Head of Public Fundraising (Maternity Cover)

About us: 

Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working toward the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Our mission is to transform the lives of people living in extreme poverty. We work with 27 million people each year, in some of the hardest-to-reach and most fragile places. Places prone to conflict, natural disasters, climate change, and extreme hunger. 

About the role: 

The Head of Public Fundraising (Interim) will work across the organisation, including with colleagues in our Innovation Team and wider Fundraising, Communications, Advocacy and Fundraising teams based in Belfast and London, a total of 13 team members.  You will lead a passionate and committed team across Concern UK’s portfolio of individual giving, legacy giving and community & challenges and events.   

There are big opportunities to grow our legacy giving, as well as opportunities to diversify income from our community and events programme. In addition, there’s brilliant work taking place building out our customer journeys and stewardship with a new CRM which was on-boarded in 2023 which will propel audience led journeys and stewardship.   

You will come with an appetite for developing and embedding our new strategy which is due to go live in October 2025. This is the perfect opportunity for someone already operating at Head of level, looking for an opportunity in International Development, or someone looking for the next step in their career to a Head of Public Fundraising. 

In this role, you will lead the implementation of [Concern Worldwide UK’s fundraising and supporter engagement strategy across all mass market UK audiences, including the planning and delivery of Concern’s donor recruitment, donor engagement, community and events activities and legacy giving programmes, to deliver high quality donor experience and sustained income growth.  Responsible for ensuring that all Concern UK’s fundraising activities and communications comply with legal and regulatory requirements, ensuring the protection of the organisation’s reputation.  Currently responsible for an income target of £5.5M and a direct expenditure budget of £2.4M (Financial year 2025)].

About You: 

ESSENTIAL 

Experience  

• Broad experience of a range of donor recruitment techniques, including face-to-face, direct mail and digital fundraising techniques and strategies. 
• Strong experience and understanding of donor engagement strategies and techniques. 
• Significant experience of community and public events fundraising. 
• Proven track record of growing fundraising income. 
• Experience in line managing multiple direct reports and leading a team. 
• Experience in developing strategy, operational plans and complex budgets. 
• Comfortable in using data analytics, lifetime value and return on investment analysis to inform strategy development 
• Experience of appointing, managing and reviewing external suppliers and negotiating contracts for up to 6 figure sums. 

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE  

• In depth knowledge of UK public fundraising techniques, including donor recruitment, events, community, supporter welcome and development strategies. 
• Creative approach to strategy development and implementation. 
• Driven to achieve continual improvement, highly proactive, ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team. 
• Strong leadership, communication, influencing and negotiation skills. 
• Good teamwork and strong relationship management skills. 
• Proven organisation skills, ability to work to tight deadlines in a dynamic environment, with often changing priorities. 
• Excellent analytical skills and experience of using a fundraising database for direct marketing. 
• Highly numerate and detail-focussed. 
• Excellent knowledge of the legal and regulatory environment (Fundraising Regulator code of practice, Data Protection, Gift Aid). 
• Excellent understanding of the Fundraising Regulator Code of Practice and relevant data protection regulation linked to direct marketing and fundraising.  

DESIRABLE 

• Experience of remote line management and managing teams remotely. 
• Experience of working on emergency appeals. 
• Knowledge and/or interest in international development.  
• Experience of working with overseas programme teams. 

Please see attached the job description to review the full person specification for this role. 

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: 

Concern Worldwide encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of gender, ethnicity and origin, disability, political beliefs, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status to apply to become a part of the organization. Concern is against all forms of discrimination and unequal power relations, and is committed to promoting equality. 

Benefits
•    25 days’ annual leave, pro-rated for part-time employees.
•    Office closure between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day
•    Flexible hours and hybrid working
•    Annual leave purchase scheme
•    Enhanced parental leave pay
•    Stakeholder pension
•    Season ticket loan
•    Cycle scheme
•    Life assurance
•    Access to Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Details of our benefits could be found on our website:
https://www.concern.org.uk/working-concern-worldwide-uk 

About our office
Our Belfast office is based in a listed building in a busy area close to lots of useful local amenities.

Concern is currently trialling a hybrid model. Staff are expected to come into their base office once per week or the monthly equivalent i.e. 4 times per month. Staff are also able to flex their start and finish times between the hours of 7am to 7pm daily.

To apply

Please upload your CV and cover letter by 25th July 2025. 

All candidates who are short-listed for an interview will be notified via email. Please be aware we may offer positions before the closing date.

Candidates must be legally entitled to work in the UK at the time of application.

Concern reserves the right to close this role before the deadline. 

Conditions of Appointment: 

The successful post holder will be required to complete a criminal records self-declaration form and a Basic AccessNI check. 

Having a criminal record will not necessarily debar you from working with Concern Worldwide (NI). This will depend on the nature of the position, together with the circumstances and background of your offences. 

https://www.concern.org.uk/fair-processing-notice 

The Secure Handling Use Storage and Retention of Disclosure Information

https://www.concern.org.uk/jobs/recruiting-people-criminal-records 

Policy on the Recruitment of Ex-offenders for Responsible Bodies – candidates based in Northern Ireland jurisdiction onl