Fundraising, partnerships and external relations roles
Grant Writer, Bid/Tender Writer, Proposal Writer, Grants Officer, Fundraising Officer, Donations Assistant, Digital Fundraising Officer, Digital Marketing Officer, Fundraising Coordinator, Fundraising Data Manager, Bid Writer, Philanthropy and Fundraising Manager, Trusts and Foundations Coordinator, Philanthropy Lead, Client Relationship Manager, Strategic Partnerships Consultant, Corporate Partnerships Manager, Major Gifts Manager, Special Gifts Officer, Appeal Coordinator, Individual Giving Manager, Regular Giving Manager, Legacies Manager, Direct Marketing Manager, Community Fundraising Manager, Community Engagement and Events Coordinator, Supporter Care Officer, Volunteer Coordinator, Volunteering Services Manager, Bequest Manager, Special Events Manager, Resource Mobilisation Officer, Business Development Manager, New Business Development Specialist, Development Coordinator, Corporate and Community Relations Manager, Director of Advancement
The types of roles that fit under the remit of fundraising, partnerships and external relations are recruited frequently in the NFP sector because of their strategic importance in ensuring the longevity and impact of an organisation.
While fundraising and relationship-building skills can be learnt and developed ‘on the job’ to a certain extent – particularly for entry-level roles which do exist – there is no replacing years of professional experience managing stakeholders and a fundraising portfolio when it comes to high-level fundraising, partnerships and external relations roles.
However, note that fundraising, partnerships and external relations roles are sometimes quite general in their nature, particularly in smaller organisations. In these instances, employees may be required to assist, oversee or manage many or all of the aspects of an organisation’s fundraising and relationship-building strategy in a role such as Fundraising Officer or Fundraising Manager.
The duties and requirements of these types of roles vary but usually include many of the components described in the sub-sections below, such as bid/grant writing, scoping and tracking opportunities, driving campaigns, creating marketing content, managing funder relationships, and monitoring and reporting back to funders. Also note that some roles will naturally overlap between sub-categories (e.g. individual giving and supporter care in particular have large overlaps).
Lower-level grant writing and fundraising salaries may be around AUD$70-80K but are often $90-100K to attract skilled talent. Higher-level roles such as Partnerships Manager or Director of Advancement fetch high salaries from $120K upwards (sometimes less if the organisation is smaller).
Roles in this category can be roughly split into the following sub-categories:
Individual giving
Employees who work in individual giving solicit donations and support, encourage and take care of people who give money to a charity or NGO, for example through a cash donation, direct debit or a gift in their will.
Often, the smaller the organisation, the greater the proportion of revenue that comes from individual donations; however this is not always the case, and some large organisations generate over half of their revenue from fundraising (in the case of World Vision, for example, 65% of their $450 million revenue comes from fundraising). Staff are thus employed in individual giving roles across all organisation types and sizes.
Roles include Individual Giving and/or Legacies Officer, Regular Giving Manager, Legacy Team Leader, Digital Fundraising Officer, Digital Marketing Officer, Direct Marketing Manager and Bequest Manager.
Note that digital fundraising generally sits in this sub-category and is an area with increasing demand.
In addition to the duties listed below, other digital fundraising-specific duties may include growing donations through online activity by creating and driving social media content, running online donation systems, managing an email marketing programme, and devising and delivering new online fundraising initiatives.
Specific digital fundraising jobs often exist in larger multi-country NGOs, but most (it not all) NGOs do require some aspect of digital fundraising in their general fundraising efforts. To become an attractive candidate for a fundraising job in the NFP sector, it is wise to develop these skills.
Skills may include:
- Ability to develop relationships with stakeholders and influence/engage with them for productive results

- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write copy for communications materials
- Project/program management skills
- For digital fundraising roles, appropriate digital and social media skills
Duties may include:
- Cultivate, steward and solicit regular and individual donors and/or legacy gifts to promote revenue growth

- Plan, drive and manage fundraising campaigns from start to finish and deliver successful direct marketing appeals in a set timeframe – including developing communications materials where appropriate
- Support the strategic plans, direction and management of giving programs
- Communicate with individual donors through multiple channels, thank and report back as appropriate
- Input data and report on giving information to internal and external stakeholders
- Identify fundraising opportunities and track and manage fundraising targets
Relevant experience may include:
- Customer service, marketing or other public-facing professional experience – sometimes more specific depending on seniority of role (e.g. often 3+ years of individual giving support and fundraising campaign experience for Manager roles, and sometimes 7+ years)

