Action Change
Director of Fundraising: Trust & Grants - Volunteer
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What difference will you make?
Every grant you win will fund real, tangible change. Whether it's expanding our coastal restoration work, supporting a farming programme, or getting a new healthcare initiative off the ground, the money you bring in goes straight into projects that are already proven to work on the ground. You won't be fundraising for something theoretical. You'll be fundraising for work we're already doing well, and simply don't have the resources to grow.
Right now, our biggest constraint isn't ideas, delivery, or community trust. It's funding. Our team on the ground is stretched thin trying to do everything from programme delivery to writing the odd funding application in whatever spare hours they can find, and it shows in how much time is lost and how many opportunities we simply can't pursue. You would be removing that constraint entirely. With your expertise, we could move from surviving project to project to planning years ahead with real confidence, taking on new communities and expanding the work we already know changes lives.
Beyond the immediate funding you bring in, you'd be helping us build something longer lasting a proper trusts and foundations function that doesn't currently exist. Right now, every funding relationship starts from scratch. With your help, we'd build a genuine pipeline, a track record with funders, and a way of telling our story that gets stronger every time you use it. That means your impact doesn't stop with the grants you personally win. It compounds, making every future fundraising effort easier, faster, and more successful than the one before.
For you, this is a chance to see your expertise translate directly and visibly into impact. You'll see exactly which communities and projects your funding supports, and you'll be working with a team who are on the ground and can show you, in real terms, what your work made possible. Few volunteer roles offer this level of direct line of sight between your skill and someone's life changing for the better.
What are we looking for?
We're looking for a senior, experienced fundraiser, not someone taking their first steps in the sector. The single most important thing is a proven track record you should be able to point to specific grants or bids you've personally written and won, ideally at the five-figure level or above, for a charity or non-profit organisation.
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Beyond that track record, we're looking for
- Bid and proposal writing skill that goes beyond competent. You should be able to turn a strong project and a set of facts into a compelling, well-structured case that a funder wants to say yes to. You understand what makes funders tick, how to tailor a proposal to their specific priorities, and how to write with both rigour and heart.
- Research and prospecting ability. You know how to identify the right trusts, foundations, and statutory funders for a cause like ours, and how to prioritise a pipeline so effort goes where it's most likely to pay off, rather than spreading yourself thin across every funder you can find.
- Project and time management. You'll be juggling multiple bids at different stages, each with its own deadline and requirements. We need someone who can manage that without anything slipping, and who brings their own structure and discipline to the role rather than needing it imposed on them.
- Genuine independence. This is a self-directed role. You'll have full access to our team, our data, and our stories, but you won't have someone checking in on you daily. We need someone who sets their own priorities, holds themselves to their own targets, and is comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy.
- Sector understanding. Ideally you'll already understand the international development or community-led development funding landscape, or be a fast, confident learner who can get up to speed quickly. Existing relationships with relevant funders would be a strong bonus, though not a requirement.
Above all, we're looking for someone who wants their fundraising expertise to have a direct, visible impact, and who's excited by the challenge of building a trusts and foundations function from a strong base rather than from nothing. If that's you, we'd love to hear from you.
What will you be doing?
Action Change is an international, community-led development charity, currently active across Southern Africa and Central America. We're small in number but mighty in impact our on-the-ground programmes, from coastal restoration to education and healthcare, are transforming communities who own and lead the change themselves. We've been doing this work for over 20 years, and we know it works. What we don't have is a dedicated fundraiser with the skill and experience to translate that impact into funding.
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That's where you come in.
We're looking for a senior fundraising professional to lead our trusts and foundations strategy from the ground up. You'll take ownership of the full grant cycle researching and identifying the right trusts, foundations, and statutory funders for our work, building relationships with programme officers and decision-makers, and writing compelling, well-evidenced bids that win.
Day to day, this means
- Building and prioritising a pipeline of funders whose priorities align with our programme areas
- Leading on proposal writing, from first drafts through to polished, submission-ready bids
- Managing submission timelines and juggling multiple applications at once
- Reporting back on outcomes, and refining our approach as we learn what resonates with funders
- Setting realistic funding targets and holding yourself accountable to them
You'll work closely with our CEO and our small team, who know every project inside out and can give you the stories, data, and evidence you need to write a genuinely winning case. We're not looking for someone to sit on the sidelines waiting for direction. We need someone who can take the brief and run with it, setting their own priorities and pace.
This is a genuinely senior, strategic role, not an entry point into fundraising. We're looking for someone who has already secured five-figure-plus grants elsewhere, who understands what makes a bid stand out in a crowded funding landscape, and who can work independently without needing close oversight. If you've spent years building this exact skill set and are looking for a cause where your expertise will make a visible, direct difference, we'd love to hear from you.
The time commitment is flexible and entirely self-directed. This can be worked around an existing career, in the hours that suit you, from wherever you are.
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