Philanthropy Manager in Stratford-upon-Avon

Worthy causes. Ambitious minds. Positive pursuits.

£42,000 - £49,000 plus benefits

Reports to: Senior Philanthropy Manager

Directorate: Strategy & Philanthropy

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office) there will also be travel in/around London once a week.

Closing date: Sunday 9th August 2026 23:55pm

Recruitment process: initial screening call followed by a 2 stage competency based interview process.

Interview date: Screening calls will be taking place w/c 17th August with formal interviews commencing the following week.

Please note: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer. Cancer Research UK are looking for an ambitious, proactive, and determined Philanthropy Manager to join our Leadership Giving team. In this role you will manage a portfolio of current and prospective major donors, with a view to raising gifts from £10,000 – £100,000 and beyond.

In 2024, we launched our ‘More Research Less Cancer” campaign, with a goal of securing £400m towards our life‑saving research. Last year, the Philanthropy department raised £38m to surpass the £250m campaign milestone, and more than ever we are keen to inspire and steward philanthropic individuals. Our goal is to connect and collaborate, offering supporters a first‑class experience of supporting life‑saving cancer research in a meaningful and impactful way.

What will you be doing?

• Develop strategic, two‑way, face to face relationships with new and existing supporters to build the portfolio of major donors making philanthropic gifts of £10k - £100k+
• Utilise our More Research, Less Cancer campaign collateral and engagement programme, combined with your creativity and interpersonal skills, to cultivate, ask and steward philanthropic individuals.
• Invite and host donors at appropriate high value and philanthropy events; often working with the events team to create tailored events or group engagement opportunities.
• Present CRUK’s work to donors in a format that is appropriate for their motivations, scientific literacy and gift capacity; develop a strong working knowledge of the campaign priorities and scientific work of CRUK and engage expert colleagues in the journey to inspire support.
• Maximise potential support from each donor, for example as a senior volunteer; accessing their networks, expertise, or considering other avenues of support e.g. a gift in their Will.
• Contribute to the on‑going implementation of the Leadership Giving level strategy to grow income from gifts between £10k-£1m.
• Work on new and exciting projects such as Next Generation giving, spot opportunities and take up new tasks as needed.
• Connect and build relationships with internal stakeholders across Philanthropy and beyond to increase our portfolio of major donors and drive success.
• Ensure donor activity, KPI and financial information is accurate and up to date on the database, to aid monthly performance monitoring and forecasting.

What are we looking for?

• You don’t have to be from a philanthropy or non‑for‑profit sector. Cancer affects us all no matter our background, so we are keen to have representation and insight from a range of different perspectives. However, you will need to demonstrate:
• Proven experience of delivering income through securing new business in a commercial sales environment, including having met or exceeded KPIs and financial targets over a sustained period.
• Proven experience of building effective long‑term relationships with individual stakeholders including delivering income from and through these individuals.
• Excellent relationship management skills and ability to work, and communicate effectively and professionally with, a wide range of individuals; internal colleagues, institutional leaders, external collaborators, stakeholders, and donors.
• Tenacious and self‑motivated approach to work and performance; target driven.
• Exceptional listening skills and efficient written and oral communication skills; an inspiring and engaging communication style.
• The intellectual curiosity to understand and communicate complex scientific areas of research.
• Motivated and excited by the science and opportunity to be part of CRUK’s Philanthropy team and the More Research Less Cancer campaign.
• Experience within major gift fundraising, raising five/six figure gifts would be beneficial but is not essential for this role.

Our values:

• Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination
• Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism
• Human: Act to have a positive impact on people
• Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high‑quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work‑life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under‑represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact recruitment@cancer.org.uk or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.