Job Title: Fundraising and Grants Manager
Reports To:
CEO and Director of the School
Direct Reports:
Grants, Fundraising & Communications Coordinator and Fundraising Assistant
Technical Support:
Fundraising Advisor
Works Closely With:
- Senior Leadership Team
- Academic Team
Location: On-site
1. Role Purpose
To develop, lead and implement the fundraising strategy so that it meets the needs of the school now and in the long term.
The Fundraising Manager holds full strategic and operational responsibility for income growth, donor stewardship, partnership development, secondary school expansion funding, and leadership of the fundraising department.
This is a senior leadership role requiring strategic vision, delivery discipline, and measurable income growth.
2. Strategic Fundraising Leadership
- Develop and implement a multi-year fundraising growth strategy aligned with the school’s expansion plans, working closely with the Fundraising Advisor, Senior Leadership Team, CEO and Director.
- Establish clear annual income growth targets.
- Analyse income and expenditure to inform the development of the fundraising strategy.
- Identify opportunities for revenue diversification and lead their development.
- Work closely with the Fundraising Advisor, Director and CEO to align fundraising strategies with institutional priorities.
- Contribute to financial forecasting and long-term sustainability planning.
- Lead on implementing all aspects of the fundraising strategy.
- Complete relevant annual reports for different income streams.
3. Income Growth and Diversification
The Fundraising Manager is directly accountable for increasing and diversifying income streams.
- Build and manage a diversified funding portfolio, including major individual donors, corporate partnerships, trusts, foundations, and international funding partners.
- Manage the annual sponsorship income renewal process, engaging over 250 donors to continue their support.
- Identify and cultivate high-value donors beyond the existing lodge-based sponsorship network.
- Develop structured major gift strategies and pipelines.
- Lead fundraising campaigns for special projects and curate impactful campaign communications.
- Secure multi-year funding commitments.
- Explore and implement new income-generating models.
- Identify new sources of income and create a project plan to investigate them.
- Research potential grant giving bodies, primarily in southern Africa, the UK, and the USA, but also elsewhere as opportunities arise.
- Maintain a detailed and accurate diary of applications, feedback reports and forthcoming deadlines for grant giving bodies and individuals.
- Write funding applications to relevant trusts and grant-making bodies.
4. Secondary School and Expansion Funding
The Fundraising Manager will lead the funding strategy for the secondary school and future expansion.
- Lead fundraising planning to support operational and capital requirements of the new secondary school.
- Work closely with the Finance team to model funding scenarios and close projected deficits.
- Design and implement targeted campaigns where required.
- Align expansion funding with long-term sustainability strategy.
5. Partnership Development and External Representation
Build and manage strategic partnerships locally and internationally.
- Represent the School in high-level funding meetings and strategic discussions.
- Develop corporate sponsorship packages and partnership frameworks.
- Position the School as a high-impact, community-rooted education model.
- Strengthen corporate partnerships and advocacy.
- Work with trustees in the UK to develop a programme of events in the UK.
- Support third party events in the UK where applicable.
- Develop and manage income-generating products through Tongabezi Lodge as well as the Twaabane Creative Centre.
6. Donor Relationship Management & Stewardship
- Manage relationships with existing and potential donors.
- Ensure donors receive timely and appropriate communication.
- Make sure all donor feedback is personalised and relevant.
- Produce photo and video evidence and feedback for donations.
- Track all communication with major and minor donors, giving appropriate feedback.
- Ensure termly updates are completed at the end of each term for sponsors.
- Oversee all aspects of donor engagement and communications, including school and centre visits, newsletters and termly updates, and annual impact reports.
7. Communications and Marketing
Lead the strategic development and oversight of the school’s digital presence and marketing communications, ensuring the website and all marketing materials are current, aligned with brand positioning, and optimised to enhance visibility and donor engagement. Oversee social media strategy and the production of high-quality termly newsletters to strengthen stakeholder communication and support income growth.
Lead and oversee the development of high-quality marketing and communications materials for events, donor engagement and stakeholder outreach, ensuring alignment with the school’s brand and strategic objectives.
·Provide and regularly update tailored information packs for Tongabezi Lodge and key strategic partners to support fundraising efforts.
