Vacancies

Job Number: 2665

Job Title: Director of Fundraising
Charity: Youth Adventure Trust
Salary Range: £50,000 – £53,000
Location: Home-based within Swindon, Wiltshire or Somerset

Deadline for applications: 25th June

About us

At the Youth Adventure Trust, we use outdoor adventure to empower vulnerable young people from Swindon, Wiltshire and Somerset to fulfil their potential and lead positive lives in the future. We work with them to build resilience, develop confidence and learn skills that will last a lifetime, helping them to face the challenges in their lives. Dedicated support, guidance and mentoring from our staff and volunteers ensures young people receive the maximum benefit from our long-term intervention. Our aim is to make a lasting improvement to the lives of vulnerable young people.

All our programmes are provided completely free of charge to the young people who are nominated by schools and other youth organisations, which means the fundraising team is crucial. With ambitious plans to help more young people over the coming years, our Director of Fundraising role is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference. You’ll be well-supported as part of a small fundraising team with a big heart, with plenty of opportunities to visit our programmes and see the tangible impact of your work.

About the role

Are you an ambitious, strategic and target-driven fundraising leader looking for a career-defining role? Do you believe in the transformational ‘power of the outdoors’ and want to use your skills and experience to change the lives of vulnerable young people?

The Youth Adventure Trust is entering an incredibly exciting new chapter. We have set our sights on an ambitious growth strategy – to double our capacity so that we can support twice as many vulnerable young people across Swindon, Wiltshire and Somerset. As a charity which relies 100% on fundraising for its income (we don’t charge for our programmes and have no service delivery contracts in place), this role sits at the absolute heart of what we do.

As our Director of Fundraising, you will join our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to shape, drive and deliver our growth strategy. You will inherit a small but mighty fundraising team and a deliberately diverse fundraising portfolio designed to ensure long-term income stability and growth. This is a role that blends high-level strategic thinking, data-driven financial decision-making, and a broad depth of fundraising experience with an inspirational, relationship first leadership style.

Who we are looking for

We are searching for an exceptional fundraising leader, who can be an ambassador for the charity and shape the fundraising strategy to ensure we deliver our organisational ambitions. You should be a strategic thinker with a creative approach, analytical and an expert multi-tasker able to juggle multiple priorities. You will have a proven track record of demonstrating sustainable income growth across multiple streams, with particular experience in developing and managing major donor relationships, corporate partnerships, grant making trusts and fundraising events.

You will need to have strategic oversight of the fundraising team, the ability to spot untapped opportunities and someone who thrives in a collaborative, close-knit team environment. You will be comfortable working from home which should be within easy reach of Swindon, Wiltshire and Somerset and will be flexible to attend meetings, events and programme, with occasional overnight stays.  At the Youth Adventure Trust, leadership isn’t hands-off. We need a director who is genuinely excited  to roll up their sleeves and get stuck into the day-to-day work when required – whether that means providing senior leadership cover for our outdoor programme delivery or standing on the side of a mountain at key flagship corporate challenge events.

You should be a champion of the charity with excellent written and verbal communication skills. A natural relationship-builder, you will have an adaptable style making you as comfortable in the boardroom or talking to high net worth individuals as you are in your wellies and waterproofs on a residential camp for the young people on our programmes. You will enjoy being in the outdoors and have a good understanding of the impact and importance of our programmes.

Role Responsibilities

1. Strategic Fundraising Leadership

• Design, implement and monitor a comprehensive fundraising and engagement strategy to achieve sustainable income growth, aligned with the charity’s plan to double its delivery capacity.
• Oversee and optimise a diverse fundraising portfolio encompassing Corporate Partnerships, Trusts & Foundations, individuals and Challenge Events to ensure institutional income stability.
• Identify, evaluate and capitalise on new fundraising opportunities, income streams and sector trends.
• Act as the strategic lead for the charity’s trading subsidiary, Youth Adventure Trading Ltd, maximising its potential to engage corporate clients and generate sustainable revenue.

2. Financial Management, Budgeting & Governance

• Have full financial oversight of the charity’s income, including setting, managing, monitoring and reporting on organisational income budgets and fundraising expenditure budgets.
• Routinely reconcile fundraising income with financial systems to ensure absolute data integrity.
• Manage restricted and unrestricted funds effectively, ensuring that income recording is accurate and compliant with donor wishes and grant agreements.
• Monitor fundraising performance and return on investment (ROI) across all areas of activity, analysing the cost:income ratios of each activity to deliver overall net income targets annually in line with agreed budgets.
• Lead on fundraising reporting for the Board of Trustees, delivering clear, strategic and data-driven progress reports.
• Actively support the charity’s annual audit process, providing accurate financial records and pipeline projections.

3. Senior Leadership Team (SLT)

• Serve as an active, collaborative member of the SLT, contributing to the wider strategic direction, risk management and governance of the charity.
• Foster a unified working relationship between the fundraising team and the operations/ programme delivery teams.
• Provide cross-functional SLT cover for operations and programme delivery when required, ensuring organisational resilience.

