Philanthropy Manager

We are seeking an experienced and self-motivated individual to join our friendly team to manage income and relationships from Charitable Trusts and Major Donor prospects, with the support of the Trusts and Foundations Fundraiser.

Designability is a national charity who for over 50 years have created equality of opportunity for disabled people, by removing barriers to independence, enabling them to live the life they choose.

Following a person-centred design approach, and by including disabled people at each point of the design process, we ensure their ideas and lived experiences are taken onboard and that what we create reflects people’s needs as well as products and services they want to use. We are best known for the iconic Wizzybug powered wheelchairs for very young disabled children. To date, they have been loaned to over 1,400 children, typically aged between 14 months and 5 years, across the UK completed free of charge thanks to the support of our generous donors. 

We are coming to the end of the first year of an ambitious three year strategy and having recently welcomed a new Chief Executive. We are in a strong financial position with healthy reserves, and celebrated the end of 2023 with a highly successful televised BBC Lifeline Appeal demonstrating the impact of our work to a new and wider audience.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a person who loves making new connections, building strong relationships, and working closely with a multidisciplinary team to join Designability and help us achieve our ambitions set out in our 2023-2026 Strategy and make a difference to daily life for disabled people across the UK.
You will have proven experience of:

• Successful track record of securing five to six figure gifts, and of building strong relationships with new and existing donors and prospects. 
• Producing compelling proposals, funding applications, reports and presentations as required to demonstrate a case for support or meet grant criteria.
• Researching, identifying and successfully managing a new pipeline of donor prospects.
• Maximising networking opportunities and establishing long term support.
• Line management experience.

You will joining an independent, national charity based in Bath. Our creative and inspiring team includes engineers, technicians, product designers, occupational therapists, fundraisers and administrators. We are led by strong values: we are creative, inclusive and practical, with our vision being to create a future where every disabled person has the products they want to live the life they choose.

Benefits that come with working for Designability
Looking after its employees is important to Designability – supporting everyone to be happy and healthy means that we live our values of being creative, practical and inclusive and in turn meet our mission to enable disabled people to live with greater independence. We are a Real Living Wage and Disability Confident Employer.

We offer a generous annual leave allowance and substantial employer contribution pension scheme.  To find out what benefits we currently offer to our team, please visit our website.

To apply: Please submit your CV and a covering letter, detailing how your skills and experience meet the criteria contained in the Job Description.

For an informal conversation about this role, please contact Genevieve Arney, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Designability

Closing Date for applications:  Applications are being taken on a rolling recruitment basis and interested candidates should apply at their earliest convenience.  We reserve the right to close this vacancy once adequate applications have been received.

Interview date:  Successful applicants will be offered a mutually convenient interview date. Interviews will be held at our Bath offices.

Start date: Early March 2024