Director of Development
Job description
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Job title: |
Director of Development |
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Salary: |
£90,000 per year |
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Contract: |
Permanent |
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Hours: |
35 hours per week |
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Directorate: |
Development |
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Reports to: |
CEO |
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Direct/indirect reports: |
5 direct / 14 indirect |
Our mission
The National Literacy Trust empowers children, young people and adults from disadvantaged communities with the literacy skills they need to succeed. We work directly with young people and their families, with the 5,000 schools in these communities, with nurseries, prisons, YOIs and through our teams leading community literacy programmes in 20 places in the UK facing the biggest literacy and poverty challenges. Our research makes us the leading authority on literacy and drives all our work. We are committed to becoming a more diverse and inclusive charity, better at listening to and working in partnership with the communities we exist to serve. Literacy is a vital element of action against poverty and our work changes people’s life stories.
Find out more about our bold and ambitious strategy for 2026-2029.
Purpose of role
As Director of Development you will lead our fundraising and development strategy. The development directorate is the engine room of the charity, generating income from a diverse range of funders and enabling us to increase our impact in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. We have exciting and award-winning corporate partnerships – including with the Premier League, KPMG, McDonalds, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins and Hachette – and are supported by a wide range of trusts and foundations. We also have important strategic partnerships with Arts Council England and the Department for Education. In 2026 we are leading delivery of the National Year of Reading on behalf of the Government and a coalition of charity partners.
You will provide hands-on and dynamic leadership for the directorate, and be responsible increasing our supporter base, including a focus on strengthening unrestricted income. You will continue to grow support from corporates, trusts and foundations, leading from the front to cultivate new relationships through the careful positioning of our asks. You will also oversee the development of our major donor strategy and be our strategic lead for the National Council for Literacy and Business, which is chaired by Dame Julia Cleverdon.
Key contacts
You will be a member of the senior management team, work closely with the CEO and report to trustees at quarterly board meetings. As well as leading a dynamic and ambitious team of professional fundraisers, you will also work with programme leads who play a vital role in fundraising and managing relationships with funders.
Regular external contacts will include funders and partners, frequently at senior leadership or board level, as well as relationship management with senior stakeholders or potential partners, suppliers and sector leaders.
Outline of responsibilities
- Lead the National Literacy Trust’s fundraising strategy, meeting income targets for the charity to ensure we fulfil our ambitions to transform literacy in disadvantaged communities
- Work closely with the CEO and senior management team to develop strong value propositions for funders and partners and maximise income from trusts, foundations, corporates, government and major donors
- Be an inspiring advocate for our mission and our work, identifying and fostering contacts with new funders
- Provide strategic oversight for our fundraising portfolio, growing a wide range of existing strategic funding partnerships and successfully acquiring new funders to ensure sustainable growth
- Be responsible for annual income currently around £17m
- Work closely with the marketing and communications directorate to develop and report on individual giving campaigns
- Provide entrepreneurial and motivational leadership for the development directorate alongside practical management
- Ensure effective planning, management and pipeline development across income streams
- Manage relationships with existing and new supporters, strengthening trust and collaboration
- Be a collaborative and collegiate member of the senior management team
- Live the values of the charity and build the organisational culture, demonstrating a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
This outline is indicative and is not intended to provide a complete list of duties. The postholder will also be required to support activities that contribute to the growth and sustainability of the charity, and to the sharing and development of our organisational knowledge.
Person specification
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Essential |
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Desirable |
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Summary of terms
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Location: |
You will be able to work regularly from home around the requirements of your role for in person meetings or travel. However, you will be contracted to our office at 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL, and responsible for your travel to London when necessary. We expect this will be around twice a week on average, including being in London every week for a team office day. |
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Flexible working: |
We have a flexible working culture and encourage all staff to work in a way that enables them to be most effective in their role. This role will involve occasional out of hours working and time off in lieu will be granted for any additional hours worked. |
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Travel: |
This post will require regular national travel. Travel expenses will be paid when incurred in line with our expenses policy. |
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Safeguarding: |
We are committed to safeguarding all those who come into contact with our work and all staff are required to follow our safeguarding policy for children, young people and vulnerable adults. |
Income summary and growth
Our total income for 2025-26 was £17.8m, which included funding for the National Year of Reading. Income in 2020/21 was £7.1m.
We have experienced significant growth over the past five years but this has been focused on restricted programme income; growing our unrestricted income has remained more challenging, with no growth in this area in the past year. In comparison, restricted income has grown by 25%.
This will be a key priority for you in 2026-27 and beyond, to ensure we can grow our reserves in line with our policy and continue to invest in our strategic core capacity.
Current partners
We believe that the business community has a key role to play in raising literacy levels. We currently work with an exciting portfolio of almost 100 partners, including brands and businesses that connect strongly with the communities we work with, like McDonalds, the Premier League, Provident and Morrisons. We have strong partnerships with businesses like Slaughter and May, PwC, KPMG and Experian who see literacy and social mobility as key to their future. We are also supported by over 30 publishers, including Penguin Random House, Pan Macmillan, Hachette and Harper Collins.
Working with leaders from the business community, we want to continue to grow new partnerships and mobilise the sector to address literacy. Our Council for Literacy and Business, chaired by Dame Julia Cleverdon, is a movement of businesses committed to literacy. Our Vision for Literacy Business Pledge, and new Literacy and Business Awards, also provide recognition for their leadership and action, and open up new opportunities to build our range of partners.
Our Patron, ambassadors and champions
Our Patron is The Queen, who takes a deep interest in our work and regularly visits our community programmes. Recently this has included visiting schools to open new libraries funded by our programmes and hosting a reception at Clarence House for our grassroots Literacy Champion volunteers and supporters to mark the charity’s 30th anniversary.
We are also fortunate to have a strong collection of ambassadors and champions. These include authors committed to our cause such as Cressida Cowell, Victoria Hislop, Malorie Blackman and Anthony Horowitz.
© National Literacy Trust