Donor Experience & Stewardship Manager
The Royal Free Charity is seeking an ambitious and talented donor experience & stewardship manager to join their fundraising operations team.
Salary £39,000 - £43,000 per annum - subject to skills and experience
Hours of work 37.5 hours a week over five days
Base Hybrid working for the foreseeable future, with regular attendance in the office two days a week, including Thursdays, at our central office:
· Pears Building, Pond Street, London, NW3 2PP
Other office days may be worked from other sites at:
· Barnet Hospital, Wellhouse Lane, Barnet, EN5 3DJ
· Chase Farm Hospital, 127 The Ridgeway, Enfield, EN2 8JL
The role
The donor experience & stewardship manager will report to the head of fundraising operations & strategy.
We are seeking a creative and driven donor experience manager to join our team on a permanent basis. Working alongside members of the wider team, you will lead on creating and delivering a gold-standard experience for major donors supporting the Royal Free Charity, showcasing the impact their support has across our hospital sites. Your efforts will play a key role in ensuring continued, uplifted support for the charity.
You will play an important role within our Fundraising Operations team, helping to build relationships, and increase income, in a pivotal year for the charity, after our silent phase capital campaign launch. Your role will have a varied workload, supporting both core fundraising and campaign stewardship. The role will offer significant scope for development, giving you the opportunity to develop your skillset in a supportive, ambitious, and high-performing team.
Principal accountabilities/responsibilities
· Work with members of the Philanthropy & Campaign team and Fundraising Operations team to create and deliver a gold-standard stewardship experience for major donors supporting the Royal Free Charity, being actively involved across the cycle of a relationship before, during and after a gift.
· Lead on stewardship responsibility for the capital campaign.
· Become the primary author and guardian of the campaign case for support and the campaign brochure.
· Own and enhance our campaign naming and recognition opportunities, ensuring we adhere to our Naming and Recognition Policy.
· Develop high quality and bespoke impact reports, using Adobe Express, and communications for supporters to convey the impact of their support, bringing them closer to the cause.
· Lead on the charity’s approach to thanking and recognition of our major donors, including responsibility for the key stewardship non-campaign and campaign matrices and ownership of the tiered giving levels. Moreover, provide guidance for recognition at lower levels, to ensure alignment across the brand.
· Develop other key stewardship touchpoints and engagement opportunities for supporters, while remaining aware of different levels of giving.
· Work proactively in identifying potential stewardship opportunities, sharing ideas and suggestions with members of the department.
· Act as a subject matter expert on all stewardship delivery queries.
· Work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation (particularly fundraising and communications colleagues) and hospital sites (including clinicians), to collate information and content to support stewardship activities.
· Monitor and evaluate the delivery and impact of stewardship activities, proactively seeking to improve our offer.
· Support our special events manager with developing and implementing a high-quality events programme, tailored to the interests of our audiences.
· Work with colleagues to ensure that relevant policies and activities are compliant and reflect sector best practice.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualifications:
No specific qualifications are required for this role.
Experience, skills and knowledge:
· Experience of providing excellent donor experience, or account/portfolio management within a fundraising environment or equivalent.
· Exceptional written communication, attention-to-detail and proofreading skills.
· Exceptional talent in creating engaging and informative stories for a range of audiences, working across digital platforms and physical collateral.
· To be able to communicate effectively with donors and colleagues.
· The ability to interpret technical language and convey it in an accessible way.
· Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to develop relationships with a range of individuals.
· Strong project management skills, with a proven ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines, as well as act flexibly.
· An understanding of the fundraising code of practice and stewardship regulations.
· Willingness to keep abreast of sector developments and to engage with peers across the sector to help inform our delivery.
· Potential experience of working within a capital campaign.
The team
Our dynamic fundraising department generated c.£4m through donations in 2025/26, and we are now preparing for an ambitious multi-million-pound campaign in support of a ground-breaking cancer centre on the site of the Royal Free Hospital.
We pride ourselves on being a supporter focused and agile function, working at the heart of the charity to deliver impact for patients and staff across our hospitals.
Responsible for attracting and retaining donors, and delivering an outstanding supporter experience, the fundraising department comprises three teams which work closely together to achieve our shared objectives:
· Our philanthropy & campaigns team builds relationships with individual philanthropists, trusts, foundations, corporate organisations and intermediaries, giving or facilitating donations of £10,000 or more to the charity each year. They lead major appeal activity for the charity, currently focused on our cancer campaign, and special events to support these activities.
· Our public fundraising team harnesses the support and energy of individuals and groups, helping them to give back in the way that works for them. This includes committed giving, in memory support, gifts in wills, and fundraising events and challenges.
· Our fundraising operations team provides operational support for our fundraising and the wider charity through the provision of data and systems support, prospect research, stewardship, gift processing, reporting and governance. We underpin the work of the entire department.
Organisation
The Royal Free Charity stands at the threshold of its most important period of development.
Our vision is for everyone served by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (RFL) to have access to world-leading healthcare, delivered by a thriving workforce, and driven by medical research that has a global impact. We support the 17,000 staff of the RFL and their two million patients across Barnet, Chase Farm, North Mid and Royal Free hospitals and more than 30 NHS services.
Through the services we provide, and the programmes and equipment we fund, we make a profound and immediate difference to patients’ experiences of care.
The recruitment process
To apply for this post, send your:
- CV (please include your last employer and dates of employment)
- Cover letter addressing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description and person specification,
Please note, that applications submitted without a cover letter may not be considered for this role.
Closing date for application: Monday, 20 July 2026, 12 noon.
Interview date: Wednesday, 29 July 2026/ Thursday, 30 July 2026
Please kindly note that we may close the job advert before the closing date if we receive a large volume of applications.
- You must be eligible to work in the UK
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may require during the recruitment process.
As an equal opportunities’ employer, the Royal Free Charity is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.
We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join the Royal Free Charity and act in line with our values of dedication, innovation, partnership, energy and respect.
Benefits:
Core benefits
· 25 days of paid holiday, plus three-day office closure rest period between Christmas and New Year, and UK bank holidays. This increases to 30 days leave after five completed years of continuous employment (all leave is pro rata for part-time employees).
· A contributory pension scheme, where we match your 4% contribution towards your pension. If you choose to increase your payments into your pension scheme, we’ll match your contribution up to 9%.
· A sick pay package that offers one month’s full pay and one month’s half pay in any 12-month period if you’ve been with us for less than two years. This rises to two months’ full pay and two months’ half pay in any 12-month period after two years of continuous employment.
· Occupational maternity pay and paternity pay packages that provide more generous support than statutory pay alone.
· A flexible working policy to support our employees’ work/life balance.
Support for your financial wellbeing
As a member of the Royal Free family, you’ll be entitled to benefit from:
· Expert financial advice from our financial partner, the London Credit Union
· Savings on purchases with the Blue Light Card
· Our Death in Service benefit
Support for your health and wellbeing
· Subsidised gym, pool and classes at our Rec Club in Hampstead
· Secure bicycle parking and shower facilities at our Hampstead site
· Guided meditation
· Menopause peer support group
· Employee Assistance Programme offering 24-hour access to free confidential advice and support on work and personal issues.
Pay: £39,000.00-£43,000.00 per year
Work Location: Hybrid remote in London NW3 2PP
