Job Title: Head of Major Giving - Trusts & Foundations and Individual Donors

Reporting to: Director of Fundraising and Development  

Location of work: Home based. The post holder will be expected to travel to meet donors, travel to away days and team meetings in London. The role may involve some irregular travel throughout England and Scotland. Expenses will be paid in line with our Travel and Expenses policy. 

Contract type: Ideally full-time, 35 hours per week, 28 hours or 35 hours compressed would be considered.

Contract Length: This is a fixed term contract starting ASAP for 12 months.

Salary: £48,500 

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Magic Breakfast is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

JOB PURPOSE    

This is a unique opportunity to step into a pivotal leadership role during an exciting period of transformation at Magic Breakfast. As Head of Major Giving (Maternity Cover), you will shape and deliver our strategy for high-value income generation across philanthropy  and trusts and foundations, while embedding a newly merged team and fostering a culture of one unified, high-performing team within Major Giving and more widely as part of Fundraising and Development.  

You will lead a team of five people, line managing and working closely with two Major Giving Leads, empowering them and co-creating a Major Giving strategy that fully seizes the opportunities presented by our refreshed organisational strategy. You will also oversee a well-established Trusts and Foundations portfolio and a group of highly engaged individual donors, maintaining and growing these important relationships whilst helping to provide strategic and targeted support across pipeline development. 

This role offers a chance to make a tangible difference by bringing together two recently merged teams, embedding new ways of working, and setting up structures for long-term success. You will have a dotted-line relationship with the Business Development Manager (Scotland), enabling you to ensure joined-up major giving approaches across the UK and unlock exciting opportunities in Scotland. 

We are looking for a natural relationship-builder with a proven track record of securing six- and seven-figure gifts, outstanding communication skills, and the ability to inspire donors, colleagues, and external stakeholders alike. As part of the Fundraising Leadership team, you will deputise for the Director of Fundraising and Development when needed and collaborate across the organisation to implement, monitor, and adapt our fundraising strategy, maximising the impact of major giving. 

This is a rare chance to leave your mark on a highly visible and strategically important function, shaping a newly merged team, influencing our major giving strategy, and contributing to the long-term success of Magic Breakfast.

Key responsibilities: 

Strategy/ Leadership 

• Develop and deliver an integrated Major Giving strategy covering philanthropy and trusts & foundations with clear objectives and KPIs for income and performance and an embedded review, learn and continuously improve culture.  

• Provide strong leadership across the Major Giving team, ensuring delegation and empowerment whilst also setting clear direction that helps to mitigate challenges and unlock and seize on opportunities.  

• Foster and establish a strong and cohesive Major Giving team culture in support of shared objectives, supporting colleagues to flex and respond with agility across trusts, foundations and individual donors where required and in respond to need. 

• Embed a data-driven review process that enables the team to reflect on learnings and commit to continuous improvement. 

• Work collaboratively across the fundraising leadership team to ensure it operates as a cohesive, high-performing unit that acts with agility to plan, pivot and make strategic decisions that maximise opportunities and drive growth. 

• Provide direct line management to two Major Giving Leads, coaching, supporting and empowering them to deliver against targets, support the wider team, department and organisational strategy and contribute to a values-driven and cohesive culture.  

• Provide dotted-line management for the Business Development Manager (Scotland), ensuring alignment with the Major Giving strategy and creating effective ways of working that integrate Scottish opportunities across major giving. 

• As part of the wider leadership team, play a key role in ensuring effective delivery of the fundraising strategy, organisational goals and our long-term strategic vision. 

• Lead on the delivery of our narrative sub-goal with a particularly focus on ensuring the development of a strong case for support to equip the fundraising team  

• Represent Magic Breakfast externally as a spokesperson and internally as part of the Fundraising Leadership Team. 

• Ensure compliance with GDPR, safeguarding, and the Code of Fundraising Practice, embedding ethical business development across the function and taking responsibilities for operationalising of and adherence to all of Magic Breakfast’s policies and processes.  

Income Generation & Donor Stewardship 

• Lead the team to deliver £3.36m of income across major giving in the financial year 2025/26. 

• Proactively identify opportunities for the Major Giving team to leverage internal and external circumstances and create moments or campaigns to generate additional income – such as a Major Giving campaign.  

• Provide senior stakeholder leadership and support for high-value donor relationships. While the team will manage most accounts, you may personally lead on select transformational relationships and flex to support donor management where required. 

• Oversee donor stewardship across all major giving relationships, ensuring tailored engagement, exceptional care and high-quality reporting that speaks to the motivations and interests of our donors. 

• Lead the team to enable effective and agile resource allocation across all accounts and to ensure the right strategies are in place to renew and uplift gifts and to build long-term strategic partnerships.  

• Work across the fundraising department, and in particular with the partnerships and business development teams to identify opportunities for collaboration, efficiency and cross team-working and to seize on opportunities to leverage existing products or fundraising mechanisms.  

• Identify and embed opportunities to add-value across the organisation in pursuit of our organisational strategy by developing compelling giving propositions in collaboration with colleagues. 

• Work with trustees, senior staff, and volunteers to open networks and build new donor relationships. 

New Business Development 

• Lead the team to develop an ambitious prospecting and cultivation strategy and to identify and cultivate new major giving prospects, with a focus on targeting six- and seven-figure gifts. 

