Associate Director- Fundraising

The University

Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900.  With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. Having closed the Circles of Influence Campaign in 2015, which raised £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London, we have chosen to launch another, Birmingham in Action.  This is the fifth largest fundraising campaign in the modern history of UK Higher Education.

The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in its local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015.  It is also an innovative institution, being the first University to incorporate a Medical School, the first to create a students’ union, and the first to offer a women’s hall of residence.  We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 11 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016.  

Our student body is one of the largest and most diverse in the UK. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from disadvantaged backgrounds, one of the highest proportions in the UK.  

The Office

The Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities.  The Office, which comprises nearly 60 staff across four teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni and individuals who are passionate about our five current campaign themes: everyone getting an education; treating and preventing cancer; families fleeing war, violence and famine; young people’s mental health; and protecting our planet.

The campaign has been planned, the framework created; it is unique and hugely ambitious, and will see Birmingham become one of the leading fundraising and volunteering universities in the world.  

The Role

We are now looking for an Associate Director of Fundraising to maximise our enormous income generation potential; coach, nurture and challenge the well-established fundraising team; and deliver a bold and innovative strategy to support this exciting campaign, raising significant gifts yourself as you do.