Challenge Events Fundraising Manager

Save the Children UK is looking for a Challenge Events Manager to lead the delivery and development of our exciting portfolio of challenge events. From iconic events such as the London Marathon and Great North Run to a wider programme of fundraising challenges, you'll play a key role in creating fantastic experiences for our supporters, growing participation and engagement, and maximising vital income for children.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced events, fundraising or supporter engagement professional who enjoys bringing people together, managing multiple projects and using insight and creativity to continually improve the supporter experience and grow the impact of our Challenge Events programme.

About Us

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

About the Team

The purpose of the Public Impact Group is to build an active community of people in the UK who give money, time and take action to enable lasting change for children.

As Public Income and Engagement, we deliver sector leading opportunities for the UK public to create impact for children. Working closely with colleagues across Public Impact, we deliver a cohesive approach to public engagement that generates income, builds awareness, changes minds and opinions, prompts people to act, and builds deep relationships with supporters. Value exchange is at the heart of our approach.

About the role

The Challenge Events Manager is responsible for the successful delivery and ongoing development of Save the Children's Challenge Events programme. Working closely with the Supporter-Led Fundraising Lead, the role manages a portfolio of challenge events delivering excellent supporter experiences while meeting participation, engagement and income targets.

The role works collaboratively across the organisation to drive continuous improvement, identify opportunities for growth and maximise fundraising outcomes through effective stewardship, marketing and operational delivery.

In this role, you will:

• Deliver agreed participation, income and fundraising targets across the Challenge Events portfolio.
• Lead the successful delivery and continual development of the Challenge Events programme, ensuring an excellent supporter experience from sign up through to event completion.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with participants, event organisers and internal stakeholders to maximise engagement, fundraising performance and long-term supporter value.
• Lead the delivery of supporter acquisition, engagement and stewardship activity across Challenge Events and In Aid of Fundraising, using insight to continually improve performance.
• Monitor and evaluate portfolio performance, using data, supporter feedback and market insight to identify opportunities for growth, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to the planning and development of the Challenge Events portfolio, providing insight and recommendations to support future growth and maximise return on investment.
• Contribute to departmental income reporting, budgeting and forecasting, ensuring accurate monitoring of performance and expenditure.
• Manage multiple priorities simultaneously while maintaining high standards of operational delivery, financial management and supporter stewardship.
• Ensure all Challenge Events activity is delivered in line with safeguarding, health and safety, risk management and compliance requirements, including the development and maintenance of appropriate event documentation, risk assessments and operational plans.

About you

To be successful, it is important that you have/are:

• Experience of delivering successful fundraising, events, marketing or supporter engagement activity. (Experience within challenge events desirable.)
• Experience of managing multiple priorities and projects simultaneously while maintaining high standards of delivery.
• Strong relationship management skills with the ability to build effective relationships with supporters, suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Experience using data, reporting and insight to inform decision making and improve performance.
• Strong planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of supporter stewardship and engagement.
• Experience of event planning and delivery.
• Understanding of digital marketing channels and supporter acquisition activity.
• Commitment to Save the Children's vision, mission and values.

What we offer you

We promote flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, and wellbeing both at work and beyond, and offer a wide range of benefits designed to reward your hard work and inspire you to help improve the lives of children every day.

Some of the benefits you can expect include:

• Generous Annual Leave - Starting at 27 days per year (pro rata for part-time employees) increasing with service up to 32 days, plus public holidays and our annual 'Save the Children Day'.
• Family Leave - Up to 39 weeks of maternity/adoption pay (including up to 21 weeks full pay) and paternity/adoption leave of 10 weeks full pay (plus statutory entitlement).
• Special Leave - Up to 10 days paid leave per year (pro rata) for urgent or exceptional personal circumstances, without using annual leave.
• Volunteer Leave - Up to 3 days paid leave per year to support volunteering and give back.
• Pension & Life Assurance - Helping you plan for the future with up to 7% employer pension contributions.
• Employee Discounts - Access thousands of deals across groceries, retail, tech, travel, fitness, and more.
• Health & Wellbeing Support - Including access to a 24/7 Virtual GP and Employee Assistance Programme and Counselling, eye care support, and seasonal flu vaccinations.

Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Location & Ways of Working:

The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but at times you will be required to come to your contracted office (usually between 2-4 days per month, depending on the needs of your role, team, or service). For many roles, this is likely to be the minimum required to deliver impact.

This will be discussed and agreed with your manager / team and we encourage candidates to discuss our ways of working in more detail at interview stage.

Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense.

Flexible Working - We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce, and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where structural inequality is actively addressed, and all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can thrive.

We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, and are especially interested in hearing from people with diverse and intersecting identities such as lived experience of poverty, people of faith, people of colour, people with disabilities, with experience of migration and/or refugee status, care-experienced people, the LGBTQIA+ community and individuals with experience living in diverse families.

We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think. We know that different voices working together will enable us to do our work better, improving the lives of children around the world.

Closing Date: 25 August 2026