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 DevelopmentLeadership
- Head of AdvancementLeadership
- Development ManagerManagement
- Major Gifts OfficerSpecialist
- Head of Alumni RelationsSpecialist
- Philanthropy ManagerSpecialist
- Annual Fund ManagerSpecialist
- Capital Campaign ManagerCampaign
Case study
Lady Margaret School, 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.
Get in touch
Talk to Rory about your next education development hire.