Business Development & Philanthropy Assistant

Practical Action; Rugby; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

27 days holiday

Employer pension 10.5%

Life assurance

Cycle to Work

Employee Assistance Programme

Learning and Development

Sit/Stand desks

Job summary

Practical Action in the UK is seeking a motivated team player for the Business Development and Philanthropy Team to coordinate fundraising from institutional and philanthropic sources.

You will provide timely business intelligence, support donor meetings, prepare cases for support, proposals, donor reports and appeals, and manage a portfolio of individual donors giving around £5,000. The role involves analysing funder strategies and sharing insights across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Strong research and analytical skills to interpret donor trends.
• Proficient in Microsoft 365 applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Ability to translate data into actionable insights for fundraising.

Responsibilities

• Support donor events, in person and online, across teams.
• Assist in preparing cases for support, proposals and donor reports.
• Maintain stewardship activities from thank-you letters to donor engagements.

Skills

Research & analytics

Microsoft 365

Excel

PowerPoint

Written & verbal English

Donor engagement

Tools

NXT CRM

SharePoint

Job description

We are looking for a motivated team player to join our Business Development and Philanthropy Team, which leads and co-ordinates our global fundraising from institutional and philanthropic sources.

You will provide crucial support to our team’s function by providing relevant and timely business intelligence and coordination to support our work with donors, including support for internal and external events that we organise to deepen donor engagement with our work.

Accountabilities

You will support the organisation of inspiring donor events, in person and online, working across multi-disciplinary teams and drawing together reflections and learnings afterwards to improve our donors’ experience. You will help colleagues prepare for funding meetings — contributing to cases for support, proposals, donor reports and appeals— and support day-to-day stewardship, from thank-you letters to stewardship activities such as annual thankathons.

You will manage your own small portfolio of individual donors and charitable trusts giving at the £5,000 level, sending proposals and reports, and will maintain a strong knowledge of Practical Action’s programmes so you can share stories of change and impact data confidently with current and prospective supporters.

You will support the team’s intelligence hub: gathering, interpreting and sharing insight on key donors including governments, foundations and multilaterals; analysing funder strategies and calls for proposals; and working with regional and country teams to understand and meet their business intelligence needs. You will help ensure intelligence is shared and acted on across the organisation, including through the monthly news bulletin, and work with your manager to develop “so what” analysis that BD teams globally can act on. You will also keep our NXT CRM, SharePoint and donor portal registrations accurate and well organised.

Skills, Abilities and Competencies:

To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• A keen interest in international development and environmental issues.
• Excellent research, numeracy and analytical skills – not taking everything at face value and being able to discern the “so what” questions from trends and data.
• Proficient usage of Microsoft 365, especially Excel, Word (including mail merge) and Powerpoint.
• Ability to take complex data and synthesize it into consumable, actionable insight.
• Excellent presentation skills, able to synthesise information in written format, info graphics and other visual formats and will be proficient with using a range of software and digital tools to do this.
• Ability to work proactively and collaboratively with people from a range of cultures and across time zones.
• You are a self-starter, happy to work with various research resources and have an ability to work with imperfect systems and information.
• You are organized, conscientious and work well as part of a team.
• Ability to manage multiple responsibilities and to set priorities.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Commitment to development principles and Practical Action’s vision, mission and ambition.

The opportunity to work for an organisation that is taking practical action against poverty and the environmental crises to start the big changes the world urgently needs. A friendly and supportive culture, working with values driven and highly engaged colleagues, work life balance and flexible working – these are just some of the reasons we think Practical Action is a great place to work.

In the UK, our open plan offices are located in the centre of Rugby and near to Rugby train station but we also offer free parking.

In addition, we offer the following benefits:

• Full time roles are contracted at 35 hours per week.
• It is our normal practice to operate a hybrid working policy, where flexible working hours are enabled as well as remote working.
• 27 days holiday rising with continuous service, in addition to public holidays
• Pension scheme – employer contributes 10.5% of salary and the employee contributes 5%.
• Enhanced family friendly policies, including maternity, adoption, paternity, and shared parental leave.
• Life assurance (3 x annual salary).
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme – access to our Wellbeing platform
• Learning and Development Opportunities
• Sit / Stand desks available in our modern offices.

About us

We are a global community taking practical action against poverty and today’s environmental crises. Across Africa, Asia and Latin America we partner with people experiencing these challenges, especially those who are unheard and excluded. Our approach is to identify what works on a local level, then adapt and amplify it across different regions, countries and continents. All Practical Action’s work is focused on two connected areas for action – livelihoods and climate resilience – and we’re working to deliver three big, global changes:

Big change on food – to sustain people and planet

Big change on energy – clean and accessible for everyone

Our Values

We are People Centred, striving to create an equal, fair, accessible, dignified and respectful environment for everyone we work with – from colleagues and communities, to supporters, suppliers and stakeholders.

We are Impact Driven, existing to make a positive difference, so everything we do is driven by our energy to create lasting value for the people and communities we serve.

We are Transparent and trustworthy, acting with integrity, honesty, and strong ethics, building mutual trust with everyone we work with to achieve the highest standards.

We are Innovative, and champion learning, curiosity and fresh thinking, bringing local knowledge to create global impact.

We are Resilient changemakers working for sustainable development, meeting challenges head-on, and evolving through the lessons learnt.

Additional information

We treat all applications for employment fairly, regardless of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, caste, tribe, belief, age, marital status, pregnancy, caring responsibilities, sexual orientation, or disability.

Practical Action is committed to safeguarding and protecting children and vulnerable adults and as such candidates will be subject to pre-employment checks including criminal checks and terrorist financing.

To ensure that Practical Action meets its obligations of safer recruitment, appointment to posts within Practical Action will be subject to a satisfactory criminal check. Criminal checks will be conducted for all roles.

The successful applicant must already have the right to both live and work in the country that they are applying for and should be willing and able to travel.

Closing date for applications: September 21 st 2026

Dates for Interview: 1 st Interview (online) 1 st – 2 nd October 2026

2 nd Interview 6 th – 7 th October 2026 (in person, to be held in Rugby)