Major Donor Fundraiser

It is often a role experienced fundraisers progress to but will suit a person with the right transferable skills. You may have experience of major donors in another fundraising role, or perhaps you’re an animal-loving fundraiser, sales or business development professional with a strong track record of understanding clients and listening to their motivations.

You need to be an effective and inspiring relationship builder, well organised, an excellent communicator, attentive to detail, and able to think on your feet. A love of animals, a passion for animal welfare, and an understanding of the special human-animal bond would be highly desirable for this role.

It is an exciting time to join the fundraising team at Raystede as we enter our third year of building our partnerships programme. You will work closely with the Corporate and Trusts Fundraisers, as well as the wider team, including the Community and Individual Giving teams.

You will also be working closely with our animal care teams on animal welfare related projects as well as our estate teams, trustees and senior management team.

We are growing our income generation to meet the challenges on behalf of the animals in our care who do not have a voice of heir own. The role of Major Donor Fundraiser is crucial to ensuring our supporters are engaged deeply with our cause, through strong stewardship and cultivation activity.

The Major Giving programme is well underway, and you will be supported to deliver excellent stewardship and design a personal stewardship programme. Reporting to the Head of Fundraising, you will have autonomy, be encouraged to take an innovative approach to stewardship and be supported to continue your professional development.

We would love to hear from you if you:

• Are an experienced fundraiser or account manager with excellent relationship development skills.
• Can inspire and influence supporters to deepen relationships.
• Can work with discretion, tact and sensitivity.
• Have excellent networking skills, able to network at the highest level and work closely with our CEO, Trustees and Senior Management Team.
• Have good IT skills, including CRM databases and MS Office applications.
• Want to make a real, tangible impact to the lives of animals.
• Have the passion and drive to go the extra mile, keeping excellent donor care and animal welfare at the heart of everything you do.

About Raystede

Raystede is a charity that aims to give animals a better life through rehoming, rehabilitation and sanctuary, and give people the support and knowledge they need to treat animals with care and respect. Raystede is Sussex’s biggest animal welfare charity, with nearly 70 years’ experience of caring for and rehoming animals. Uniquely, we care for a huge range of animals - from dogs, cats and donkeys to rabbits, parrots and alpacas. Our experience, expertise and partnerships enable us to deliver an exceptional quality of care for the animals we help. Many of the animals have been neglected, abused or exploited. Raystede helps most of the animals find new homes but also provides life-long sanctuary for elderly horses and other animals that cannot be rehomed. Raystede provides love and safety to those animals that would have nowhere else to go.

To arrange an informal discussion about the role, please refer to our website for contact information.

Closing date for applications is 19 December 2024, however interviews are being conducted on a rolling basis, so please apply without delay to avoid disappointment.