Sight Scotland is Scotland’s leading charity providing specialist care, education and research for people with vision impairment. The charity has been in existence for over 230 years, and offer a variety of services in the community as well as education, transcription into alternative formats and residential care for adults and children. Their vision is of an inclusive Scotland where people of all visual abilities have the opportunity to thrive. To achieve their mission they are looking for a Supporter Fundraiser who will proactively engage with supporters, community groups and volunteers in the community.

The Fundraising Manager – Corporates and Philanthropy is responsible for developing and implementing plans to maximise income from corporate partners and individuals with the propensity to donate significant sums. There is huge scope to develop both income streams at Sight Scotland, as this is the first dedicated position covering these income streams.

The primairy focus initially will be on developing corporate partnership income, as there is huge potential for partnerships ranging from transactional right up to transformational. The role supports the organisation’s purpose to make a significant impact on the lives of people living with visual impairment in Scotland by maximising fundraising income to deliver brilliant services and create a positive impact on our ability to deliver for the long term.

This specialist manager role would suit someone who is already operating at a senior fundraiser level, or someone who can demonstrate experience of developing a corporate and/or major donor pipeline, creating operational plans and delivering income.

As the #1 Modern University in Scotland (World University Rankings 2025), Edinburgh Napier University strives to deliver the best teaching, to the widest range of students who can benefit from it, in ways that are appropriate to the needs of students and employers. Philanthropic support from our donors provides critical support to some students and adds great value to increase the excellence of teaching and research, in ways not possible through core-funding alone.

Our Development and Alumni Relations Office works with a wide range of alumni and partners. The team’s aims are to raise philanthropic funds for scholarships, research and capital programmes and to strengthen the University's life-long relationships with alumni and friends worldwide.

As such, we are currently recruiting a Senior Development Manager (Fundraising/Major Donations) to take responsibility for raising funds to meet targets for student support and the portfolio of key projects.

The Role:

As Senior Development Manager, you will have the opportunity to use your proven experience of major gift fundraising to build and maintain key relationships with funders and raise philanthropic revenues to achieve income targets.

Your experience in a similar fundraising, venture philanthropy or business development role will put you in an excellent position to use your skills in networking, influencing, proposal writing, negotiation and securing agreements, to manage and build a portfolio of prospects, and engage new donors who are financially and emotionally invested in the value of education and research at Edinburgh Napier.

In that regard, you will have the chance to play a major role in delivering funded opportunities for current and future students whilst raising the profile and support for exciting, innovative projects and interdisciplinary research programmes. As an applied university, you will quickly see the impact of your work to help transform the lives of individuals, communities and our environment both here in Scotland as well as around the world.

We anticipate that you are the type of person that will use your resilience, strength of character, outgoing personality and dependability to build relationships and grow sustainable funding. This role will give you remit to use these skills and qualities to build meaningful associations with individuals; trusts and foundations; lottery and other statutory funding bodies as well as internal stakeholders such as academic staff, project champions and University executive leadership.

Should you have a background in Higher Education fundraising, Third Sector/Charity fundraising then this role will provide you with the opportunity to develop your skills and experience, while managing an energetic team who have established a track record of funding growth over the past five years, getting visible results and having a major impact on the fantastic opportunities available at our institution.

What we will need from you:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant discipline
• Significant fundraising experience, which should include: -
  • scoping fundraising project development, including budgeting
  • growing and managing a portfolio of prospects including individuals, trusts, foundations or statutory bodies
  • case for support/ proposal writing
  • preparing solicitation plans
  • face-to-face major gift asks
• Excellent networking and negotiation skills
• Excellent organisation, planning and time management skills

For a full role description, please click here.

Benefits we offer:

We offer 41 days annual leave (includes bank holidays), a generous pension scheme (17.6%), flexible working and professional development opportunities. Further information regarding our benefits can be viewed here.