• Oversee a collaborative approach to prospect research and pipeline development to ensure a sustainable flow of opportunities, working with colleagues from across the wider department to leverage opportunities for referrals and pipeline development.   

• Work across the organisation to package innovative and compelling projects for funding. Maintain a strong knowledge of the organisation strategy, business plan and opportunities for innovation, to identify and build compelling giving propositions, wish lists and a persuasive case for support including non-financial asks. 

• Cultivate and build relationships with key prospects, creating tailored engagement plans for high level donors, coordinating and attending key meetings (or briefing senior stakeholders) and delivering presentations. 

• Lead on the development of new and innovative acquisition products and techniques including giving campaigns.

• Work in partnership with the Business Development Manager (Scotland) to coordinate prospecting, cultivation and stewardship of Scottish donors and funders, ensuring opportunities are maximised and activity is aligned with the wider Major Giving strategy. 

• Where necessary, prepare and submit innovative fundraising proposals in accordance with timetables and application criteria. 

 Reporting, Budgets, and financial management 

• Conduct effective annual planning and budgeting in partnership with the Director of Fundraising and Development, setting, measuring, and reporting against agreed KPIs and ensuring that date is used to inform and drive effective decision making. 

• Prepare phased budgets and reforecasts, identifying and recognising opportunities and risks to income in line with activity plans and progress. 

• Work with finance and performance and relevant business leads to manage programme budgets and restrictions. 

• Ensure all team income and activity is reconciled and recorded on Magic Breakfast database systems (Salesforce) with relevant supporting documents, including gift instruments. 

• Provide regular reports and updates to the Senior Leadership Team and other stakeholders as required.  

General 

• Foster strong communication and collaboration with the Business Development Manager (Scotland), ensuring effective two-way sharing of insight, alignment on donor and funder relationships, and joined-up approaches to national and devolved opportunities. 

• Build and develop cross-organisational relationships to facilitate fundraising and strengthen the organisation’s understanding of the major giving and wider fundraising team. 

• Represent the organisation at relevant forums, events and seminars. 

• Work collaboratively with trustees and the organisation more widely to build good working relations across the organisation and within the fundraising team. 

• Lead high-priority, strategic projects on behalf of the fundraising department. 

• Help to maintain a positive working environment; be visible, energetic and participative, keeping the vision of Magic Breakfast and the child at the heart of everything we do. 

• Uphold a culture that keeps children and young people at the heart and encourages openness, collaboration, bravery, compassion and a solutions-focussed approach. 

• Work collaboratively across the organisation to build strong working relations and identify opportunities for improvement and impact. 

•  Participate in occasional work-related events at external venues and perform support related activities as required and undertake occasional work outside of regular office hours and UK travel. 

• Champion and roll model the effective use of data and systems such as Asana and HiBob to drive performance, support effective project management, and ensure the team is working efficiently and collaboratively. 

Person Specification 

Knowledge and Experience 

• Significant experience and proven track record of securing six- and seven-figure gifts from high-net-worth individuals, family foundations, and charitable trusts. 

• Experience in leading, motivating, and developing high-performing teams. 

• Strong knowledge of major donor and trusts fundraising methodology. 

• Experience of managing budgets and financial planning. 

• Excellent understanding of the fundraising landscape, relevant legislation, and best practice. 

• Experience of working with trustees, senior volunteers, and stakeholders to achieve fundraising goals. 

• Significant and demonstrable fundraising experience, with a track record of soliciting five to six figures grants from a range of charitable trusts and foundations.  

• Experience of strategic planning, budget setting and monitoring.  

• A track record in identifying, cultivating and managing external relations with funding bodies of all sizes.  

• A collaborative team player with the confidence to work both self-sufficiently and across teams and departments, proactively engaging colleagues on projects and initiatives.  

• Knowledge of relationship databases with experience of using them to monitor and report on KPIs. Good IT skills in MS applications.  

• Experience of effectively and authentically incorporating the voices and views of people with lived experience in fundraising activities. 

Skills and Abilities 

• Outstanding relationship-building skills, able to inspire confidence and trust at all levels. 

• Exceptional coaching and management skills, with the ability to support, empower and get the best out of people whilst also holding individuals to account, including having constructive, and if needed, difficult conversations. 

• Skilled and confident in making the ask and leading senior-level donor conversations. 

• Exceptional writing and presentation skills. 

• High level of strategic thinking combined with strong attention to detail and hands-on delivery. 

• Excellent time management and organisational skills. 

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and innovative thinking skills. 

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (especially Excel) and experience with fundraising databases (ideally Salesforce).

Other 

• Passion and commitment to Magic Breakfast’s aim of alleviating morning hunger as a barrier to learning for children in the UK. 

• Share Magic Breakfast’s commitment to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion within the workplace. 

• Willing to travel within the UK occasionally for meetings and other events.. 

• Experience of working for a charity, especially in children and young people, desirable but not essential. 

WHAT WE OFFER

At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to bring their whole self to work.

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APPLICATION PROCCESS

Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, recruitment@magicbreakfast.com

Shortlisting - 12th - 14th January

Interview 1 - 19th OR 20th January

Interview 2 - 23rd January

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.