4. High-Value Relationship Building & Ambassadorship

• Act as a high-profile ambassador for the Youth Adventure Trust, networking extensively across Swindon, Wiltshire, Somerset and the wider South West.
• Personally manage and steward key strategic relationships with major individual donors (HNWIs), senior corporate partners, local leaders and key grant makers.
• Put relationship building at the heart of your work to enable you to pitch for and secure high-value partnerships, successfully converting prospects into long-term supporters of the charity.

5. Communications, Engagement & PR

• Engage with high-profile individuals of regional influence, including MPs, local councillors, dignitaries, and business networks to raise the profile of the charity.
• Provide strategic oversight of the charity’s communications channels, including social media,the website, media press releases and supporter newsletters.
• Shape, maintain and evolve a compelling, consistent “case for support” that ensures potential donors have total clarity over the need for funds and that these match our operational priorities.
• Ensure the fundraising team is continuously equipped with powerful impact stories, key messages, success stories, evaluation data and financial tracking to create compelling proposals.
• Identify high-impact PR and regional media engagement opportunities, including leading submissions for prestigious industry and regional awards.

6. People Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, inspire and manage the fundraising team through an effective, supportive and delegated management structure.
• Motivate individuals to reach their respective income targets while ensuring the whole team operates as a cohesive, collaborative, effective and happy unit.
• Champion a continuous learning culture, enabling staff members to professionally develop individually and progress their fundraising careers.
• Implement regular team meetings, annual appraisal, and clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure staff are highly motivated and achieving personal and organisational objectives.

7. Fundraising Operations

• Maintain a strong strategic and operational understanding of our Salesforce CRM platform, ensuring it is leveraged effectively to monitor pipelines, track trends and guide data-driven decisions.
• Ensure the highest standards of supporter care and donor stewardship are maintained, fundraising practice remains ethical and fundraising is carried out in line with our organisational values.
• Be able to use our accounting software, Xero, to effectively manage income and expenditure.
• Maintain a “roll up your sleeves” attitude, actively supporting team-wide tasks, cross-functional fundraising campaigns and the physical delivery of outdoor corporate challenge events.
• Ensure the charity is compliant with all relevant legislation and internal policies, including the fundraising code of practice, GDPR legislation, employment laws and safeguarding practice.

Person Specification
Essential experience

• Proven track record of operating at a senior or head-of-department level within a fundraising environment.
• Experience of delivering successful fundraising strategies with a proven track record of increasing income across multiple streams.
• Significant experience in managing staff, setting targets and building a high-performing fundraising team.
• Demonstrable success in driving sustainable income growth across a diverse fundraising portfolio.
• Direct experience in personally securing and managing high-value relationships across individuals, Corporate Partnerships and Grant-Making Trusts.
• Experience in challenge event management and executing highly profitable fundraising events.

Desirable experience:

• Experience working with, recruiting and coordinating fundraising volunteers.
• Experience managing a commercial trading subsidiary or a fee-for-service model within a charity ecosystem.
• Media training and experience acting as a primary spokesperson at a regional or local media level.

Skills & Knowledge
Essential:

• Advanced strategic planning and project management skills with the clear ability to translate high-level vision into operational fundraising success.
• Exceptional financial literacy and numeracy, including direct experience setting, tracking and forecasting income and expenditure budgets and supporting annual audit processes.
• Strong understanding of data-driven decision-making and using CRM database systems(ideally Salesforce) to track income pipelines, manage relationships and identify supporter trends.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with a distinct talent for inspiring public speaking, pitching fundraising opportunities and PR storytelling.

Desirable:

• A strong understanding of the corporate, networking and philanthropic landscape across Swindon, Wiltshire, Somerset and the wider South West.
• Knowledge of modern digital marketing techniques, consumer relations, content management, SEO and social media engagement strategies.
• Thorough, up-to-date knowledge of the Code of Fundraising Practice and data protection regulations.

Personal Attributes

Essential:

• A natural leader of people who balances high expectations and accountability with empathy, support and professional empowerment.
• An exceptional multi-tasker with high attention to detail who can systematically prioritise a varied, fast-paced workload under pressure.
• Target-driven, highly creative and genuinely ambitious for the charity’s mission, expansion and income stability.
• A true “roll up your sleeves” attitude; highly enthusiastic about joining delivery teams on the ground and undertaking practical, operational duties as part of a close-knit team.

Desirable:

• A personal passion for the outdoors and a strong understanding of its transformative impact on people.

Special Requirements

Essential:

• A full, clean UK Driving License and daily access to a vehicle for frequent regional travel across the South West.
• Valid right to work in the UK.
• Willingness to undergo an Enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check.
• Able to work independently from home with the flexibility to work out of hours (evenings and weekends) and stay away overnight several times per year when required for key events or residential camps.

For a copy of the full job information pack, including the full person spec and details on how to apply, please contact us using the form on this page.