Listed today
The Brilliant Club Recruitment Pack Fundraising Officer April 2026 Registered Limited Company: 07986971 Registered Charity: 1147771 (England and Wales), SC048774 (Scotland) Registered Office: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH Fundraising Officer Start Date: July 2026 Salary: £32,494 (plus £2,000 London weighting for those living in London and within the M25). Contract Type: Permanent About the role Fundraising plays an important role in the sustainability of The Brilliant Club, and this is only set to grow in our next strategy. The new Fundraising Officer will be responsible for building relationships and creating excellent experiences for a portfolio of supporters and prospective supporters, to help us raise over £1.4 million each year. Supporters will be mainly Trusts & Foundations, but also some corporates and individuals. The role will include meeting with prospects, writing compelling applications for funding, stewarding and renewing existing partnerships and writing engaging funding reports. The successful candidate will have experience working as part of a fundraising team, or have transferable skills from a similar external-facing role. They will have a proven ability to confidently build relationships with external stakeholders and have excellent written communication skills. Attention to detail, strong organisational skills and experience using a CRM system are also key for this role. While this role can be based at either our Leeds or London office, we expect some travel will be required (mainly to London) for events and to attend in-person meetings with colleagues and funders. The role will report into the Head of Fundraising. About you The role will best suit someone who • Has experience working in a fundraising team or comparable transferable skills • Has experience building relationships with external stakeholders in a professional setting • Has strong writing skills and is able to write compelling funding applications and reports • Has strong research skills and the ability to translate complex information into clear briefs • Has a keen eye for detail • • Is able to work with data and budgets Is able to adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and complete information security training • Has a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission About The Brilliant Club What we do Access to higher education and the life-changing opportunities that come from attending the most competitive universities is not equal. 28 in 100 of the most advantaged students progress to the most competitive universities. In contrast, only 2 in 100 of the least advantaged young people access these universities. We think this is fundamentally unfair. We work across the UK to support less advantaged students to access the most competitive universities, and to succeed when they get there. Our programmes support social mobility through a range of approaches: • Through The Scholars Programme, 15,000 students each year develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to access university • Our pioneering approaches to university transition and student success ensure that less advantaged students are supported to achieve a strong degree • Parent Power empowers parents and carers to become champions for higher education in their communities and address any barriers their children face. We hope that you’ll consider joining us, as we work to create a fairer society where no child’s education is limited by their background. Working for us • Hours: 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday, flexible working with 10am – 3pm core hours, some evenings and weekends required. • Benefits include: 36 days’ holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 41 days, employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket loan, five professional development day allowance, BUPA health cover cash plan. • We’re happy to talk flexible working. We have offices in Leeds and London. • We expect you to be connecting face-to-face with colleagues on at least one day per week. In your first month, we may ask you to be in offices a little more regularly than this to make sure you’re getting to know your key colleagues and feeling connected to the organisation. Our values The Brilliant Club has three core values that underpin how we work. We look for people who share these values: • We get to a solution • We seek and act on the best data available • We understand that little things go a long way Diversity at The Brilliant Club We mobilise the PhD community to support students who are less advantaged to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there. We think it is important that our charity reflects the lived experience of the communities we work with, and we want to be an organisation where employees from any background can thrive. We particularly welcome applications from disabled, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Non-binary (LGBTQ+) candidates, and candidates from low-income families. “I am the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Staff Engagement Lead at The Brilliant Club. My role is to help make the charity an inclusive working environment for all of our colleagues. I work with our amazing Staff Networks and colleagues in HR to ensure everyone at the charity has a sense of belonging.” Emily – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Staff Engagement Lead “As the first in my family to go to university and having worked as a teacher in a state school, I applied to join The Brilliant Club with a real passion for the charity’s mission. I am grateful every day that I work at a charity that is supportive of both professional development and flexible working, as well as being full of kind and passionate colleagues.” Leanne, Chief Operating Officer Safeguarding The Brilliant Club is committed to proactively safeguarding children, beneficiaries and staff and to taking reasonable steps to protect all those who come into contact with the charity from harm. The safety and welfare of everyone affected by the charity’s activities, especially children, is a key governance priority. As part of our recruitment and selection process and commitment to safeguarding, we will undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check of all individuals in this role. Any offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory disclosure report. Responsibilities Securing funding support • Take an active role in researching fundraising prospects to support the charity’s pipeline development and prepare funder briefings, including trusts and foundations, corporates and major donors. • Reach out to prospective funders, developing and implementing cultivation plans, and conducting in-person and online meetings. • Develop high quality written and verbal funding asks. • Accurately interpret and present impact data and budgets. Stewarding supporters • Steward a portfolio of funders, leading on meetings, programme visits, funding reports and renewals for these partners. • Manage the funder reporting cycle for the team, leading on the creation of impactful funder reports, using data and collating content from colleagues across the organisation. • Work closely with programmes teams to coordinate engaging programme visits for funders. • Lead on communications for individuals and major donors, and work closely with the marketing team to develop engaging fundraising content and campaigns for social media. Operational support • Work closely with the finance team to track and log donations. Identify and implement improvements to finance processes. • Best practice • Maintain awareness of the fundraising regulatory environment and trends Wider Support • Across the charity we all pitch in to help different teams and areas of work. This may mean you attend and support with the delivery of other teams’ activities and events. From time to time, you may also work with another team for a fixed period of time, or collaborate on a project to ensure we deliver for the young people we serve. We think this is a good way to gain experiences in different areas of the organisation and enhance your professional skills. Person specification Time and Resource Management: • Balances competing priorities and deadlines, while maintaining high attention to detail • Manages projects with appropriate levels of time and resource input, using appropriate project management tools • Seeks and acts on feedback to ensure continuous improvement External Stakeholder Knowledge and Management: • Engages effectively with external supporters to get them excited about working with us to tackle educational inequality • Appropriately meets stakeholders’ needs, while balancing them with the needs of the charity • Appreciates sensitivities in stakeholder relationships and escalates issues confidently at the right time Communication: • Clear and confident communication style with a range of audiences • Adapts content, tone and delivery of written and oral communication to the needs of the audience and is aware of their impact • Ability to convey complex messages in a compelling and concise way Initiative and Problem-solving: • Proactively suggests ways that we can improve our approaches and processes • Identifies problems and potential risks, and works with the fundraising team to find solutions Developing Self and Others: • Creates and commits to personal development plan to address strengths and weaknesses, using feedback to strengthen plan • Actively seeks opportunities to develop Role Specific Knowledge and Skills • Essential – Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office • Essential – Experience working in a fundraising team or transferable skills from a similar external-facing role • Essential – Ability to communicate with a range of audiences, including funders and internal stakeholders • Essential – adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and complete information security training • Essential – Capable of adapting quickly to new systems and interfaces • Desirable – Experience or understanding of fundraising, interacting with donors, prospect research, writing reports and submitting funding applications • Desirable – Experience of using CRM systems, such as Salesforce What comes next To apply: Please submit your application by clicking here. As part of your application, you will be asked to submit your CV and complete the answers to some application questions. Deadline: 9am on Tuesday 21st April 2026 Interviews: First round interviews on Thursday 30th April 2026 and second round interviews on Thursday 7th May 2026. For more information: Visit our website or email recruitment@thebrilliantclub.org.