Fundraising trainee

Closing date for applications: 6 October 2025 at 10.00am

Salary: £1939 per month

Duration: 9 months

Working hours: Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week, can be worked flexibly. Typical working days are 9am to 5pm, with an hour for lunch. Staff are expected to work from our office in London at least two days per week, unless other arrangements are agreed in advance.

Start date: 6 January 2026

Step behind the scenes of an environmental think tank, learning how charities raise millions while gaining the practical skills needed to support successful fundraising campaigns.

Green Alliance is a charity and independent think tank, committed to achieving a greener future. We play a central role in shaping environmental thinking in the UK and are known for our cross-party influence, the clarity of our insights and the quality of our reports, briefings, events and podcasts.

A think tank is a research organisation that aims to influence government policy making. Green Alliance is a specific type of think tank; many are focused on supporting a particular party or part of the political spectrum, but we are politically neutral and focused on policy that improves the environment. This means we spend our time drawing up strategies for achieving change internally and with other organisations, doing research for reports and roundtables, and then meeting MPs and civil servants to persuade them to take action. Among other things, our staff regularly talk to ministers, appear in newspaper articles and on TV and radio and give evidence to parliamentary select committees. There has never been a more important time to act on the environmental crisis. We are producing clear evidence that a low carbon, green economy can create new jobs and industries, improve people’s lives and lead to a safer, fairer and more resilient future for all.

As a charity, we raise funds for the work we do through a range of fundraising activities: including making grant applications to philanthropic trusts and foundations; and cultivating corporate partnerships with businesses and philanthropic individuals who want to support environmental policy work. These different funding relationships are based on trust and require detailed attention to ensure they are fulfilling and impactful relationships for the funder and the charity.

We are looking for a fundraising trainee who is curious and excited to learn about fundraising for a charity. The fundraising trainee will work alongside the senior partnerships officer and others across the teams to learn about Green Alliance’s fundraising efforts and support the administration and processes that we use to raise more than £3 million per year for our work. This is an excellent opportunity for someone new to fundraising to gain hands-on administrative experience of fundraising within the environment sector.


What you will learn

• How to write compelling proposals for funders and report back to current funders on impact.
• How to research funder prospects and what makes a great match for our work, and support maintaining up to date donor lists.
• Use tools to effectively monitor our funding pipeline. This includes using our database to maintain up to date funder information and engagement, with a keen eye to detail to ensure all fundraising activities are properly recorded.
• Our different types of funder relationships and how we cultivate and nurture our stakeholders such as business partners and funder representatives
• How we manage staff time on projects and project finances, and how this relates to fundraising
• The fundamentals of keeping an office running smoothly and how the operations team supports a team of around 40 people
• The environmental work that the organisation carries out and how to motivate funders to support this work
• How we use social media in our work and occasionally support the communications team in posting timely updates and commentary to our channels.

Key activities

• Develop skills in minute taking, meeting co-ordination and presenting, through to preparing your own presentation for the team, towards the end of your placement
• Support events to share our work with funders as well as support our broader agenda of events that raise awareness of our work and provide opportunities to grow our network
• Keep up-to-date on what the team are working on and the wider context of our work to help inform funding prospect searches and development work
• Gain key skills in fundraising, learning and working with people who have many years’ experience in raising funds for charitable work, including the day-to-day administration that makes fundraising possible
• Gain experience working with senior staff members, learning how to handle competing demands and when to ask for help and advice
• Gain experience in office administration such as answering calls and emails, and greeting visitors to the office.
• Help us to improve our ways of synchronising our information organisation tools – including email platform, database, and SharePoint file systems

What we are looking for

• Support our vision of a green and prosperous future for all
• Be keen to learn how fundraising works at an environmental think tank, with an aspiration to work in charity fundraising
• Likely to be known for being well organised and able to ‘get things done’
• Diligent and proactive in your approach, with the ability to use your initiative
• Good attention to detail
• Ability to solve problems
• Collaborative: be able to work as part of a team and demonstrate good interpersonal skills
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to prioritise work and be flexible when plans change
• Good IT skills: you must be confident using MS Office software platforms, such as Word and Excel
• Confident to ask for clarification when not clear
• At least five GCSEs including English and maths, graded five to nine (A-C)
• A degree is not required for this role, but A-level or an equivalent qualification is required

When applying, consider how your personal interests and experiences, including any extracurricular and social experience, help equip you for working at Green Alliance. We are interested in the life experiences you have had and how you may have overcome barriers to achieve your goals. We are particularly keen to hear from applicants who may not have a university degree but can demonstrate a strong personal interest in this role, and we encourage those new to the workplace to apply.


To apply

• Log in to your Creative Access account or register today to apply for this opportunity
• Upload your CV and cover letter as one document (applications without a tailored cover letter will not be accepted)
• Once submitted, you can no longer amend your application, so proof-read carefully
• Do not contact the company directly
• Please email any queries about this role to Creative Access at this address: recruit@creativeaccess.org.uk

This opportunity is open to individuals from groups that are under-represented in the creative industries. This includes, but is not limited to, individuals who identify as Black, Asian, or from other ethnically diverse backgrounds, or people of any ethnicity who belong to the following under-represented groups: disabled people, people with the characteristic of gender reassignment, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, carers and asylum seekers.

The successful candidate for this opportunity will also participate in a Creative Access support programme that sits alongside workplace training. This includes a programme of induction training, monthly masterclasses, wellbeing support, buddying/mentoring and more.