Role Title: Director of Fundraising

Contract based: Permanent, full-time

Location: Rathmines (Hybrid)

Report to: CEO

The Irish Heart Foundation is a community of people who fight to protect the cardiovascular health of everyone in Ireland. Together we are working to eliminate preventable death and disability from heart disease and stroke, and to support and care for those living with these life-changing conditions. We work to achieve this by:

• Caring for and speaking out for people in the community living with heart conditions and stroke, and their families.
• Innovating and leading in health promotion and prevention to change health behaviours and reduce cardiovascular risk.
• Building a nation of lifesavers through CPR training.
• Campaigning and advocating for policies that support people to live healthier lives.
• Information provision.

Our team currently is over 120 employees and over 100 volunteers working towards the Foundation's vision of a future where no hearts are broken by preventable heart disease.

The Role

 Director of Fundraising – The Irish Heart Foundation

As Director of Fundraising, you will develop and implement an ambitious, sustainable Fundraising Strategy to enable the organisation to achieve its vision. A key aim of the role is to significantly increase the fundraised income for the organisation so we can achieve our ambitious targets for growth.

 As this is one of the most senior strategic posts in the organisation, you will be a high achieving, experienced and dynamic professional with a proven ability to develop a clear vision for Fundraising. You will demonstrate expertise across a wide spectrum of traditional and digital fundraising streams.  

 As the leader of the Fundraising department, you will liaise directly with the CEO and the Board. This is a demanding role that requires high levels of leadership, innovation and dynamism. You will manage a diverse team to high achievement and will be part of a strong Senior Management Team leading The Irish Heart Foundation into the future. This role offers you a proposition that is outstanding at every level - personal, professional and societal. 

Reporting Lines and Working Relationships

Leading all aspects of revenue generation and business development and working closely alongside the Director of Marketing & Communications , you will bring to life the brand of the Irish Heart Foundation to ensure growing levels of financial and non-financial support. 

The Director of Fundraising will also work closely with the Director of Finance and Support Services and all members of the Senior Management Team and colleagues working in the Chief Executive's Office.

The Director of Fundraising will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer and will have 4 direct teams as follows: Individual Giving (team of 2), Public Engagement (team of 3), Digital (team of 3), Corporate (team of 4) and any other direct report posts that are created by the IHF relating to this role.

This document is  a guide to the nature of the work required. It is not exhaustive. Job descriptions are reviewed on a regular basis in line with business needs.

Main Areas of Responsibility

Leadership

· To be an inspiring ambassador for the vision and mission of the Irish Heart Foundation and ensure it is reflected in the strategies, outputs and the behaviour of the Fundraising team.

· To motivate the team to be innovative and professional in their thinking and delivery, setting clear examples of excellence and best practice.

Revenue generation

· Financial Management: To ensure that annual fundraising targets are set and met as a minimum, and to drive innovation, diversification and sustainability within the fundraising portfolio.

· Fundraising Campaigns: Developing and implementing national fundraising campaigns to attract donations.

· Business Development: To proactively seek out and identify new fundraising trends and developments and make recommendations about their relevance.

· Stakeholder Management: To develop and implement excellence in donor engagement, building and maintaining strong relationships with donors, partners, and other stakeholders.

· Strategic Thinking: Capacity to develop and implement long-term commercial strategies, ensuring every opportunity is taken to secure funding.

· Commercial Partnerships: Collaborating with businesses to generate revenue and support the Foundation's mission. To develop and manage a prospect pipeline to track funding opportunities. To ensure a proactive and measurable programme of corporate partnerships, sponsorships and gift in kind opportunities. To produce and deliver compelling and persuasive funding proposals, coordinate development of funding applications, liaising with colleagues where necessary.

Budgeting and Reporting

• To attend and report to fortnightly meetings of the SMT. Attend quarterly Finance, Risk and Audit Sub-Committee of the Board. Attend Board/Board Sub Committee meetings as required.
• To plan and manage medium to long income and expenditure budgets and to work with the Director of Finance and Support Services to support the development and implementation of effective management information systems.
• Work with the Finance Team to prepare annual budgets for the Fundraising Department.
• To be responsible for achieving fundraising income targets and for the management of the fundraising budget
• Ensure that adequate controls are in place and monitored to protect income and reputation.
• Monitor and track income against targets for all fundraising income, including forecasting and analysis, and produce regular progress reports for the Senior Management Team and the Board of Directors.
• To put in place effective evaluation and benchmarking tools to help measure performance and support ongoing improvement.

Other

• To ensure that all Fundraising activity complies with relevant legal requirements and the Irish Heart Foundation's policies, including adherence to the Irish Heart Foundation's financial procedures; and with lead responsibility for staying up to date with changes to Fundraising regulation and identifying impact and necessary action for the Irish Heart Foundation.
• To ensure that the Irish Heart Foundation's interests are protected by engaging with all relevant legislative requirements and codes of practice. To liaise with the Irish Heart Foundation Governance & Compliance Officer where changes occur in regulations, legislation that may impact Irish Heart Foundation fundraising activities and/or practices.
• To be an active and inspiring ambassador for the Irish Heart Foundation's brand proactively promoting the organisation externally, building networks and identifying opportunities to introduce the work of the organisation to new audiences.
• To attend meetings with funders, prospects and networking events.

Additional Information

• To undertake any other duties that may reasonably be required to fulfil the duties of this post.
• A flexible approach to working hours – including evening and weekend working as required

Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

• Qualified to degree level or with equivalent professional experience.
• A minimum of seven years professional experience in fundraising charity type markets is essential
• Significant record of achievement in:
• Fundraising for not for profit sector
• Working to challenging targets
• Innovation in fundraising.
• Leading a team to success
• Ability to develop long-term fundraising strategies aligned with the mission
• Technical knowledge of fundraising best practice
• Experience in CRM system and donor databases
• Senior level strategic thinker with deep understanding of fundraising within charities.
• In depth understanding of Irish fundraising trends and sectors
• Excellent experience in financial management, planning and budgetary controls.
• Excellent communicator. Must be a powerful public advocate for the work of the IHF.
• Dynamic, energetic, positive clear thinker.  
• Exceptional networker with strong existing personal network (that can be immediately tapped into).
• Successful track record in sourcing funds from Philanthropic organisations, high net worth individuals, and legacies.  

Other

• Full valid driving license and access to car to carry out full duties of the role.
• Eligibility to work in Ireland.

 The above Job Specification is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved, and, consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post that may be assigned to them from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.  

Details of Role and Application process

This is a full-time, permanent role, Monday to Friday. The role is based in the Irish Heart Foundation's offices in Rathmines, Dublin (Monday and Thursday are office days). To apply please provide an up-to-date curriculum vitae and cover letter outlining how you suit the post by email to Klara O'Malley, HR Manager.

Email: hr@irishheart.ie

The closing date for this position is COB Wednesday 12^th of November 2025

The Irish Heart Foundation is an equal opportunities employer.

The Irish Heart Foundation has a strict no smoking policy.

Please be advised the IHF retains all candidate data for a period of 12 months after which it is deleted. Should you wish to have your details deleted earlier than this please contact HR directly to request us to do so.

Please find IHF Privacy Policy https://irishheart.ie/privacy-policy/

If you have any accommodation needs throughout the recruitment process, please contact HR@irishheart.ie

RCN: 20008376 | CRO: 23434