Finance & accounting

Charity fundraiser

Charity fundraisers organise events and activities to encourage people to donate to causes and organisations.

Annual Salary

£20,000 to £36,000

Working hours

37 to 39 a week

You could work: evenings / weekends; attending events or appointments

2.9%
Future employment

There will be 2.9% more Charity fundraiser jobs in 2027.
In your local area

What's it all about?

Day-to-day tasks

You could:

  • research, develop and plan fundraising ideas
  • manage door-to-door and street collections
  • recruit and train volunteers
  • keep records and report on performance
  • manage charity shops and online and mail order stores
  • control budgets and meet targets
  • give talks about your charity to the public
  • write reports and press releases

Working environment

You could work from home or in an office.

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
  • an apprenticeship
  • working towards this role
  • volunteering
  • applying directly
  • specialist courses run by a professional body
University

You could do a degree subject relevant to working in fundraising, which may give you an advantage when applying for jobs, especially in corporate fundraising. Subjects include:

  • marketing
  • media and communications
  • public relations
  • business studies

You could also do a university course in a subject like voluntary sector management or public service management.

Some of the larger UK charities offer work experience, internships and graduate training schemes.

You can find out more from organisations like Charityworks.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
For more information
College

You could take a course at college to develop your customer service and telephone skills which are useful for this role.

This may help you when applying for volunteer and junior fundraising roles.

Courses include Level 2 or 3 Certificate in the Principles of Customer Service

Entry requirements

There are no set entry requirements for this route but it may help you to get in if you have:

  • 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course
For more information
Apprenticeship

You could do a fundraiser advanced apprenticeship.

This typically takes 18 months to complete as a mix of learning in the workplace and off-the-job study.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
For more information
Work

You could start out working for a charity in an admin or retail support role and move into fundraising once you've got more experience in the voluntary sector.

Volunteering and work experience

Volunteering is a good way to get experience in fundraising and the other sides of charity work. It's also a great way to start making contacts in the sector, which can lead to paid job opportunities.

You can find out more about volunteering through:

Direct application

You can apply directly to get into charity fundraising, if you've got relevant experience from other work, for example advertising, public relations, events, sales or finance.

Other routes

You could do a specialist course like the Certificate or Diploma in Fundraising offered by the [Institute of Fundraising | https://ciof.org.uk/events-and-training/]. You'll normally need to be working in fundraising to do these.

More information

Career tips

Employers are interested in your skills, experience and commitment to working in the charity sector.

Further information

You can get more advice about working and training in the charity sector through the Institute of Fundraising and CharityJob.

You could work towards a professional qualification from the Institute of Fundraising.

With experience, you could move into charity management, become a charity director or a self-employed fundraising consultant.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

  • customer service skills
  • persistence and determination
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to work well with others
  • sensitivity and understanding
  • knowledge of English language
  • business management skills
  • the ability to sell products and services
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
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