll make sure we're focusing on the right things.
• We don't want a fundraising function that's busy for the sake of being busy. We want a team that understands what matters, knows what success looks like and consistently focuses its efforts on the opportunities that will make the biggest difference.

About you

We value expertise, ambition, curiosity, ideas and healthy challenge.

You'll be an experienced fundraising leader who can combine strategic thinking with a genuine drive to deliver results. You'll understand how to build sustainable income, develop a diversified funding portfolio and make informed decisions about where to focus your efforts.

You'll also be a strong people leader. Someone who enjoys developing others, setting clear expectations and creating an environment where talented people are motivated, accountable and able to perform at their best.

You'll be comfortable working closely with senior leaders, challenging assumptions and helping shape decisions about future growth and investment.

You'll be someone who

• Thinks strategically and can turn ambitious goals into clear, achievable plans
• Has a proven track record of delivering fundraising income growth
• Understands how to develop sustainable and diversified income streams
• Is commercially minded and makes decisions based on impact, opportunity and return on investment
• Builds, motivates and develops high-performing teams
• Sets clear expectations and holds themselves and others accountable for results
• Is proactive, resourceful and constantly looking for opportunities to improve performance
• Understands the importance of aligning fundraising activity with wider organisational priorities
• Is confident influencing senior leaders, trustees and external stakeholders
• Builds strong relationships with funders, supporters and strategic partners
• Can balance long-term strategic thinking with the detail needed to deliver
• Is comfortable challenging existing approaches and making difficult prioritisation decisions
• Brings energy, ideas and a genuine desire to make a difference
• Experience of securing significant funding through trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships, individual giving or statutory funding would be particularly valuable.
• Experience of developing funding strategies to support new services, organisational growth or major projects would also be an advantage.
• We're particularly interested in someone who can demonstrate not just what income they've raised, but how they've built successful teams, made strategic choices and delivered sustainable growth.
• Why Join YMCA South Midlands?
• Because this is an opportunity to use your leadership and fundraising expertise to make a genuine difference.
• You'll join an ambitious organisation where fundraising is central to our future success, where good ideas are welcomed and where you'll have the opportunity to shape how we grow.
• As well as joining a supportive and collaborative team, you'll have the opportunity to:
• Shape and lead our fundraising strategy at an exciting stage of growth
• Build and develop a talented, ambitious fundraising team
• Work closely with our CEO and influence key organisational decisions
• Develop new income streams and strategic partnerships
• Have real autonomy to introduce ideas, challenge thinking and drive improvement
• Help secure the funding needed to create more opportunities for young people and communities
• Everyone is Welcome Here
• At YMCA South Midlands, we believe everyone should feel they belong.
• We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and communities. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the people we serve and where everyone is treated with dignity, respect and fairness.
• As a charity with a Christian heritage, our faith inspires our values and our commitment to serving others. We welcome people of all faiths and none. All appointments are made on merit.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want every candidate to have the opportunity to perform at their best throughout our recruitment process.

If you have a disability, long-term health condition or are neurodivergent and would benefit from any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know when you apply or contact us at any stage. We'll be happy to discuss how we can support you.

Ready to Apply?

If you're an ambitious fundraising leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, driving sustainable income growth and making a genuine difference, we'd love to hear from you.

Click Apply Now and submit your application.

A note to recruitment agencies: We are managing recruitment for this role directly and are not seeking support from recruitment agencies. Please do not submit speculative CVs or contact us regarding this vacancy.