Types of roles you could do working with charities

Interested in working with charities? We’ll run through some common roles in the charity sector.

There are numerous options out there for those interested in careers in philanthropy.

We’ll run through some typical jobs in charitable organisations:

• Management, administration and operations roles
• HR professional
• Marketing, communications and campaigning roles
• Volunteer manager
• Policy officer
• Fundraiser
• Grants officer or adviser

Like all good businesses, a charity needs a strong administration and operations management team.

For admin and operations roles in a charity, you’ll fly if you’re highly organised, logical and process-driven. If you’re looking for a management role, you’ll need leadership skills.

If you want to work in any of these popular roles, you don’t need to begin your career in the charity sector. Many managers, administrative staff and operations specialists move across after a stint in the private sector. Alternatively, the charity sector might be the place that gives you your break. For example, working your way up from charity shop volunteer to supervisor could be how you prove your management skills.

Employees and volunteers are crucial to the success of any charity. It’s the human resources (HR) department that ensures that charities get the most out of their personnel (and that they’re happy in their roles).

As an HR professional working in the charity sector, you’ll be responsible for making sure your organisation looks after its people. You’ll also be involved with training, development and contractual arrangements.

If you love working with people, HR is worth exploring.

Getting the word out there about a charity is vital.

Your work in this area might involve:

• Generating publicity with PR
• Advising on marketing and advertising campaigns – digital, print, TV and radio
• Running the charity’s social media channels
• Representing the organisation at events
• Organising fundraisers (like a charity run)
• Leading on awareness campaigns
• Liaising with benefactors who make substantial donations

How hands-on you’ll be will depend on your seniority and the charity’s size. In smaller charities, one marketing manager might work across multiple channels. In larger organisations, a senior team may delegate work to experts in particular areas. Sometimes, charities will use external resources (like a marketing or advertising agency) for big campaigns.

To succeed in marketing, comms or advertising, you'll need superb communication skills (verbal and written) and be able to influence others. It’ll help if you’re passionate about the cause as you’ll channel that into the work that you produce.

For more information about this kind of role, visit our marketing, media and PR career path guide.

Volunteer managers are responsible for recruiting, interviewing and managing a charity's volunteer network. The role is unique to the charity sector as it’s about managing people who aren’t being paid for their work, which can present challenges.

As a volunteer manager, you’d help devise and implement training programmes and deliver awareness initiatives to drive volunteer numbers upwards. You could find yourself working on a local, national or even global level. You may contribute to a charity's strategy, too.

You can undertake a volunteer management qualification. However, it’s rarely a requirement. What is essential, however, is that you’re good with people and have top-notch organisational skills.

For charities to raise awareness of what they’re campaigning for, they need to provide the research, insights and analysis required to influence wider debates. To do that, they need policy officers.

If you go into policy development, you’ll be part of a team that helps advise on and implement a charity's strategy. You’ll also need to build influential relationships with external stakeholders to shape the policies of other organisations (like government bodies).

To thrive here, you'll need excellent communication and research skills. A keen eye for detail and an ability to think quickly will benefit you too.

Every charity wants to raise money for its cause. However, there’s more to charity fundraising than asking the public for donations.

Part of being a fundraiser involves applying for funding from large organisations by putting together funding proposals.

The role offers a blend of marketing and sales in a business environment.

There’s a wide range of specialist fundraising roles in charities: community, corporate, direct marketing, events, legacy, major donor, regional, statutory and trust. If the general idea excites you, you’re bound to find a specific role that interests you.

For corporate and major donor fundraising, you’ll need to be comfortable dealing with a range of people, including some who are high-profile. You’ll need to be comfortable chatting at a party with celebrities or the heads of large companies. Project management skills are also important as you’ll have to juggle multiple priorities.

As a grants officer or adviser, you'll work with the fundraising departments to contribute towards your charity’s fundraising targets to ensure the long-term sustainability of the organisation’s work.

You'll produce applications to new and current UK or international trusts and statutory funders. If required, you’ll also produce accompanying documentation.

You'll need superb communication, strong leadership and organisational skills. You'll also need to build relationships internally and externally. Sometimes you'll be set tough targets, so you'll ideally be someone who thrives under pressure and can work to tight deadlines.

There are lots of exciting roles you could do in the charity sector. Some positions in charity organisations are similar to those you’ll find in other sectors, like marketing copywriters and operations managers. There are also roles in a charity that are unique to the sector, like the job of a volunteer manager or a fundraiser.

Charity is a versatile sector, so there are plenty of opportunities that will suit your skill set.

There are many more roles we haven’t covered, too. Almost all charities require experts. Those precise roles will vary depending on the cause, but lots of charities need scientific researchers, lawyers, human rights specialists and so on. If you're particularly interested in an area like that, you might consider gaining the required training first and moving across to the charity sector when the time is right.

It's also worth noting that larger charities, such as Cancer Research UK, will sometimes provide graduate training programmes, internships and structured career development opportunities. Compared with smaller charitable institutions, big charities tend to have complex structures with specific job functions. Smaller organisations are more likely to want to recruit generalists who take on a variety of tasks. What works best for you will depend on what you’re looking for.

Whatever path you go down, working with charities will open up new career opportunities.