Education Recruitment
Paul Hassall
State School - Fundraising Consultant
Paul founded State School Fundraising in December 2021 with the aim of helping schools in the state sector raise income through adopting best practice fundraising.
Prior to entering educational fundraising in 2019 his career was corporate; managing sales and marketing teams for organisations including Gillette, Alliance UniChem, Britvic, Premier Foods, and for 11 years leading the consumer division at Ordnance Survey.
The change of career was prompted by a desire to utilise his experience in a way which would benefit those in education. Working at Oakham School and Portsmouth Grammar School provided excellent grounding in the science of fundraising and the dynamics of the education sector.
Clients include The London Oratory School, Sacred Heart High School Hammersmith and All Saints Catholic College Kensington
Amba Shirfield
State and Independent School - Fundraising Consultant
Amba studied Modern Languages at the University of Westminster before building a career spanning the arts, international development and education fundraising across the UK, USA, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. Early in her career she led an Afro-Brazilian performing arts company helping young Londoners reach their potential through expressive arts, and worked with youth charities to secure grants for programmes supporting those in need across London.
She went on to become Director of External Relations for Teach First, developing new partnerships to support their programs, and led African charities to develop new funding streams supporting 100,000 young children to access education and healthcare, winning the Vodafone World of Difference Award in 2012.
Amba moved into educational fundraising and has since worked in schools and universities across the UK, USA and Australia for over 25 years, leading capital campaigns and raising significant funds for bursaries and scholarships. In Australia she established scholarship endowments raising $35 million for young people who lacked the financial means to access higher education. Since 2016 she has led development offices across four schools in the UK and Qatar, and was most recently appointed Director of Development at Mayfield School, where she is leading a new fundraising campaign to support bursaries and key capital projects.
Rory White
Founder
Our founder, Rory White, began recruiting for the charity sector in 1997. He later established Flow Caritas, building it into a trusted partner for sourcing talent across both fundraising operations and charity head office leadership roles.
Over the years, he has played a key part in shaping fundraising teams at some of the UK’s most recognisable charities, including Shelter, British Red Cross, Oxfam, Barnardo’s, Médecins Sans Frontières, Scope, The Children’s Society, EveryChild, and the League Against Cruel Sports.
He has since taken that deep expertise in fundraising and development and successfullyexpanded into the education sector, helping schools and institutions build high-performing advancement, alumni, and development teams.
Specialist Development Recruitment in Education
We bring our deep charity-sector experience into the education world, helping schools and institutions find the development professionals who can build sustainable income and lasting donor relationships.
Whether you're making your first fundraising hire or expanding an established team, we understand your world: the stakeholders, the income pressures, and what genuinely good looks like.
Roles we Recruit for
Director of Development – Leadership
Head of Advancement – Leadership
Development Manager – Management
Major Gifts Officer – Specialist
Head of Alumni Relations – Specialist
Philanthropy Manager – Specialist
Annual Fund Manager – Specialist
Capital Campaign Manager – Campaign
Case Study
Lady Margaret School,
Development Manager
School Type
Church of England Academy, State Sector
Location
Parsons Green, London
Role
Placed Development Manager
Lady Margaret School is an outstanding Church of England academy for girls in Hammersmith and Fulham, rated outstanding in all areas by Ofsted in 2023. With a long tradition of community and a growing ambition to develop sustainable income beyond government funding, the school recognised it was time to make its first dedicated development hire.
The challenge was a familiar one: limited internal knowledge of what a Development Manager role should look like, uncertainty around salary benchmarking, and a need to find someone who could build a function largely from scratch while fitting naturally into the school's culture and values.
We worked closely with the leadership team to shape the role brief, set realistic expectations and identify candidates from both the charity and education sectors. The school needed someone who combined genuine fundraising ability with the interpersonal skills to engage parents, alumni and the wider community.
We placed a Development Manager who brought direct experience of individual giving and donor stewardship, and who understood from the outset that this was a role requiring patience, relationship-building and a long-term view of income growth.
"Even state schools are having to fundraise now, and finding someone who truly understands that landscape, who can make the case to donors and build those relationships over time, makes all the difference."
Lady Margaret School is an example of a growing trend: outstanding state schools and academies beginning to invest seriously in development, not as an afterthought, but as a core part of their long-term strategy.
What We Bring to Education
Fundraising fluency
We assess candidates on the substance of their experience (individual giving, major gifts, alumni engagement), not just job titles. We know what good looks like.
The charity-to-education pipeline
We work with fundraisers crossing from the charity sector, a talent pool most education recruiters miss entirely, and one that often produces the strongest hires.
Direct access to Rory:
No junior consultants. You work with our founder throughout, someone who has been placing fundraisers since 1997.
Contact Information
Talk to Rory about your next education development hire.
07905 175133
Longhouse, Lewes, Sussex, UK