Donor Relations Officer in London

Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) raises philanthropic funds in support of King’s College London and engages with the university’s worldwide alumni community. We are proud to enable the work of colleagues across the university and its health partners, helping them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare. Our activity includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health and initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.

We are entering an exciting period as a team. Our work is identified as a key enabler of the new King’s Strategy 2030, with associated ambitions that include preparing for our next major philanthropic and engagement campaign. This will accelerate and energise our work in support of the University’s mission to be ‘in service to society through academic excellence’ – be that through exceptional, impact-led research; ensuring our students are supported to thrive during their time at King’s and beyond; or by helping the university to invest over the long-term into its people, ideas and infrastructure. We plan to deepen and scale engagement with our global alumni community, donors and other supporters, mobilising them behind these shared priorities. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining a strong and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can realise these ambitions.

About the role

Reporting into the Head of Donor Relations (or a senior lead within the team, depending on final structure), this is an exciting opportunity for a creative, motivated and detail-oriented individual to join a dynamic fundraising environment. The Donor Relations Officer will take the lead on stewarding our scholarship donors, while empowering our scholar community to share meaningful and impactful updates about their experiences. Alongside this, the post-holder will play an active role across the full breadth of donor relations activity.

At King’s, we support over 130 scholarship recipients, each of whom provides annual updates to their donors. These reports bring to life the experiences of students benefitting from philanthropic support, demonstrating the tangible impact of giving. They are central to a successful donor journey, strengthening relationships with our scholar community and creating powerful, inspiring stories for our wider network of alumni, donors and friends.

In this role, you will project manage the production of high-quality scholarship impact reports, ensuring deadlines are met and standards are consistently high. You will work closely with over 130 scholars across undergraduate and postgraduate levels – helping them to share their stories, creating meaningful engagement opportunities between scholars and donors and partnering with fundraisers to deliver an exceptional, joined-up experience of philanthropy at King’s. This includes balancing excellent service to donors with thoughtful safeguarding of scholars.

The annual reporting cycle includes organising an induction event for scholars, producing a scholarship handbook, coordinating seasonal thank-you messages and responding to ad hoc queries from scholars, donors and fundraisers. There will also be opportunities to arrange donor–scholar meetings and to interview scholars, developing compelling case studies to showcase their journeys. In addition, you will contribute to reporting on the wider impact of scholarship support across King’s, collaborating with teams such as Student Funding, Widening Participation and Sanctuary.

A key aspect of the role is continuously assessing the needs of students, fundraisers and donors to ensure our services remain effective and impactful. You will independently review processes, analyse data and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness, with scope to test and implement new approaches.

Beyond scholarships, the role also supports the full spectrum of donor relations activity, including naming and recognition, bespoke gifts and donor visits, offering a truly varied and in-depth experience.

Working closely with colleagues across fundraising, gift implementation, events and beyond, this role offers a unique opportunity to gain a comprehensive insight into King’s College London and the impact of philanthropy across the institution. This is a deadline-driven role suited to someone who thrives under pressure, can prioritise effectively, manage multiple projects and take initiative with confidence.

This is a full time role (35 hours per week) and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 19th June 2027.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates with the following skills and experience:

• Understanding of one or more of: UK Charity sector/Higher Education and donor relations/stewardship
• Project management skills and strong editorial, copy writing and proof-reading skills
• Ability to meet deadlines, work well under pressure and deliver projects to budget
• Strong relationship management and people focused skills with proven experience in collaboration across teams to achieve shared goals
• Adobe InDesign software experience
• Experience of using Microsoft Dynamics or similar customer/donor database and associated processes and systems

Further Information

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day. We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.