Donor Acquisition Lead

Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for a Donor Acquisition Lead to join our global team.

Team and Job Purpose

The ‘Donor Acquisition Lead’ is part of Save the Children International\’s(SCI) Global Fundraising Team. The purpose of this team is to catalyse growth of fundraising globally, with particular focus on individual giving and unrestricted income, and working to develop a strong and healthy global market portfolio. This team of global fundraising experts works closely with Save the Children member offices around the world, providing them with strategic support in priority areas and fostering a vibrant fundraising community. The team also ensures global leadership and coordination for our humanitarian fundraising strategies/campaigns, collects and reports global fundraising/marketing KPIs, coordinates international benchmarking initiatives and provides strategic fundraising analysis and actionable insights to members.

Role purpose
The Donor Acquisition Lead is a senior and highly influential role within Save the Children International (SCI). At a time when cuts in Foreign Aid have placed unprecedented pressure on unrestricted income, this role is central to ensuring individual giving plays a transformative role in sustaining and growing our impact. Acquisition growth is a top global priority, and this role will shape the direction and effectiveness of multi-million dollar investments across our global movement.

The postholder will lead on the development and implementation of a bold, data-driven, and future-ready global donor acquisition strategy, with a strong focus on regular giving. They will work in close partnership with SCI experts and with Fundraising Directors, Heads of Individual Giving, and channel specialists to deliver a channel-agnostic, high-performing acquisition roadmap that balances volume, quality, and long-term value.

This is a role for a strategic thinker and doer — someone who can inspire, influence, and collaborate across diverse markets and teams, while ensuring that acquisition strategies are grounded in both strategic clarity and operational excellence.

Job Title: Donor Acquisition Lead

Reports To: Global Head of Individual Giving and Market Development

Work Pattern: Hybrid/Remote with flexible working options available

Contract Length: Permanent

Grade: P5

Location: Any approved Save the Children International office location. For a full list of locations that Save the Children International can hire in, please visit: SCI Careers

Time Zone (that the role holder must be available to work in): Any (GMT +/-5hrs preferred)

Right to Work: The successful candidate must possess the unrestricted right to work in their current or preferred location for the duration of employment.

International Travel Requirements: Yes, up to 20%

People Management Responsibility: Whilst this role has no direct line management responsibility they are responsible for setting the strategic direction of global acquisition work that will be supported in delivery by multiple teams at Save the Children International and also by influencing and partnering with fundraising leadership and acquisition teams in members.

Principal Accountabilities

• Lead the global acquisition strategy to deliver ambitious, step-change growth in regular and single giving, with a particular focus on achieving high-quality RG donor acquisition at scale.
• Champion an omni-channel approach, ensuring acquisition strategies are integrated across DRTV, paid digital, telemarketing, Face to Face, mail and emerging channels, with a strong focus on channel mix optimisation and effective attribution.
• Drive evolution in committed giving, supporting both regular and single gift models. Whilst our regular giving model is well established, work is needed with key stakeholders on developing effective models for repeat single giving for the greatest net life-time value.
• Drive best-in-class acquisition practices across all channels, working in close collaboration with channel specialists (e.g., digital, Face to Face, telemarketing) to ensure strategic alignment, knowledge sharing, and consistent optimisation of performance across the full acquisition funnel.
• Strengthen humanitarian acquisition readiness, working in partnership with the Humanitarian Fundraising Lead ensure compelling emergency content and rapid mobilisation strategies are in place, as well as effective journeys towards committed giving to our organization.
• Ensure DRTV excellence and evolution, by driving best practice, coordinating a global community of practice, facilitating shared production of adverts, and exploring opportunities in connected TV (CTV) working in closely collaboration with our digital specialists and global content unit.
• Explore and test new and re-emerging channels, including offline methods such as cold mail and telemarketing, to diversify acquisition and unlock new growth opportunities.
• Provide hands-on strategic and operational support to priority markets, working in close partnership with local fundraising leadership to build capacity and capability across key acquisition channels. This includes defining joint objectives and tailored support plans, skill-sharing, and co-development of strategies to accelerate growth, without assuming direct market oversight.
• Monitor global performance and trends, working with the Insights team to analyse acquisition data, track sector benchmarks, and identify opportunities for optimisation and innovation.
• Support cost-effectiveness and LTV modelling, helping members implement robust lifetime value frameworks and tackle rising acquisition costs through smarter targeting and strategy.
• Foster a vibrant Acquisition and Individual Giving community, co-managing a global network of acquisition specialists to share best practices, build capacity, and drive collective learning.
• Influence across the movement, acting as a senior thought leader and trusted advisor to Fundraising Directors, Heads of IG, and global stakeholders, with visibility across a significant portion of the global acquisition budget.
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Integration and our Content, Brand and Communications staff to ensure we are aligning around a fundraising first full funnel strategy maximise fundraising outcomes and ensure a seamless supporter experience.
• Lead key global initiatives within acquisition or cross-cutting fundraising areas as required, helping drive forward our collective strategy and shared priorities across the movement

Experience and Skills

Essential

Education and Qualifications

• A degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Nonprofit Management, or relatedand/or equivalent relevant experience to a senior level.
• Technical Proficiency: Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and fundraising software. Knowledge of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and data analysis tools.
• Language Proficiency: Excellent written and spoken English. Proficiency in additional languages is beneficial.

Working at Save the ChildrenInternational

Save the Children is the world\’s leading organisation for children, employing ~25,000staff.We save children\’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential.Through our work in 116 countries, we put the most deprived and marginalised children first.

We know that great people make a great organisation, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

The work here is challenging but is also immensely rewarding. At Save the Children, you will be in good company, working with talented, like-minded individuals who are determined to ensure that all children survive, learn, and are protected. Your contribution will help ensure children\’s voices are heard at the highest levels, and that we achieve our global strategy, Ambition for Children 2030 , and reach every last child.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

DEI is core to our vision, values and global strategy. Save the Children is committed to creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation, and one which will support us in our vision to ensure every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs and religion. We are committed to diversifying our staff to better represent the communities we serve and actively welcome underrepresented groups to apply.

Reasonable adjustments will be made should any candidate invited to interview require this.

Application Information

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application. A full copy of the role profile can be found here via the job listing. It is recommended that you save a copy of the role profile as it will no longer be available after the advert closes.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the job advert may be closed earlier than advertised subject to the volume of suitable applicants. Please submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.
Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of the advert deadline.

Our recruitment process:

We need to keep children and adults safe so our selection process includes rigorous background checks and reflects our commitment to the protection of children and adults from abuse.All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our Code of Conduct and all policies and procedures relating to Anti-harassment, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, and DEI and Equal Opportunities.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.

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