Description
Deputy Director of Philanthropy
Salary: Competitive salary dependent on experience
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time
The role
St Edward’s is at an exciting and pivotal stage in its development and is seeking to expand its impact for pupils and the wider community through philanthropic support. To help realise these ambitions, we are looking for an experienced and dynamic fundraiser to join us as Deputy Director of Philanthropy.
This senior role will be instrumental in strengthening philanthropic engagement and achieving our capital development goals, ensuring that major donors feel inspired, valued, and closely connected to St Edward’s mission.
As a key member of the Beyond Teddies team, you will play a leading role in securing transformational philanthropic support, with a particular focus on capital projects in Science and Sport. Working closely with senior stakeholders, you will develop and implement a structured major gifts programme, targeting gifts from £50,000 to £1 million, engaging mid to high-net-worth individuals, including alumni, parents, and friends of the School. By contributing to the School’s broader philanthropic and income strategy, you will help enhance the School’s ability to provide exceptional educational opportunities, excellent facilities and generous bursary provision.
Relationship management will be a key aspect of your role. You will design tailored stewardship plans to nurture and sustain long-term relationships with major donors, while building and managing a dynamic prospect pipeline, ensuring sufficient activity and movement to meet annual and campaign targets. You will also create opportunities for donors to engage meaningfully with the life of the School through events, communications, and bespoke experiences.
About you
Educated to degree level or equivalent, you will demonstrate a strong understanding of major gifts fundraising and donor development, alongside sound knowledge of fundraising trends and best practice within the UK charity and education sectors. You will also possess a proven track record of securing six+ figure gifts, either within a charitable environment or through business investment.
With a highly motivated, proactive and resilient approach to your work, you will bring excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the confidence to engage and inspire donors at the highest level. Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage a complex portfolio of prospects with a consistent record of delivering against ambitious financial targets are also essential for success in this role.
A degree of flexibility may be possible for the right candidate; however, the minimum weekly contracted hours is 30.
For further details and to apply please click apply.
The deadline for applications is 9am on Wednesday 25th February 2026
St Edward’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we aim to create and maintain a safe environment for our pupils, where they feel respected and supported. We expect all staff to share this commitment and to become familiar with our policies and procedures for child protection and security. All staff are required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service.
St Edward’s School is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on age, race, sex, religion, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic. Please see our Equal Opportunities & Dignity at Work policy on our website for further details.
