Church & Community Fundraising Lead

Hybrid - High Wycombe (minimum one day a week in the office)

£36,000 - £40,000 + Benefits

Do you have a passion for helping churches and communities put their faith into action?

This is an exciting opportunity to grow Embrace the Middle East's church and community fundraising programme, helping churches, Christian communities and volunteers across the UK engage with our work and support our Christian partners in the Middle East.

Working within the Fundraising & Communications team and reporting to the Head of Retention & Development, you will create inspiring fundraising campaigns, practical resources and meaningful opportunities for volunteers and churches to get involved. Working closely with colleagues across Supporter Experience, Content, Communications, Digital Campaigns and Advocacy, you will help supporters better understand the challenges faced by communities across the region and the difference they can make by giving, fundraising and campaigning.

By growing income and inspiring long-term support, you will help our Christian partners continue their vital work with some of the region's most marginalised communities. Your work will help people facing poverty and injustice across the Middle East access the support, opportunities and hope they need to build better futures.

Staff benefits at Embrace the Middle East:

• To support every member of staff to work as effectively as possible, Embrace offers remote and flexible working arrangements. This includes flexitime and home-working arrangements.
• Flexitime - start work between 7:30am - 10:00am and finish between 3:00pm - 6:00pm. Our core collaborative working hours are between 10:00am to 3:00pm.
• Pension - option to join from day 1. Maximum employer contribution of 10%.
• Holiday - 32 days, including 8 bank holidays and a day off work for your birthday, rising to 33 days after 5 years' service and 34 days after 10 years' service, plus 3 days leave between Christmas and the New Year.
• Life Assurance - 3x salary.
• Access to retail discount portal.
• Employee Assistance Programme (confidential counselling, legal and financial advice) - available 24/7, 365 days a year.
• Training and development programme for all employees.
• Commitment to staff health & wellbeing.

Embrace's Fundraising & Communications cluster comprises expertise in fundraising, marketing, communication, web shop, supporter engagement and retention. Working collaboratively, we serve our supporters by providing authentic and engaging communications, inspiring active social witnesses, engagement and giving to charity.

Cluster Purpose:

Strengthen Embrace's communication, education, and fundraising efforts to drive growth so that more people engage with our content; more donors are attracted to support; and the UK church is more deeply engaged with the cause; enabling us to fund more work in the region and generate a deeper understanding of Christian service in the Middle East.

Role Purpose:

Grow income, engagement and long-term support from UK churches and Christian communities through church fundraising, community fundraising and volunteer mobilisation. Develop and deepen relationships with churches, equipping congregations, supporters and volunteers to raise funds, advocate and engage with Embrace's work in the Middle East. Deliver scalable fundraising campaigns and resources that enable churches to support Embrace through regular giving, appeals, events and community fundraising activities.

What success looks like:

• More churches actively fundraising for Embrace through appeals, events and community fundraising activities.
• Stronger and deeper relationships with churches resulting in increased income, repeat participation and long-term engagement.
• Growth in church-generated income across regular giving, appeals, community fundraising and events.
• An engaged and expanding volunteer network supporting fundraising, awareness and church engagement activity.
• Accurate CRM data, income attribution and reporting that support effective stewardship and decision making.
• Increased awareness and understanding of Embrace among UK churches and Christian communities.

Key Responsibilities:

Community Fundraising:

• Design, launch and grow a church and community fundraising programme, enabling churches, groups and individuals to raise funds in support of Embrace's work.
• Steward and develop relationships with participating churches and fundraisers to encourage repeat fundraising and long-term engagement.
• Create and distribute fundraising toolkits with ready-to-use resources (events, posters, giving links, videos).
• Inspire and equip churches to host fundraising events (e.g. coffee mornings, concerts, sponsored activities) and integrate these into seasonal campaigns.
• Provide practical support and guidance for congregations and volunteers to maximise fundraising impact.
• Meet churches and supporters in person when needed. This will involve occasional UK travel and some evening and weekend work, with time off in lieu agreed with your line manager.

Campaign Delivery & Content:

• Project manage production of compelling materials for congregations and community fundraising events.
• Collaborate with Content and Communications teams to develop and deliver church-focused digital campaigns and appeals.
• Prepare and coordinate church fundraising materials for emergency appeals, working within Embrace's agreed appeal process.
• Represent the needs of different types of churches in Embrace's organisational planning, project development and marketing activities.

Church Fundraising & Marketing:

• Develop and deliver church fundraising initiatives that increase participation, income and supporter retention across church networks
• Collaborate with Communications and Content teams to create fundraising resources, appeals and engagement materials that help churches support Embrace.
• Deliver year-round and seasonal campaigns (e.g., Lent, Easter, Christmas) with clear instructions for church participation and follow on actions.
• Oversee toolkits and devotional content to deepen engagement and mobilise volunteers. Resource congregations with fundraising products and content to strengthen understanding of Christian presence in the Middle East.
• Mobilise and support volunteers to champion fundraising within churches and Christian networks. Maintain accurate and timely CRM records, campaign codes, consent preferences, income attribution and KPI reporting, using insight to improve acquisition, stewardship and retention. Produce post-campaign reviews covering income, return on investment, participation, retention, learning and recommended next steps.

Volunteer leadership:

• Recruit, motivate and steward a growing network of church volunteers and ambassadors, ensuring they feel valued, connected and equipped to support Embrace.
• Develop volunteer engagement journeys, recognition activities and communications that encourage long-term participation and advocacy.
• Ensure volunteers and ambassadors receive appropriate role descriptions, induction, training, support, data protection guidance, safeguarding arrangements and expense information.

Cross-team Collaboration:

• Work with Supporter Experience colleagues to deliver effective supporter and church stewardship journeys that increase retention, engagement and lifetime value.
• Work with Advocacy colleagues to align messaging and tone for church engagement with broader advocacy goals.
• Work with the Digital Campaign Manager to create compelling digital toolkits for churches (social media assets, videos, templates). Ensure clear brief and project timelines.

Organisation-wide Contribution:

• Model Embrace's values of trust, respect, integrity, and compassion.
• Uphold safeguarding responsibilities and compliance with GDPR and charity regulations.
• Actively support organisational goals.
• Adhere to Embrace's policies & procedures at all times.
• Work in accordance with the Fundraising Regulator's Code of Fundraising Practice, data protection requirements, Gift Aid rules where relevant, and Embrace's complaints, safeguarding and financial controls.

KPIs you will own:

• Total church and community fundraising income.
• Growth in active fundraising churches.
• Retention of participating churches year-on-year.
• Number and value of community fundraising activities completed.
• Participation in seasonal fundraising campaigns.
• Number of volunteers recruited, trained and actively engaged.
• Volunteer retention and satisfaction.

3/6/12-month milestones:

3 Months

• Launch first digital toolkit for a seasonal campaign
• Recruit first church champions and train them
• Set up KPI tracking for income and engagement

6 Months

• Deliver one seasonal campaign with community fundraising
• Grow active churches and volunteer network
• Launch community fundraising resources
• Establish regular volunteer communication cadence

12 Months

• Achieve annual church income target set by Head of team
• Scale volunteer model in line with standard operating procedures (SOPs) and retention plan Deliver 2-3 seasonal campaigns and one emergency appeal
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