Fundraising & Partnerships Manager in Bournemouth

Want your fundraising to change lives, not just balance sheets? The Friendly Food Club is looking for an ambitious, values-driven Fundraising & Partnerships Manager to grow income, build powerful partnerships, and help create healthier futures for families across Dorset and BCP. The Friendly Food Club supports people from vulnerable groups and communities by building their cooking skills, food knowledge, confidence and resilience, to help break the cycle of food insecurity and low wellbeing. This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of an established and growing charity and deliver real-world impact every day.

Location: Must live in Dorset or BCP (hybrid/remote)

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 30 hours/full time (flexible working considered)

This role is perfect for someone who:

• Is aligned with our values of care, good health, inclusion and community
• Brings empathy, energy and a people-first approach
• Has a friendly, creative, resilient and solutions-focused mindset
• Is happy to get stuck in and involved at all levels of development and delivery
• Fundraising experience beneficial, but not essential if you can demonstrate these skills in other ways.

The role will:

• Develop and deliver Friendly Food Club’s fundraising strategy to align with the charity’s priorities.
• Identify, build and steward strong, values-aligned long-term funding and partnership relationships.
• Write compelling and effective funding applications, proposals and impact reports.
• Monitor income performance and report to the CEO and Board.
• Represent Friendly Food Club externally as an ambassador for its mission and values.

If you want your work to truly matter — and to be part of a supportive, mission-led team — we’d love to hear from you. Part-time / full time / flexible working enquiries welcome. Some flexibility required for weekend and evening as and when required. Position is remote, but with significant travel within the Dorset area required, therefore we do request that you have a clean driving licence and regular access to a car. (Travel paid)

Purpose of the Role

The Fundraising & Partnerships Manager will be key in developing and delivering Friendly Food Club’s fundraising strategy, growing income from corporate partnerships and community fundraising and contributing to the existing trusts and grants application process. This will be a full on, challenging but rewarding role where you will be using your experience, initiative and communication skills to have a direct positive impact on people living in Dorset.

Key Responsibilities

• With the CEO, develop and deliver multi-year fundraising and partnerships aligned with the Charity’s strategy.
• Grow income across a balanced portfolio including trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships, community fundraising and events.
• Identify, research and pursue new funding opportunities to support both core costs and project delivery.
• Prepare and submit high-quality funding proposals, pitches and reports.
• Monitor income performance against targets and produce regular reports for the CEO and Board.

Partnerships & Relationship Management

• Act as an ambassador for Friendly Food Club, representing the organisation at meetings, events and networking opportunities.
• Develop creative partnership opportunities that deliver mutual value and measurable social impact.
• Steward funders and partners through excellent communication, impact reporting and relationship management.

Corporate & Commercial Income

• Build and nurture strategic partnerships, including staff fundraising and employee engagement opportunities with appropriate businesses.
• Secure corporate sponsorships, donations and cause-related marketing partnerships for mutual benefit.
• Identify and develop social enterprise or earned-income opportunities (including events) in collaboration with the leadership team.
• Develop beneficial community fundraising initiatives, campaigns and events, working closely with the team and supporters.
• Create communications to develop compelling fundraising messaging and supporter journeys.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Impact Reporting

• Work with the team to gather outcomes data and beneficiary stories that demonstrate impact.
• Ensure funder reporting requirements are met on time and to a high standard.
• Use learning and insights to continuously improve fundraising approaches.
• Contribute to organisational strategy and operations as part of the leadership team.
• Develop and maintain fundraising systems, pipelines and CRM (Beacon) records.
• Ensure fundraising activities comply with relevant legislation, regulation and best practice (e.g. Charity Commission, GDPR, Fundraising Regulator).
• Support the CEO and Board with fundraising planning, engagement and governance responsibilities.

Person Specification

Values & Approach

• Strong alignment with Friendly Food Club’s mission and values around dignity, inclusion and community empowerment.
• An interest in food, cooking and nutrition.
• Empathetic, people-centred and motivated by social impact.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with creativity, resilience and a solutions-focused approach.

Experience & Knowledge

• Proven experience of securing income from multiple funding streams, particularly from corporate partnerships.
• Track record of meeting or exceeding targets.
• Experience of building and managing strong external relationships.
• Understanding of the UK charity and funding landscape.
• Experience of writing, designing and in-person presenting compelling funding applications, proposals and impact reports.

Skills & Abilities

• Full and clean driving licence and full access to a car.
• Excellent and persuasive written and verbal communication skills to different groups of people.
• Strong relationship-building, listening and influencing skills.
• Strategic and creative thinker with the ability to translate vision into practical action.
• Highly organised, with strong project management, IT and prioritisation skills.
• Confident working independently while collaborating effectively across the team.
• Experience working in food insecurity, health, education or community sectors.
• Knowledge of Dorset / BCP voluntary, statutory or business sectors.
• Experience using CRM, ideally Beacon, or fundraising databases.
• Experience of developing communications materials and effective use of Canva, social media and CMS.

What We Offer

• The opportunity to play a key leadership role in a growing, impactful organisation.
• A friendly, supportive, values-driven culture focused on collaboration and community.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• The chance to make a tangible difference to families and communities across Dorset and BCP.

How Success Will Be Measured

• Growth and diversification of income year-on-year.
• Strength and quality of partnerships developed.
• Retention and satisfaction of funders and partners.
• Contribution to organisational strategic objectives.