- Administrative experience and experience working with databases, records and confidential information is highly desirable
- Specific web-based and social media fundraising/marketing experience for digital fundraising roles, usually 1-2 years is enough
Supporter care
Closely related to individual giving is supporter care, which is about building and keeping productive relationships with the people that support an organisation.
This includes maximising supporter engagement and retention and ensuring a positive supporter experience, ultimately helping to shore up the organisation’s brand and place in the sector (which is increasingly competitive for attracting and securing support/funding). Note that supporter care roles do not focus exclusively on fundraising and donations: they are often focussed on the volunteers and campaigners connected to an organisation in addition to, or instead of, the fundraising side of things. Typically, this involves communicating mostly with members of the public.
Supporter care roles are very much public-facing and require friendliness and a willingness to help, support and encourage. Roles include Supporter Care Officer and Supporter Care Executive.
Skills may include:
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal

- Good teamwork for inter-team collaboration
- Relationship/stakeholder management skills
Relevant experience may include:
- Most important is customer service or public-facing professional experience of anywhere from a year upwards depending on the job – beyond this, requirements vary and usually a specific educational background is not required
Duties may include:
- Building and maintaining a network of relationships with supporters and donors to increase loyalty and donations
- Responding to phone calls, emails and other queries across multiple channels from prospective or existing supporters
- Processing donations and thanking donors
- Leading a supporter care team, if appropriate, and/or working closely with fundraising team

- Working to improve supporter experience and design, coordinate and implement strategies for donor care
Community and events
Community and events roles are about working with supporters and members of the public on-the-ground. They are interactive, people-centred roles where engagement and positive relationship-building are key.
Many not-for-profit organisations, particularly smaller ones, rely heavily on this type of public engagement to boost their fundraising and supporter activity. Employees who work in this area are part of the ‘face’ of the organisation and must reflect the organisation’s values in order to be successful and garner support. Good organisational skills are also essential to manage the logistical and administrative side of planning and hosting events and engaging community members. These roles can be quite fulfilling if you are interested in more direct community engagement rather than the more behind-the-scenes aspect of fundraising.
Roles include Community Fundraising Coordinator, Community Engagement and Events Coordinator, and Community Fundraising and Events Manager.
Skills may include:
- Excellent communication, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills – a ‘people person’

- Good organisation, time management and project management skills
- Planning and administration skills
- Digital fundraising and marketing knowledge/skills
Relevant experience may include:
- Experience in administration and logistics, particularly in a public-facing role

- Experience in event planning/management – most roles would seek at least one year of demonstrated experience (more in larger more well-known organisations), but this space can also offer entry-level roles which do not require much experience (e.g. in small place-based NGOs which run small-scale – but very important – events in the community)
- A tertiary qualification in a relevant area
- May require a current Police Record Check and Working with Children Check
Duties may include:
- Develop and drive a community fundraising/events strategy
- Planning, organising, marketing and successfully delivering community engagement and fundraising events to garner support and funds from members of the public
- Supporting and assisting with volunteer-delivered fundraising events
- Attend other public events to build relations and represent the organisation if appropriate
- Managing fundraising platforms and databases and an events portfolio
- Managing income and expenditure budgets for events
- Scoping opportunities and undertaking analysis and operational planning to assess viability of new event initiatives
Volunteer management
NGO staff who work in volunteer management help to utilise a key aspect of an organisation’s human capital – its volunteers. As the subject title suggests, a large part of these types of roles is the management of the people (usually members of the public) who volunteer their time for the benefit of the organisation in a mutually fulfilling relationship.
This requires a certain degree of leadership, management skill and enthusiasm. Sometimes this includes hosting interns or school-aged work experience students and taking on a mentoring-type role, but most of the time the focus is on managing and supporting long-term and short-term volunteers, some of whom may have been with the organisation for some time. Depending on the type of organisation, volunteer management could involve being ‘in the field’ with volunteers (e.g. doing environmental conservation activities with them), working with volunteers to host their own fundraising events (see above), or organising and overseeing office- or online-based volunteer programs that match a volunteer’s skills to the organisation’s needs.
Roles include Volunteer Coordinator, Volunteer Experience Coordinator, and Volunteer Services Manager.
Skills may include:
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills – a ‘people person’
- Good organisation and time management skills
- Planning and administration skills
- Leadership capabilities
Relevant experience may include:
- As in all the above types of fundraising roles, the length and specific type of experience required will vary, and sometimes it does not need to have included extensive volunteer management specifically: most important is demonstrated experience in working with people generally, ideally in positions which involved delegating and overseeing tasks anywhere from a year upwards, and a tertiary qualification in a relevant area

- May require a current Police Record Check and Working with Children Check
Duties may include:
- Matching a volunteer’s skills and preferences to the organisation’s strategic priorities, focus areas and practical needs