·Direct and manage the school’s digital presence, including the website and social media platforms, ensuring content is current, and enhances reputation, visibility and donor engagement.
· Oversee the development and distribution of termly newsletters and newsflashes to maintain strong, consistent communication with donors
· Utilise video platforms, including Vimeo, to deliver high-quality donor updates and impact storytelling that strengthens engagement and stewardship.
8. School Visits, Events & Community Engagement
- Manage the programme of tours by guests from the Tongabezi Lodge.
- Work with tourist agents and agencies to curate personalised tours for visitors to the school.
- Develop a programme of events to be held at or near the school.
- Work closely with the community to identify needs.
- Attend regular PTA meetings.
9. Departmental Leadership
The Fundraising Manager holds full leadership responsibility for the fundraising department.
- Hold direct line management responsibility for the Fundraising Assistant and the Grants, Fundraising & Communications Coordinator.
- Set clear annual and quarterly objectives aligned with the fundraising strategy.
- Monitor team performance, productivity, and deadlines.
- Provide structured guidance, mentoring and professional development.
- Oversee departmental workflows and fundraising outputs to meet income and operational targets.
- Ensure high-quality execution of grants, donor communications, and stewardship practices by the fundraising team.
- Work collaboratively with the Fundraising Advisor, integrating technical guidance into team processes.
- Be an active, constructive and supportive participant in any Management Team meetings.
10. Academic Support
- Support the academic team by proofreading school reports before they are sent out to donors.
- Work with the secondary school and tertiary pupils to ensure they are meeting the requirements to maintain sponsorship.
- Monitor and evaluate the impact of school programmes on the children and the community, analysing best value for money, to inform future spending.
11. Financial Oversight & Governance
- Work closely with Finance on budget analysis and funding allocation.
- Work on allocating income to programmes and projects.
- Check and analyse budgets.
- Be a part of the Finance Committee to make financial decisions.
- Provide regular performance reports to the CEO, Director and Board of Governors.
- Provide termly reports to the Board of Governors on progress against the fundraising strategy, as well as reports to the UK trustees for their meetings.
- Ensure compliance with donor requirements and legal obligations.
- Maintain oversight of funding pipeline risk and mitigation strategies.
12. Information Management & Administration
- Carry out all the administration related to the role.
- Build on the work already done in our CRM database – Salesforce.
- Develop and maintain all filing systems in relation to fundraising and marketing.
- Adhere to all relevant legal requirements in respect of data protection and confidentiality when handling children’s and donor information.
Key Working Relationships
Internal:
- Director of the School
- CEO
- Fundraising Advisor (Technical Advisory Support)
- Senior Leadership Team
- Grants & Communications Coordinator (Direct Report)
- Fundraising Assistant (Direct Report)
- Academic Team
- Board of Governors
- UK Trustees
External:
- Donors
- Trusts and foundations
- Corporate partners
- Any other external stake holders
Person Specification:
- Significant senior-level fundraising experience with demonstrated income growth.
- Proven track record of securing major gifts and building strategic partnerships.
- Experience in developing and implementing fundraising strategies.
- Experience leading or contributing to capital or expansion fundraising campaigns.
- Strong relationship-building and negotiation skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into delivery.
- Highly developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to inspire and engage potential and existing donors
- Strong team-working orientation, with the ability and social skills to work collaboratively with staff at all levels
- Strong numerical and financial literacy, with the ability to interpret, analyse, and manage budgets effectively.
- Highly organised, with a high standard of attention to detail
- Computer literate, in particular with MS Word and Excel
- Self-motivated and self-disciplined, driving their workload and setting their priorities, with limited supervision
- Able to build strong and enduring relationships with existing and potential donors
- Able to manage a highly varied and busy workload, in a demanding setting
- Creative and has a proactive approach to all areas of work
- Committed to delivering a high-quality service
- Willing and able to work outside normal working hours when the needs of the job require it
- Target-driven with strong negotiation skills and the ability to show evidence of outstanding fundraising/selling skills.
- Experience in the education or development sector.
- Experience working with international donors.
- Passionate about making an impact and delivering positive change within the community.
