Senior Philanthropy Executive

Worthy causes. Ambitious minds. Positive pursuits.  

Senior Philanthropy Executive (Trusts and Foundations)

£35,000 - £40,000 plus benefits

Reports to: Senior Philanthropy Manager (Trusts and Foundations)

Directorate: Strategy & Philanthropy

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office, plus fortnightly directorate days)

Closing date: 30 January 2026 23:55

Recruitment process: Competency based interview via Teams followed by a second stage interview in person.

First interview date:  9-13th February 2026

Second interview date: TBC

Please note: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

Our Trusts and Foundations team sits withing our Philanthropy and Strategy directorate and develops relationships with Trust and Foundations who wish to donate and support Cancer Research UK with our life-saving research.  Overall, the team has contributed £30m over the last 2 years, having a significant impact in supporting our cause.

The Senior Philanthropy Executive (Trusts and Foundations) is a fantastic role for a passionate, proactive and ambitious individual looking to take their first steps into the world of philanthropic fundraising.

This role is primarily a support role, delivering and co-ordinating activity for the Trusts & Foundations team. Tasks include meeting planning, briefings, notetaking, drafting correspondence, and data and project management.

Crucially, this role will be the primary point of contact for incoming donor enquiries. The post-holder will have the opportunity to gain valuable in role experience of trust fundraising by managing a small pipeline of prospects, cultivating them and stewarding them, with the mentorship and support of the frontline fundraisers. 

What will I be doing?

• Contributing to team effectiveness though the successful delivery of core processes and meetings including diary management, drafting agendas, collating and sending papers, minutes, and monitoring actions.

• Providing high-quality administrative support across the team for all related working group meetings, including team meetings, tracker meetings, allocation meetings and pipeline reviews.

• Managing and responding to donor correspondence and where basic organisational details, policies or forms are required, working with peers to resolves any issues.

• Being the primary point of contact for external and internal enquiries relating to trust fundraising, ensuring a swift response.

• Delivering proposals and reports to our mid-value donor pool as needed, developing own pipeline of supporters.

• Project managing Research Now (biannual mailing programme) in partnership with Senior Manager and colleagues in Philanthropy Operations ensuring delivery of defined outcomes.

• Working with peers and other critical stakeholders, being responsible for sourcing data for analysis, research and relevant information required to inform the mailing strategy and use expertise for the benefit of the wider team output.

• Providing successful and timely delivery of discrete projects across the team including campaign collateral and acquisition/cultivation/stewardship materials for fundraisers.

• Working closely and collaborating with the Senior Executives in Donor Relations to ensure consistent approaches and processes (such as thanking donors).

• Providing key administrative support for the head of team as needed, such as database updates and drafting bespoke comms for high value donors.

• Supporting effective prospect and donor relationships by ensuring that key academics and leadership receive timely briefings, have appropriate presentations, proposals, talking points and debriefs and follow up is handled.

What are you looking for?

• Knowledge and experience of fundraising and working in a fundraising operation.

• Familiarity with basic fundraising principles and strategies and a strong desire to develop high value fundraising skills.

• Exceptional organisation skills with strong attention to detail

• Demonstratable experience of successful multi-tasking against often competing deadlines and comfortable with reprioritising as needed.

• Basic project management skills with proven ability to drive projects through to completion whilst seeking input from multiple stakeholders

• Confident with phone calls and responding to donor/customer enquiries.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Excellent stakeholder management and interpersonal skills

• Tenacious, proactive and motivated by supporting others

• High level of IT literacy, including good working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages, including the use of databases

• Prepared to take on a wide variety of tasks.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination  

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism   

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people  

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you fairly and objectively.

For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact [email protected] or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.