Donor Development and Legacies Lead

Company Description

MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES UK

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) provides life-saving emergency relief and longer-term medical care to some of the most vulnerable and excluded communities around the world. As an independent medical humanitarian organisation, we deliver care based only on need, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, religion or political affiliation.

MSF relies on donations from private individuals and organisations for the majority of its income. This private funding gives MSF the freedom to respond where needs are greatest and to speak out publicly, free from any political interference.

MSF has around 63,000 local and international staff working in over 70 countries, in some of the most challenging places in the world. Our medical humanitarian projects are supported by offices in 44 countries, including the UK and Ireland. These teams recruit staff, organise fundraising, and raise awareness on the humanitarian crises our colleagues are witnessing, as well as running different and diverse support activities. MSF offices are spread across Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia.

At MSF UK/IE, we support MSF's operations by building relationships with our supporters, increasing awareness of our work, raising funds, providing specialist medical expertise, ensuring MSF staff have access to relevant higher education programmes, catalysing change on medical humanitarian issues, and recruiting field staff. MSF UK/IE personnel are dynamic, hard-working, enthusiastic and committed to MSF's values and aims. In addition MSF continues to build upon its presence in Ireland to become a widely recognised, accepted and respected humanitarian organisation among Irish audiences, and within the Irish humanitarian and political sector.

Position

The Donor Development and Legacies team aims to maximise the value of each donor’s contribution over their lifetime using direct marketing channels and through optimal donor relationship management. The income and fundraising team at MSF UK is growing and is a very exciting time to join us!

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Mon-Fri

Duration: Permanent

Location: London - hybrid, 2 days per week in office (to include Wednesdays)

Salary: £59,739.12 per annum

Job Purpose:

Lead and develop the strategy for MSF’s Donor Development and Legacies Programme, being accountable for all communications to warm donors (including regular givers and mid value donors) which focus on building relationships with individual supporters to increase their financial contribution and loyalty. Supervise and motivate the Supporter Development Manager (SDM) to implement the supporter development programme with the aim of increasing the lifetime value of MSF UK supporters, by increasing donor knowledge and understanding of humanitarian action and their awareness of the importance of their own support to MSF. The DD&LL is responsible for the full DD&L budget and oversees the SDM, Mid-Value Manager (MVM) and LMM to plan and manage the supporter development, mid-value and legacies budgets. The Head of Individual Giving (HIG) is accountable for the full Individual Giving budget which the donor development, mid-value and legacies budgets are within.

Please download the full job and person specification below for further details.

Requirements

Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

• Considerable experience of fundraising at a strategic level with a proven track record in the planning and management against budget, timescale and deadlines. This must include knowledge about warm direct mail, radio, print campaigns, legacy fundraising and fulfilment.
• Knowledge about the MSF brand and how this is translated into fundraising communications.
• Knowledge about and the application of the strategy and ethos of fundraising at MSF.
• Significant knowledge about fundraising audiences and segmentation.
• Experience of line management and managing a team.
• Excellent planning skills with a proven ability to carry out different tasks simultaneously and prioritise time and resources accordingly.
• Creative, innovative and analytical skills with an ability to think laterally in order to identify and respond quickly to new opportunities
• Good interpersonal and negotiating skills with an ability to build relationships with supporters and external suppliers
• Excellent and engaging written and oral communication skills.
• Accuracy combined with an attention to detail.
• Proven ability to manage projects effectively to include planning, budgeting, implementation and evaluation.
• Proven ability to work independently within a team environment.
• Prove experience with donor proposal writing and budgets.
• Level of analytical and written skills, and technical skills equivalent to degree level.
• Experience with reporting and budgeting desirable.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally including to MSF field projects.
• Experience in the practical use of personal IT equipment and Microsoft Office 365 suite. The ability to effectively collaborate and communicate within a hybrid working environment utilising Teams, SharePoint, One Drive and Yammer.

Other information

HOW TO APPLY

Please apply on our website by submitting a copy of your CV together with a letter of motivation (please upload as one document) by the closing date.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Recruitment timetable:

• Closing date for applications: 26 October 2025, 11.59pm (BST)
• First round interviews: 12-13 November 2025
• Projected Start Date: January 2026

Accessibility

We are committed to removing barriers for people with specific accessibility needs. If you need an adjustment to the recruitment process to be considered for the role, please let us know by contacting recruitment.UK@london.msf.org

Examples of adjustments we can make:

• offering you an alternative if you are unable to use our online application system
• providing necessary information, such as the job description or assessment materials, in an alternate format
• allowing you to have someone with you during an interview for example, a Sign Language interpreter.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We are a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive organisation. MSF UK thrives when everyone feels comfortable bringing their best self to work. We celebrate difference, whilst striving to create an environment where colleagues feel respected and valued for their unique potential. We are committed to our values on equity, diversity, and inclusion. Please read our Equality & Diversity policy for more information.

MSF UK is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to diversity and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applications from all sections of our diverse community. 

Safeguarding

MSF UK/IE is dedicated to safeguarding everyone who comes into contact with the organisation, for whatever reason and however brief. All posts are subject to safer recruitment process which include robust reference requests, scrutiny of employment history and where applicable criminal record and barring checks.

Our safeguarding commitment is underpinned by policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the organisation. On joining MSF UK/IE you will be required to attend safeguarding training to ensure responsibility for and maintaining safe working practice and to safeguard our teams, beneficiaries, and communities.

Right to work in the UK

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK. Please click here to check whether you have the right to work in the UK.If you would like to discuss your right to work status further, please contact recruitment.UK@london.msf.org.

We look forward to receiving your application!