Head of Fundraising

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Works closely with: CEO & Leadership Team, Programme Manager, Partnerships Executive, Trustees and Network Member Executive Directors.

Salary: £55,000-£65,000, depending on experience, plus benefits.

Location: London / hybrid with easy access to attend meetings and events.

Start date and application: Applications close 30th October; start date: January 2027. Please apply with a CV (2 pages max) & brief cover letter.

ROLE PURPOSE

This is a new role within Conservation Collective (CC). Working closely with the CEO, the Head of Fundraising will be critical to us hitting our ambitious targets for 2030 by leading the marketing of our new thematic portfolios: turning them into compelling propositions, identifying funding sources, and building and converting relationships. Ultimately, these portfolios will support the income generation that sustains the charity's core operations. The core focus is securing and structuring large-scale funding, from cultivation through to stewardship, working closely with the small core team to convert existing relationships and build new ones. The Head of Fundraising will also support the CEO on wider CC network fundraising activities (securing funding for local Foundations) and put in place the systems and team structure to sustain fundraising at scale. This role has the potential to progress to Director-level subject to the success of CC next generation funding model.

ABOUT CONSERVATION COLLECTIVE

Conservation Collective (CC) exists to give locally-led communities the resources they need to protect the native species and natural ecosystems they know intricately and depend on. Founded in 2020, CC began as an infrastructure and support system for setting up new place-based environmental regranting organisations. Today, CC is a network of 22 independently governed Foundations across 16 countries, and has grown into a well-respected funding intermediary that attracts growing levels of capital and channels it, through its network, to locally-led nature recovery projects on the ground. We have raised over £25 million since 2020 across our global network (as at Q3 2026), and now we're ready to scale. Having spent the past decade building trusted local relationships across our network, we are now entering a period of ambitious growth. By 2030, CC aims to: CS1

• Unlock £8m by 2030, per year in centrally-managed thematic portfolios, scaling up funding to members and projects (currently targeted at £1m for the year 2026).
• Expand our geographic reach from 22 to 30 network members.
• Support member Foundations to increase income & grant expenditure (average +10% year-on-year).
• Build organisational and financial resilience, covering c.70% of CC's operating costs through sustainable income such as portfolio fees and network member contributions.

Central to this growth are CC's thematic portfolios: vehicles that pool funding and expertise across our network to drive impact at scale on the issues our Foundations tackle every day. We are curating sets of vetted, locally led projects (all tackling one critical ecosystem or conservation priority) into a single funding opportunity. Our initial four core portfolios are seagrass & seaweed protection, threatened species recovery, nature-friendly farming, and plastic pollution reduction.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Drive Fundraising Strategy & Delivery for Thematic Portfolios

• Map, activate, convert and manage relationships with major donor prospects across private philanthropy & family offices, corporates, & trust and foundation channels.
• Build new funder opportunities and manage a structured, trackable high-value pipeline. Identify prospects via personal networking and through CEO, Chair, Trustees, and CC member relationships.
• Oversee end-to-end process, from developing proposals and compelling materials to take to market, to structuring and negotiating commercial, compliance and contractual terms of agreements.

Develop Restricted Fundraising Streams to Support Network Growth (delivered day-to-day by the Partnerships Executive & local Foundation teams)

• Coordinate and create private donor connections, place-based corporate partnerships, and grant fundraising opportunities, owning the highest-value or highest-risk relationships as needed.
• Guide network on fundraising best practices, sharing learnings within the network, and coaching members to support them with the development and conversion of their own fundraising strategies.
• Represent Conservation Collective externally at donor and partner meetings and sector events, creating cultivation opportunities for CC network members.

Support and Coordinate Core Fundraising Plan

• Support the CEO in executing, monitoring and reporting on CC's core fundraising plan, translating the 2030 income generation strategy into annual targets, campaign priorities and team resourcing.
• Work with the CEO and the Finance and Risk Director to solidify CC's gift acceptance policy and other governance/donor due diligence requirements, so we have clear, consistently applied criteria.
• Design and embed the systems needed to sustain fundraising at scale: CRM/Salesforce tracking, partnership agreements, and compliance with Fundraising Regulator and GDPR requirements.

Future scope (as thematic portfolios come fully online)

Support member Foundations with grant applications to institutional and multi/bilateral funding agencies, including coordinating network-wide pitches, working closely with Impact & Learning team.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

• Significant senior fundraising and philanthropic experience (c.8+ years), having been involved in closing seven-figure donations (making the ask, interacting with decisionmakers, securing terms).
• Existing relationships, expertise and credibility across at least two of the following donor channels: corporate partnerships, major/HNW donors, trusts and foundations, and institutional funders.
• Experience negotiating the commercial and contractual terms of corporate or institutional partnerships (e.g. partnership agreements, funding terms, reporting obligations).
• Comfortable operating both strategically (shaping a multi-year plan with the CEO) and operationally (personally running meetings and asks).
• Experience working within, managing or mentoring a small team, and setting up systems.
• Genuine interest in and understanding of the environmental/conservation sector.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to tailor a case for support to different audiences.

BENEFITS

• 4% matched pension contribution
• Flexible working (hours and location) CS3
• Unlimited holiday allowance
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Monthly remote working stipend
• Cycle to work scheme
• Private medical insurance (opt-in)
• UK and international travel opportunities.