Community and Events Fundraising Officer

Merrifield Consultants are delighted to be partnering with Cherry Trees, the charity providing home from home care for children with complex disabilities and a meaningful break for their families across Surrey and the surrounding areas. Cherry Trees have an opportunity for an experienced Community and Events Fundraiser to join their small but growing team.

Job Title: Community and Events Fundraising Officer

Organisation: Cherry Trees

Reporting to: Head of Fundraising

Salary: £25,480 - £31,200

Location: East Clandon, Guildford (open to homeworking 2 days per week)

Required: CV and Cover Letter

Closing date: CV’s and cover letters will be reviewed on a rolling basis so please do apply at your earliest convenience.

Caring for a child with a complex disability can be emotionally and physically exhausting. Cherry Trees provides a lifeline for families through its home-from-home care for children with complex disabilities and its wrap-around support for the family. Last year, the charity supported 70 children from 63 families through 52,750 hours of care. This included 1551 sleepovers and 633-day visits. They also ran activity days, hosted parent/carer wellbeing days, and provided small but vital financial grants through their Welfare Fund.

In this pivotal role, you will have the opportunity to make your mark and grow the charity's range of products that engage with their existing and potential supporters. Their existing programme includes:

• Events that include 2 x Golf Days, 2 x Live Music events and our Christmas Market. These events attract more than 1,200 supporters and will raise more than £250k this year.
• Challenge Events programme, which is very much in its infancy, includes partnerships with Choose a Challenge and Run for Charity, as well as their one 2025 London Marathon place and bespoke Cherry Trees to Paris 24-Hour Cycling Challenge scheduled for July 2025. These events raise around £35k.
• Partnerships with corporates, community groups and organisations, and individuals. They also have a long running Bridge League and our Collection Tins Champions and Celebration Giving products that are ready to grow. These relationships and products raise £115k.

The current programme will see the charity engage with more than 1,400 individuals and organisations and raise £350k but there is huge potential to grow both engagement and income.

Skills and Experience:

• Experience of planning and delivering a successful community and or events fundraising

programme.

• Proven experience of building reach and engagement across a range of events or other

fundraising activities.

• Understanding of fundraising regulations, health and safety requirements and general laws.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with an understanding of the impact of good story telling.
• Event marketing experience, including understanding of tools, systems and performance

Monitoring.

• Experience of using a CRM and the importance of using this data to provide insights and guidance.

It’s an exciting time to join the charity as they look to build the structures and processes that will support their immediate growth, help them reach ambitious long term goals and sustain increased engagement and income.

Please contact Emma Bell at Merrifield Consultants to ask for more information or to apply.

emma.bell@merrifieldconsultants.co.uk

Merrifield Consultants want to practice a diverse and inclusive recruitment process that ensures equal opportunity for all we work with, irrespective of race, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age, or gender. As an organisation, we encourage applications from all backgrounds and will ensure measures are met when required, to allow a fair process throughout.