The Head of Philanthropy and Partnerships contributes to Guide Dogs’ charitable mission to help people with sight loss to live the life they choose by developing and delivering a strategic plan for the Philanthropy and Partnerships team.

Working with the Fundraising Director and managing the Corporate, Trusts and Major Giving teams, the Head of Philanthropy & Partnerships will secure new and grow existing strategic partnerships to drive income, raise awareness and meet objectives to fulfil mutually beneficial aims. There is a particular focus on growth within the Corporate and Commercial partnerships arena, which forms a key part of this role.

With responsibility for a prospect pipeline, underpinned by a marketing acquisition and engagement strategy, the Head of Philanthropy and Partnerships will identify and create opportunities for income growth among national Corporates, Trusts, and Individuals. The role collaborates with Trustees, Directors, and Heads of departments to maximise impact for Guide Dogs.

This role is 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week, with 26 days paid holiday (excluding bank holidays) a year.

We recognise that the world looks a little bit different since the pandemic. Therefore, we’re committed to enabling our staff to work where best suits the needs of the individual, their team, and the organisation. For this role, there will be opportunities to work from home as well as the office. National travel will be required for this role.

We offer a generous pension scheme, life assurance and enhanced pay for parenting and sickness leave. In addition, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme, flexible benefits package and discounts and cashback scheme to care for our people.

More details about this role, the Organisation and the recruitment process can be found in the attached candidate pack and job description.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

Diversity

Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. We encourage applications from people with disabilities as they are currently under-represented in the organisation and guarantee an invitation to interview for all applicants with disabilities who demonstrate, within their application form, sufficient evidence to meet the essential criteria for the job.

Safeguarding

Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

Candidate requirements

To be able to fulfil this role, the skills and experience we are looking for in a potential candidate include;

Essential

• Demonstrable, proven track record of developing and implementing effective and successful fundraising within the charity sector.
• Demonstrable, proven experience with fundraising at senior management level.
• Demonstrable, proven experience in management and influencing at senior management level.
• A successful track record in the winning and account management of significant corporate and high-net worth donors.
• A successful track record of managing a major appeal or campaign.
• Experience of managing and motivating a busy departmental team.
• Up to date knowledge of legislation and protocols relevant to Commercial and Donor Fundraising Governance.

For the complete list of essential and desirable criteria necessary to be successful in this role please see the Person Specification within the Job Description below. The candidate pack contains more information about this role & the recruitment process at Guide Dogs.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. We cannot provide sponsorship for this role.

How to apply

If you have any accessibility issues, please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 peopleservicecentre@guidedogs.org.uk.

Applications need to be made using the online application form, accessed using the ‘apply’ button above.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description.

The system has a one-hour time limit. We would advise you to prepare your answers separately and then copy and paste into the online form once finalised. If any mandatory fields are missed, a pop-up box will appear at the top of the page advising which sections require completion.

Please note that you’ll have to upload a CV as this is a mandatory requirement as part of our Safer Recruitment Policy.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If there is not enough space in your application form to provide this information, please ensure you upload additional documentation containing the additional detail.

Please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or peopleservicecentre@guidedogs.org.uk if you require any support with your application.