Fundraising Lead

ABOUT US:

At Founders Pledge, our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to do immense good. Since launching in 2015, we’ve raised over $10 billion for the most impactful social causes. We offer the simplest path to impact for successful entrepreneurs, providing end-to-end giving infrastructure, pioneering research, and access to a worldwide network of experts. In other words, we help tech leaders become strategic philanthropists. Our 1800+ members include the people behind industry-leading companies such as Airbnb, UiPath, Dropbox, Skype, Spotify, and Uber.

ABOUT THE ROLE: 

We’re now looking for a Fundraising Lead to grow and diversify our operating income, so that we can continue to deliver our mission of empowering entrepreneurs to do immense good. In this stand-alone role, you’ll independently secure funding from potential donors as well as support our CEO to focus his fundraising efforts in the most impactful way. Reporting to our COO, this is an incredible opportunity for a relentless and driven fundraising professional to build on our development success to date, ultimately helping us to move funds to the most impactful organizations worldwide.

In this stand-alone role, you’ll be responsible for executing our medium-long term global Fundraising strategy. Responsibilities will include:

• Major gifts fundraising - cultivating and growing support from Founders Pledge members, and leading on our Sustaining Partners ($10k-$250k/yr) strategy and execution. Coordinating and advising the activities of our advisors, CEO, and other key staff with cultivation of our Foundry ($250k+/yr) supporter community.
• Corporate, Foundation, and individual giving - Sustaining and growing funding from corporate sponsors, foundations and individual donors (external to Founders Pledge), diversifying our funding streams.
• Stewardship - Developing, planning and executing stewardship activities, and supporting the stewardship activities of the CEO and other Founders Pledge staff.
• Fundraising communications & materials - Creating an annual fundraising communications plan and collaborating with the Communications Team, drafting some communications yourself and working collaboratively on other organization-wide communications. Overseeing the development of the annual FP impact report and other materials used to support FP fundraising.
• CEO fundraising support - Organizing and supporting the fundraising activities of our CEO, ensuring his time is stewarded towards the highest impact fundraising activities.
• Fundraising culture - leading the continuation and further development of a culture of fundraising at Founders Pledge, ensuring fundraising communications and activities are integrated into every stage of our member journey so that all members know how we're supported and have the option to donate to us.
• Budget planning - collaborating with the Finance team to establish an annual fundraising target, monthly gap-to-goal analysis, and strategies for closing any gaps, building upon Founders Pledge's existing income streams.

ABOUT YOU: 

We’re ideally looking for someone with strong senior fundraising experience, specifically in “closing” major gifts funding from donors. You’ll be hungry to talk about Founders Pledge externally, secure funding and work strategically with our CEO to achieve our annual fundraising targets. You might have experience in a senior Development position or as Major Gifts Manager. 

You’re likely to have:

• A demonstrated drive and relentless hunger to bring funding into Founders Pledge. You're self-motivated to work to tight deadlines, and don’t take no for an answer.
• Proven success in accelerating operating income and diversifying an income base (or transferable experience from the commercial sector).
• Proven experience and success leading innovation across different income sources, which might include individual giving.
• Solid data literacy - you like spreadsheets and can both manage and report on fundraising data. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are needed, and particular experience at 1:1 donor cultivation. 
• A strong knowledge of legislation and best practice relating to fundraising in a charity setting (nice to have).
• Experience of fundraising in other geographies outside of the UK (including the US and EU) would be a bonus.

Note: We’re open to candidates from varying backgrounds for this role. If you don’t have direct fundraising experience, but are a driven individual, eager to learn and have experience working with HNWs in a sales capacity, we’re interested in speaking to you.

WHY WORK WITH US?

You can find more about the benefits we offer here, but what makes us truly special is both our mission and our people. We’re a diverse team, from both charitable and commercial backgrounds, who believe that amazing things can happen when we tackle problems together. We offer a flat structure and an opportunity to help shape the future of philanthropy.

We ask that applicants to this role are based within commutable distance of London. You’ll need to be in the office 2 or more days per week to collaborate with the CEO on our fundraising activity. On top of this, we’ll bring the global team together once per year!

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at Founders Pledge. We seek people with different strengths, experiences and backgrounds, who share our drive to understand and solve complex social challenges. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems requires different perspectives and unique ways of thinking and we are committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone can do their best work.