Fundraising Manager

Benefits: Working in a trauma-informed environment with a high emphasis on staff wellbeing.
Mainly term-time working, and all of August off.

The Magpie Project supports women with preschool children who are living in temporary or insecure accommodation in Newham and other London boroughs. We provide stay-and-play sessions alongside casework around housing, immigration, and other related issues, plus healthy home-made food, a baby bank, and a focus on high-quality play and creativity for mums and minis to foster a sense of joy and belonging.
We advocate and campaign, alongside our mums, on the issues which have the greatest impact on their lives. We have grown quickly since our birth in 2017, and we now support over 500 families a year with 11 members of staff and a turnover of approximately £500,000 pa.
We are in a positive position with regards to our fundraising and finances, with several long-term core grants as well as smaller project grants, a number of corporate partners who donate both time and money to the project, and a loyal community of individual donors and fundraisers.
We wear our values on our sleeve and our fundraising, like everything else we do, is grounded in honouring the dignity and agency of the mums and minis who attend the project.
Our three-word strategy has always been “ask the mums”, which keeps us agile, dynamic, and responsive to the needs of the families we support. As our Fundraising Manager you will need to be able to communicate these values to current and future funders and develop strong long-term relationships with those who share our values – and push back on those who don’t.
We are looking for someone with a passion for writing and communicating with donors of different kinds. You will lead on all our fundraising, mainly from trusts and foundations but also developing new partnerships with corporate partners, with the support of our CEO and the full backing of our trustees. We don’t believe in fundraisers who sit in ivory towers and have no connection to the work being funded. You will be embedded in the project, building relationships with frontline colleagues as well as mums and minis, so that you can tell our story to the best of your ability as you build our donor and income base.

Key Responsibilities
• Develop fundraising plans to secure the income needed to deliver our work.
• Identify new fundraising opportunities across current donor groups and explore options to diversify our income streams.
• Research and write compelling grant proposals to foundations, local authorities, and other grant-making entities, and develop reports in line with funder requirements.
• Develop long-term relationships with funders and partners based in our organisational values and principles.
• Support colleagues to maintain accurate and relevant monitoring and evaluation information (data and case studies) to support funding applications and reports.
• Collaborate with colleagues to identify funding needs and support the development of new programmes with a view to maximising their fundraising potential.
• Ensure transparency and accountability in financial management and ensure that spending is in line with grant conditions. Person Specification
• Experience of trust and foundations fundraising in a charity (essential).Experience of other kinds of fundraising (corporate, individual giving) is a bonus. • Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trust and rapport with our mums and minis right through to our biggest donors.
• Self-motivated, able to work on your own initiative and willing to take responsibility for all our fundraising and reporting. • Experience using Salesforce a bonus.
• Commitment to The Magpie Project’s mission and values, with a passion for using your fundraising expertise to enable the very best opportunities and experiences for our families.


Due to the fact we are keen to fill this role as soon as possible, this will be a rolling recruitment where we interview as and when appropriate candidates emerge so please don’t delay in applying!