Director of Income Generation and Partnership Development

Director of Income Generation and Partnership Development

• Posted: 28th May 2025
• Location: Oxford Office as required / flexibility to work from home. Must be able to travel on occasion to support meetings in various locations and attend two all staff meetings in Oxford per annum
• Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week, Mon - Friday (part time/flexible arrangements would be considered -minimum 28 hours over 4 days)
• Contract: Permanent
• Department: Fundraising and Communications
• Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
• Interviews: First Interviews from w/c 30th June 2025 (this will take place online) and second interviews from w/c 21st July 2025 (F2F interviews in Oxford)

Are you excited by the opportunity to join a dedicated team working across the UK, Europe and beyond to connect people with nature and give them the tools to fight for our planet? Do you have what it takes to deliver a step change in the scale of Earthwatch Europe's income generation, the breadth and impact of its partnerships, and the size of its supporter base? If the answer is yes, then this might just be role for you.

We are looking for an experienced Director of Income Generation and Partnership Development, to join our Senior Leadership Team at Earthwatch Europe. Reporting directly to the CEO, you will manage, develop and empower the Income Generation & Partnership Development department. You will explore new sources of income, including unrestricted income, and income from major donors and philanthropic source, raise brand awareness of the charity and grow its supporter base. Working closely with our scientific and programme leads, you will also help develop new projects and partnerships and increase the impact of our work.

Motivated by making a difference to the natural world, you will have good knowledge of current and future trends in income streams in the UK and Europe, outstanding networking and influencing skills and significant experience in leading and motivating fundraising and partnership development teams to achieve successful results against challenging targets.

Who are we?

Earthwatch Europe connects people with nature and gives them the tools they need to protect our planet. From fighting for healthy freshwater, bringing greenspaces to our cities or putting nature back into farming, we support communities and organisations to build knowledge, create connections and motivate action.

Responsibilities

Role purpose:
To bring about a step change in the scale of Earthwatch Europe's income generation, the breadth and impact of its partnerships, and the size of its supporter base.

• Design and deliver a high-impact, high-ROI income generation framework, with the aim of diversifying and scaling up income sources.
• Develop and expand unrestricted income, and income from major donors and philanthropic sources.
• Investigate and test new income sources for potential scalability.

Partnership Development

• Identify and explore potential new partnerships and sponsorship opportunities, and establish relationships with potential partners at senior level.
• Lead the team with all aspects of the partnership development process including researching, proposal-writing, and pitching, ensuring the various elements work smoothly together.
• Oversee outstanding delivery, stewardship, and relationship management of all Earthwatch partnerships, to ensure that maximum benefit is obtained, and that these partnerships evolve and grow.

Leadership

• Develop, manage, and empower the Income Generation & Partnership Development department, so that staff deliver targets, operate within budgets and work collaboratively with programme managers and leads across the organisation.
• Contribute to organisational leadership as a member of the Executive Team, supporting the implementation of the strategy and helping achieve organisational priorities.
• Help identify key organisational risks and assist with the design of mitigation plans and resolving blockers to progress.

Accountability

• Ensure Earthwatch Europe can effectively demonstrate accountability to its supporters regarding the allocation and impact of funds.
• Report on workplans, budgets and strategic priorities as required.
• Establish, monitor and report on KPIs and other metrics to evaluate the ROI and effectiveness of income generation and partnership development activities.

In undertaking these roles, the postholder should also have regard to:

• Acting as an ambassador for the work, vision and values of Earthwatch Europe.
• Ensuring continuous development of skills and knowledge required for the post, undergoing training and performance review as required.
• Working within all the policies and procedures of Earthwatch Europe, ensuring compliance with health & safety policies and all legal and contractual obligations associated with the post.
• Staying abreast of opportunities and current trends in fundraising and communications to maximise organisational income and visibility.
• Carrying out any other reasonable duties commensurate with the level of responsibility of the post, as requested by the CEO and Trustees.

The above list of job deliverables is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Requirements

Personal Specification:

Knowledge & Experience

• Significant experience in leading and motivating a fundraising and partnership development team to achieve successful results against challenging targets
• Experience of developing and growing partnerships at senior level
• Direct experience in successful grant writing and major donor/individual fundraising
• Knowledge of current and future trends in income streams in the UK and Europe.
• Outstanding networking and influencing skills, with the ability to manage high-value relationships, demonstrating emotional intelligence and empathy
• A strategic thinker, with the ability to problem-solve and create effective plans.

Personal characteristics

• Demonstrable passion for environmental issues and sustainability, with an understanding of the environmental sector
• Commitment to Earthwatch Europe's mission and values
• Flexible, adaptable and collaborative approach to working
• Creativity and drive to succeed, willing and able to take on exciting new challenges.
• Experience of working in the charity sector
• Experience in change management
• Detailed knowledge of at least one of Earthwatch Europe's programmes
• Experience of raising funds and developing partnerships in continental Europe and overseas
• Good media/public speaking skills.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK; Earthwatch is unable to support visa applications.

Earthwatch is committed to making any adjustments we can for short-listed candidates, to facilitate participation in our interview process. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

The successful candidate will be required to undergo a DBS check and other due diligence checks, given the nature of this position within the charity.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion

Earthwatch is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that everyone has a contribution to make, regardless of visible and invisible differences.We welcome and encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to apply, and we will consider all applications fairly and consistently.

We are committed tocreating a diverse and inclusive working environment - a place where individuality is embraced and everyone has the opportunity to thrive. We value the benefits that different backgrounds, working approaches and ways of thinking can bring.

If you require reasonable adjustments in making an application for the role of Director of Income Generation and Partnership Development, please contact the HR team ahead of the application deadline.

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Accepted file types: docx, doc, pdf, Max. file size: 10 MB.