Regional Fundraising Manager

The Team

Each region will have a small team made up of a Regional Partnerships Manager and a Fundraising Manager, supported by central staff including a Head of Regional Partnerships, a National Fundraising Manager, and Data and Insights Manager.

This team will work closely with a Regional Board made up of independent members, RFU representatives, and people from the community game. Together, they will create and deliver a plan to help more people in the region experience Rugby Union. This is a new team, so you will have the chance to help shape how it works and contribute to building something from the ground up.

Although this role is home‑based, you will spend some time travelling around the region to secure funding opportunities.

Some key responsibilities include

• Work closely with the Regional Partnerships Manager and Regional Board to help develop and deliver the Regional Rugby Promotion & Growth Plan.
• Create and deliver the region’s external funding strategy, securing income from public, private, and charitable sources.
• Lead all fundraising activity, including writing funding applications, running events, and developing early‑stage prospects.
• Bring new, creative ideas to identify and pursue additional fundraising opportunities.
• Track, manage, and report all funding information, from identifying prospects through to receiving and spending funds.
• Build strong relationships and collaborate with colleagues across regions and departments to share learning and best practice.
• Acting as an ambassador for, and promoting the best interests of the RFU, including the promotion of our culture and core values – This Rose Means Everyone: Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other.
• Undertaking other duties as may be required from time to time as are consistent with the responsibilities of the post and the needs of the organisation.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience

The skills and attributes outlined in this description are not exhaustive and we welcome candidates who can bring different relevant experiences to the role.

Essential

• Proven experience running successful fundraising programmes across public and private sectors.
• Track record of meeting income targets and KPIs.
• Experience planning and delivering fundraising events.
• Good understanding of how charities work.
• Strong knowledge of best‑practice fundraising at local and regional levels.
• Experience producing accurate financial reports for fundraising activity.
• Experience delivering projects with a range of internal and external partners.
• Confident working with stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong communication and relationship‑building skills, both written and verbal.
• Excellent organisation and time‑management skills, with the ability to handle multiple projects at once.
• Able to work independently and take initiative.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Creative problem‑solver with a positive, proactive attitude.
• Confident using Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• A passion for the positive impact sport can have in communities.
• Full UK driving licence.
• Committed to embodying the ethos our culture by using our three core values – Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other – to guide your day-to-day decisions, actions and interactions.
• Committed to actively contributing and building an inclusive culture in your role and day to day behaviours.

Desirable

• An understanding of community sport/rugby landscape in England would be an advantage, but is not essential.
• Proficiency with Smartsheet.
• Degree level education or higher desirable, but not essential.
• An effective team member, with sufficient flexibility and willingness to take on roles outside their normal functional responsibility when required.

Additional Information

• We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment, please reach out to recruitment [recruitment@rfu.com].
• During your application, we will ask questions about your identity. This information is considered highly confidential and will not be seen by hiring managers. You can find out more about why we ask these questions here.

About England Rugby

England Rugby or Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby in England. We deliver three core activities, and our purpose is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union and develop the sport for future generations.

Our core activities are:

• Rugby – supporting rugby from grassroots to performance level
• Commercial – building partnerships and hosting matches and events
• Running the business - ensuring our organization and people can thrive

Our Culture

At England Rugby, one of our core objectives is to drive rugby union to better reflect the diversity of society. We are aware that rugby, and sports in general, has not always been as welcoming an environment for everyone as we would like, and we are working hard to make rugby a more inclusive space for all identities. We believe hiring people from underrepresented groups into positions at all levels is vital to creating spaces and initiatives that better support those identities. We would love to see applications from disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, people from ethnically diverse communities, people of faith, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and women and non-binary people. We know that representation is more than just getting people through the door, it’s about keeping people by responding to structural barriers relating to identities and valuing the insights that different lived experiences bring. We have network groups that provide peer-to-peer support and drive forward change internally. We support colleagues to develop, and each colleague has access to a personal coaching platform that can provide same-day one-to-one coaching. We are pushing ourselves to create a more inclusive culture every day through role modelling our culture and core values; This Rose Means Everyone: Put The Team First, Shape The Future, Respect Each Other. We know that flexible working is important to our colleagues, so our guiding principles are designed to support everyone to work in the way that suits them, their teams, and the organisation in the best way. We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential. If there is anything we could do to support you through your application or to provide the best environment for your interviews, including assistance or adjustment