Senior Philanthropy Manager – Major Donors

With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.
Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!
Key Responsibilities:
Senior Philanthropy Manager – Major Donors
Contract: Permanent Contract – Full Time 36.5 Hours
Based: Home-based – Monthly Travel to MK Office:
Travel: Regular UK travel for donor visits/events
Salary: Circa £47,000 per annum
The opportunity
World Vision UK is looking for an accomplished, ambitious relationship fundraiser to grow high-value philanthropic giving. As Senior Philanthropy Manager, you will own a portfolio of major donors and prospects, open new networks and convert carefully cultivated relationships into gifts of £25,000+, multi-year commitments and transformational support.
This is a senior, externally facing role for someone who combines excellent relationship management with commercial judgement, disciplined pipeline management and the confidence to make compelling asks. You will have the autonomy to shape donor strategies, engage senior leaders, trustees and advocates, and strengthen fundraising practice across the wider team.
Your key outputs and deliverables
Deliver significant income growth: achieve a Year 1 personal income target of £200,000, building towards £750,000 annually by Year 3.
Secure high-value commitments: convert qualified prospects into gifts of £25,000+, while confidently progressing six-figure and multi-year opportunities.
Create a strong, active pipeline: identify new high-net-worth individuals, qualify their potential and move priority relationships through cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.
Maintain purposeful donor activity: complete 12 donor or prospect meetings each month, including at least eight with new or qualifying prospects.
Improve conversion and retention: develop tailored engagement, ask and stewardship plans that increase proposal conversion, repeat giving, donor upgrades and advocacy.
Strengthen forecasting and accountability: keep timely, accurate CRM records and use pipeline data to forecast income, report progress and adapt activity.
Open influential networks: generate introductions and opportunities through existing supporters, senior colleagues, trustees, volunteers, events and external networks.
Raise team performance: model excellent relationship fundraising, share insight, coach colleagues and contribute senior judgement to philanthropy planning.
What you will bring
A strong track record of personally cultivating, soliciting and stewarding major donors, high-net-worth individuals or comparable high-value relationships.
Evidence of achieving stretching financial and activity targets, including income generation, proposal conversion and pipeline growth.
The credibility and confidence to build trusted relationships, make significant asks and influence senior stakeholders.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create compelling donor propositions, proposals and impact-led stewardship.
Strong planning, prioritisation, CRM and forecasting discipline, with the resilience and judgement to manage a complex portfolio.
A collaborative approach and commitment to World Vision UK’s mission, vision and values.
Why join us?
You will join a collaborative and ambitious Relationship Fundraising team, working across World Vision UK and with the Global Philanthropic Alliance to connect donors with compelling opportunities to create lasting change.
Ready to turn strategic relationships into measurable impact? Apply to join World Vision UK as our Senior Philanthropy Manager.
All applicants must be willing to work within a Christian framework and be sensitive to its various expressions across cultures and denominations.
Please upload your CV of full employment history explaining any gaps of employment and reasons for leaving your previous employer. This must be accompanied with a covering letter (max 2 pages) stating how you meet the essential criteria given in the Job Description and why you are interested in this role.
Closing Date for applications: 13th November 2026
First stage interviews: W/C 16th November 2026
We reserve the right to interview candidates and close the ad ahead of the closing date should a strong candidate be identified.
Universal acceptance for everyone, everywhere is at the heart of our Christian organisation. We promote diversity of thought, culture and background, which connects the entire World Vision family. As such, World Vision is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity and aspire to reflect this in our workforce. We particularly welcome applications from under-represented sections of the community. World Vision UK also operates flexible working policies and practices.
As a child-focused organisation, World Vision UK is committed to the safeguarding of children, therefore any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of applicable background checks, including a criminal records check.
By submitting your application, you understand and accept that World Vision UK will process the data you provide for the purposes of your application and in accordance with the World Vision UK - Job Applicant Privacy Notice
Applicant Types Accepted:
Local Applicants Only