Head of Public Fundraising (MAT Cover) in Reading

Make-A-Wish UK is seeking a visionary leader to drive public fundraising and supporter engagement at scale. This strategic role oversees all public income streams, including: individual giving, legacies, events, and innovation, while leading a high-performing team and sector-leading Supporter Care function.
You'll shape long-term growth, deliver significant income targets, and champion a supporter-first culture across the organisation. As part of our Extended Leadership Team, you’ll influence board-level decisions and help ensure Make-A-Wish UK continues granting life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.

Core Purpose: 
The Head of Public Fundraising is a pivotal strategic leadership role at Make-A-Wish UK,   responsible for the strategic direction, planning, delivery, long-term growth and performance of all public fundraising and supporter engagement activity.
 
This includes   strategic oversight of all public income streams - individual giving (cash, regular giving, lottery, payroll), legacies, in-memory giving, challenge events, community fundraising, owned products, and innovation—as well as   operational leadership of the Supporter Care team, which manages supporter care, income processing, data imports, and inbound queries for the whole organisation.
 
The role leads a multi-disciplinary team of around 20, across four core public fundraising and engagement functions, who are responsible for delivery of a high-performing public fundraising programme and sector-leading supporter care function - acquiring, engaging, and retaining supporters at scale, growing income sustainably and ensuring every interaction reflects Make-A-Wish’s values and drives long-term income growth.
 
This role contributes to over 50% of the charity’s total fundraised income, plays a critical role in long-term sustainability, and operates at cross-organisationally to embed a supporter-first culture, championing   segmentation, stewardship and integrated journeys that drive lifetime value. The role is responsible for delivering significant and growing income targets, developing multi-year investment plans, and influencing organisation-wide strategies to ensure we are equipped to serve a growing supporter base. The postholder is part of the Extended Leadership Team (XLT), reporting to the Director of Income & Engagement, and influences decisions at Board level through strategic investment planning and performance reporting.
Essential Criteria:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in public fundraising, with a strong track record of income growth across a broad portfolio of income streams (e.g. individual giving, legacies, community, events, innovation, lottery).
• Experience of leading the development and implementation of organisation-wide strategies, and aligning team plans to broader strategic priorities.
• Demonstrable success in a senior leadership role of similar scale and complexity, with full accountability for strategy, delivery, performance and people management across multiple teams and functions.
• Proven experience in designing and delivering large-scale fundraising strategies, investment plans, and innovation pipelines which supports the organisational vision, mission and strategic objectives.
• Significant experience of leading both income-generating and operational functions (e.g. supporter experience or donor services).
• Highly experienced in developing and delivering multi-channel and multi-product acquisition, engagement and retention strategies to engage a range of supporter audiences to grow a supporter database and increase lifetime value.
• Highly experienced in using different direct marketing techniques across a range of channels including DRTV, DM, F2F, TM and digital marketing, with a proven track record of income growth within a fundraising environment, developed and delivered with a focus on future sustainability.
• Strong background in managing multi-million-pound budgets and long-term ROI models, including regular Board-level reporting.
• Strong external representation skills, including managing relationships with key suppliers, agencies, and sector partners.
• Demonstrable ability to lead insight-driven innovation, with experience of testing, scaling and refining audience-led approaches.
• Comfortable using digital tools, automation or CRM platforms to optimise supporter journeys and improve operational efficiency.
• Deep understanding of UK fundraising regulation, supporter data compliance, and charity governance. Awareness of organisational risk and compliance, including how regulatory or reputational risks impact strategic decision-making.

Skills, knowledge and behaviours required for this role:

• Strategic and commercial thinker, able to balance short-term results with long-term growth and sustainability.
• Inspirational leader with experience managing large teams, including senior managers, across income and service functions.
• Flexible and adaptive leadership style, able to support a range of personalities and development needs across the wider team.
• Confident leading across the full employee lifecycle, from recruitment to performance management and succession planning.
• Excellent communicator and presenter, able to engage, influence and motivate stakeholders at all levels, including Board.
• Highly numerate, with experience in multi-year investment modelling and income forecasting across multiple programmes.
• Skilled in insight-led decision making, journey optimisation, and integrated campaign delivery.
• Strong understanding of digital marketing tools and supporter engagement across online channels.
• Experienced in designing and improving supporter journeys to increase satisfaction, retention and lifetime value.
• Proficient in CRM and insight tools (e.g. Salesforce, Power BI, Google Analytics).
• Highly organised, analytical and outcome-focused, able to manage multiple complex workstreams and competing deadlines.

