Charity fundraiser: Job description

Charity fundraisers are employed primarily to increase the contributions of individuals and groups to a charity by building relationships and exploring new fundraising opportunities from various sources. They tend to be categorised according to the types of donors on whom they focus.

The main categories of fundraiser are:

• community;
• corporate;
• legacy;
• major gifts;
• trusts;
• events.

In larger charities, fundraisers are likely to specialise in one particular source. In smaller charities, a single fundraiser may cover several types of potential donors.

A unifying feature of all fundraising roles is building successful relationships with supporters and so the ability to network is crucial. Fundraisers also work to raise awareness of the charity's work, aims and goals.

Typical work activities

The various types of fundraising involve different activities, but typically include:

• motivating and facilitating supporters to maximise the funds they raise;
• inspiring new supporters to raise money, while maintaining and developing relationships with existing supporters; 
• organising traditional activities, such as sponsored outdoor events and house-to-house collections of donated goods and money;
• developing new and imaginative fundraising activities, many of which involve organising events;
• raising awareness of the charity and its work at local and national levels, e.g. by giving talks to groups or seeking photo opportunities with the media;
• developing and coordinating web-based fundraising, online auctions and merchandise sales;
• increasing funds by researching and targeting charitable trusts whose criteria match the charity's aims and activities;
• developing and implementing a strategy for individual and corporate supporter recruitment and development;
• recruiting, organising and managing volunteers to carry out various functions within the charity;
• overseeing corporate fundraising, including employee giving and matched giving from employers;
• managing and updating databases to record donor contact and preference information;
• writing applications and mail-shots, using direct mailing to reach a wide range of potential and current donors;
• making risk analyses and balancing time-cost ratios to focus effort on the most appropriate fundraising activities with the highest chance of success.