- Writing volunteer job descriptions and callouts, and responding to expressions of interest
- Organising volunteer programs and delegating duties to volunteers as appropriate
- Upskilling and training volunteers, often in-house
- Developing and maintaining good volunteer relationships and volunteer satisfaction
- Engaging with potential and established volunteers to ensure smooth lines of communication and feelings of being valued
- Ensuring Codes of Conduct, safety protocols and best practice models are established and upheld between volunteer and organisation
- Taking care of the administrative side of volunteer management
Strategic partnerships
Roles which fall under strategic partnerships are higher-level and tend to require greater levels of experience. Such experience may come through the NFP sector, but often corporate experience involving stakeholder management will suffice and indeed prepare a candidate well for a strategic partnerships role in the NFP sector.
These types of jobs involve helping lead an organisation towards sustainable long-term viability through productive partnerships and a strategic vision for funding, impact and reach. In some organisations, such as universities where impact-oriented centres or institutes are attached, employees will lead or work as part of an Advancement or Philanthropy team. Often these type of roles require management of, or at least close contact with, other employees involved in an organisation’s fundraising and growth strategy. Soliciting major gifts and managing philanthropic relationships are important strategic partnerships roles which are both remunerative and vital to the longevity of an organisation. They require highly developed relationship-building and communication skills, and often involve liaising with high net-worth individuals. There is a suite of activities which make up these roles, including promotional and engagement activities.
Strategic partnerships roles include Philanthropy Lead, Major Gifts Manager, Partnerships Manager, Resource Mobilisation Officer, Business Development Manager, New Business Development Specialist, Development Coordinator, Corporate and Community Relations Manager, and Director of Advancement.
Skills may include:
- Ability to provide excellent service to clients and build productive relationships
- Well-developed stakeholder/donor communication and management skills, and ideally knowledge of networks
- Documentation skills and ability to draft written reports and proposals
- High-level collaborative leadership skills

- Business development skills
Relevant experience may include:
- Tertiary degree in finance, economics, business administration, marketing, communications, etc. and/or subject-related (e.g. international development)

- Usually extensive experience and knowledge in philanthropy, fundraising, partnerships management and donor liaison (5+ years), ideally from the NFP sector (but partnerships experience from a corporate or customer service background may suffice), plus managing a portfolio of funding opportunities from prospect research to award with a proven track record of generating significant funding (5+ years)
Duties may include:
- Soliciting major philanthropic gifts/donations from donors, including portfolio management
- Managing and implementing engagement activities for prospective donors
- Utilising processes including reporting, acquittals, budgeting, donor stewardship/relationship management, and promotion
- Establishing, building and deepening partnerships with key players in public and private sectors including community members, organisations, trusts, foundations, government bodies, funders, pro bono partners and high-level stakeholders
- Creating public awareness of and support for the activities of the organisation
- Implementing and managing a business development strategy
- Scheduling and coordinating proposal development processes, including developing concept notes, proposals and reports directed to members and/or donors
- Providing strategic advice and analysis to inform donor engagement, fundraising strategies, and/or organisational advancement and leadership

- Providing oversight of annual budget and targets and working towards expansion of programs and deeper impact
Grant and bid writers
Grant and bid writers are responsible for securing funding for an organisation and its programs by applying for advertised funding opportunities. Funding organisations and government bodies advertise grants and tenders to attract high-quality clients through a competitive process to undertake a program of work, which could be an evaluation, a research project, service delivery, or another time-bound project that helps to fulfil the strategic aims of the funder. Being awarded a contract or award requires an excellent proposal or grant, bid or tender application, and some organisations hire dedicated employees to do exactly this.
Some NFPs rely heavily (if not completely) on tendered contract work, particularly research-oriented organisations, and in these types of organisations employees often share the work of writing proposals and responding to tenders. In other service-oriented organisations, there is a greater focus on acquiring grants to fund activities, and this is where dedicated grant and bid writers are often employed. Grant/bid writer roles are usually easier to land without extensive experience of fundraising, but as always, this depends on the size of an organisation and how much competition they attract among candidates.
Roles include Grant Writer, Bid Writer, Tender Writer, and Proposal Writer.
Skills may include:
- Excellent research skills

- Well-developed persuasive writing skills
- An understanding of fundraising and bid-writing principles, and an ability to seek opportunities and conduct appropriate research
- Ability to work collaboratively with a team
Duties may include:
- Organising and writing compelling fundraising/grant/contract proposals

- Searching for opportunities and maintaining a grant portfolio
- Contributing to the administration of fundraising opportunities and contracts
- Researching clients and developing bid strategies aligned with client needs
- Developing ongoing relationships with fundraising partners for future opportunities
Relevant experience may include:
- Demonstrated writing and communications experience, ideally grant-writing/fundraising and/or communications experience – voluntary may be enough for smaller NGOs, but usually at least 1-2 years of specific experience is required – 5+ years for higher-level roles

- Often a tertiary qualification in a relevant subject area (but not always); additional certification is favourable (e.g. grant/bid writing course)