Strategy and Planning

• Develop, own and drive the Make-A-Wish Public Fundraising strategy and roadmap, aligning it to organisational goals and strategy, and ensuring long-term scalable, sustainable income growth.
• Shape strategy and long-term plans across all public income streams: individual giving (cash, RG, lottery, payroll giving), legacy, in-memory, third-party events, community fundraising, owned products and innovation.
• Use insight, segmentation, and lifetime value data to inform fundraising planning across acquisition, engagement, and retention. This includes owning the Make-A-Wish supporter segmentation model.
• Ensure the team adopts a test-and-learn culture grounded in insight, continual improvement and audience understanding.
• Lead the development of scalable propositions, product strategies and audience approaches across all public income channels.
• Set up and model new income streams from scratch (e.g. lottery and regular giving programmes), with robust 10-year financial investment cases to inform Board-level decisions.
• Oversee the development of the engagement strategy for these supporters—defining its purpose, positioning, and role in supporting income growth, supporter satisfaction, and operational excellence.
• Oversee the development and delivery of a comprehensive Supporter Care Roadmap, ensuring all inbound supporter touchpoints are high quality, timely, compliant, and aligned with Make-A-Wish’s tone, values, and fundraising activity.
• Provide strategic leadership to the Supporter Care function, ensuring it is fully embedded into the public fundraising model and capable of scaling as supporter volumes grow, including future-facing processes, tech use, and journey mapping.
• Lead strategy on audience journeys and supporter touchpoints, including Make-A-Wish’s Contact Strategy, driving joined-up experiences and consistent messaging.
• Contribute to the overall organisational strategy through Extended Leadership Team (XLT) engagement, ensuring public fundraising is fully integrated. Act as a senior leader within Income & Engagement and across the organisation, contributing to cross-functional strategy and planning.

Operational Delivery

• Oversee the delivery of public fundraising programmes across all channels and products, ensuring alignment to income, supporter volume, and ROI targets.
• Lead the development and testing of new fundraising propositions, programmes and products, in line with audience needs and market opportunities.
• Oversee the team to deliver multi-channel campaigns across DRTV, direct mail, F2F, telemarketing, digital and social - working closely with agencies and internal teams.
• Ensure all supporter journeys across fundraising and experience are aligned, data-driven, and optimised to deepen engagement and improve retention.
• Oversee the operational performance of the Supporter Care Team, ensuring efficient income processing, compliant data handling, and prompt responses across phone, inbox and other inbound channels.
• Deliver continuous improvement across supporter care workflows—introducing training, process optimisation, documentation and KPIs.
• Ensure fundraising and supporter care functions meet all regulatory requirements (Fundraising Code, Gambling Commission, GDPR), including acting as the lead for the Gambling Commission.
• Lead strategic projects at XLT level that improve supporter engagement, fundraising effectiveness and operational scalability.

Financial Management

• Hold responsibility for multi-million pound income and expenditure budgets across the department.
• Lead business planning, investment proposals, budgeting, and reforecasting across all public fundraising and supporter care activity for 5 to 10 year plans.
• Build and manage multi-year investment models to inform income planning, particularly for high-potential streams like regular giving and lottery.
• Monitor and report on financial performance, providing insight, variances, and recommendations to senior stakeholders and the Board. Monitor return on investment across products and channels to inform future strategic decisions.
• Support senior managers to manage their budgets effectively and adapt where needed to maintain financial performance.
• Ensure all activity within supporter care operations is cost-effective, accurate and delivers strong value for money.

People Leadership and Culture

• Provide strategic leadership to a multi-functional team of approximately 20 colleagues, including four senior direct reports across core fundraising and supporter servicing functions.
• Set a clear team vision and ensure that performance, culture and development support organisational ambitions and create a supportive, inclusive culture focused on shared goals and continuous improvement.
• Embed a high-performance culture through clear goals, coaching, accountability, and personal development plans.
• Champion coaching, cross-team collaboration and a test-and-learn culture - empowering staff to innovate and drive impact.
• Ensure Supporter Care staff are resourced, trained and empowered to deliver a high-quality supporter experience that aligns with strategic goals.
• Lead on culture change within the Supporter Care function, embedding shared purpose with fundraising and a deep understanding of how supporter experience contributes to retention and long-term income growth.
• Shape the future structure and capability of the team to support long-term growth, including the integration of the Supporter Care function into the public fundraising model.

Stakeholder and Supplier Management

• Lead strategic supplier relationships across fundraising and experience (media, creative, F2F, print, fulfilment), negotiating contracts and ensuring high-quality delivery.
• Build strong internal relationships with stakeholders in Brand, Digital, Tech, Finance, Data and Wishgranting to deliver joined-up strategy and planning. Collaborate with key internal stakeholders to deliver integrated, insight-led supporter journeys and ensure shared accountability for audience experience
• Collaborate with the Head of Brand & Comms to ensure fundraising communications reflect the brand and improve audience engagement.
• Represent Public Fundraising at the Extended Leadership Team (XLT), contributing to cross-charity strategy, insight sharing and project delivery.
• Act as a key internal ambassador for the supporter, using insight and feedback to shape fundraising propositions and operational improvements.

Data, Insight and Innovation

• Work in partnership with Data & Impact to develop insight tools and reporting dashboards to track performance across both income and supporter experience.
• Oversee use of segmentation, audience journey mapping, and predictive analytics to inform both fundraising and operational planning.
• Lead on Make-A-Wish’s innovation pipeline within Public Fundraising, identifying opportunities for new product development and managing test-and-learn pilots through to scale.
• Monitor market trends and competitor activity to ensure fundraising and supporter care stay relevant and responsive to audience expectations.
• Own delivery of the supporter care improvement programme, embedding measurement of satisfaction, service levels, and team performance.