Meet Grace Craven: Fundraising Recruitment Specialist
We’re delighted to welcome Grace Craven to Merrifield Consultants as a Senior Consultant, specialising in fundraising recruitment.
Grace joins Merrifield with nearly ten years of experience working within the charity sector across philanthropy, special events and challenge events fundraising. Throughout her career, she has worked with a wide range of organisations, giving her a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges charities face when building successful fundraising teams.
What’s particularly special about Grace’s journey to Merrifield is that she has experienced our service from both sides of the recruitment process. Having first been placed by Merrifield as a candidate and later partnering with us to expand her team at Cure Parkinson’s, she already knows first-hand the value of a consultative, transparent and relationship-led recruitment approach.
Before moving into fundraising, Grace enjoyed a successful career in theatre production, managing productions and touring internationally, including across New Zealand and South Africa. Today, she’s bringing that same people-focused approach, organisational expertise and sector knowledge to help charities secure exceptional fundraising talent.
Grace will focus on recruiting for Director and Head of Fundraising appointments, Trusts and Foundations, Community and Regional Fundraising, Major Donor Fundraising and Corporate Partnerships roles. Her extensive fundraising background provides valuable insight into both what candidates are looking for and what organisations need to build high-performing fundraising functions.
Away from work, Grace lives in Nidderdale, Yorkshire. In a story that could only happen in Yorkshire, her neighbour Steve recently named one of his Ryeland lambs after her. Grace the lamb will be competing at the Great Yorkshire Show later this summer, and we’re all hoping she brings home a prize or two.
To help everyone get to know her a little better, we sat down with Grace to talk about her career journey, the current fundraising recruitment market and what she’s most looking forward to in her new role.
What attracted you to joining Merrifield Consultants?
I’ve experienced both sides of the services that Merrifield Consultants offers, having been placed by them as a candidate and later using their expertise to help expand my team at Cure Parkinson’s. Every experience was brilliant. Merrifield took the time to listen, and the entire process was transparent and supportive throughout.
Can you tell us a little about your recruitment background and career journey so far?
I have nearly ten years’ experience in fundraising across philanthropy, special events and challenge events, and I’ve worked with a wide range of organisations. I’m excited to apply that experience to helping charities secure the best talent with Merrifield.
Like many fundraisers, I fell into the sector somewhat unexpectedly. Before moving into fundraising, I had a career production managing theatre shows and toured productions internationally, including to New Zealand and South Africa.
Which sectors or specialisms will you be focusing on?
My focus will be on:
- Director and Head of Fundraising appointments
- Trusts and Foundations
- Community and Regional Fundraising
- Major Donor Fundraising
- Corporate Partnerships
My background in fundraising gives me a rounded understanding of the challenges charities are facing, as well as what high-performing and growing fundraising teams need in order to succeed.
What do you enjoy most about working in recruitment?
Talking to people! Whether you’re a candidate or a charity, I love hearing what you’re working on, the opportunities available and the challenges you’re facing.
What are the biggest challenges currently facing regional charities and not-for-profit organisations when hiring?
Around one in five UK charities are based in London, and the capital is home to a disproportionately large share of the sector’s biggest and wealthiest organisations. As a result, a significant proportion of fundraising talent is concentrated in and around London, whereas regionally, fundraising talent is spread incredibly thinly. This can make it difficult for regional charities to access top talent.
In addition, hybrid and remote working have fundamentally changed how charities compete for talent. For many senior fundraising roles, geography now plays a much smaller role in salary expectations. Organisations attempting to attract top talent while maintaining strictly regional salary levels often face reduced shortlists and longer recruitment processes.
What advice would you give to organisations looking to attract top talent in today’s market?
Budget pressures can sometimes make working with a recruiter feel like an unnecessary luxury, but the cost of using a recruiter is often outweighed by the financial and operational impact of leaving senior roles vacant for extended periods.
Unfilled fundraising or leadership positions can lead to lost income opportunities, reduced team performance, delayed strategic delivery and increased pressure on existing staff. Advertising a role solely on your website or job boards may not always attract the calibre of candidate needed to deliver against the requirements of the role.
At Merrifield, we headhunt nearly 90% of the fundraising placements we make. That process takes time, expertise and specialist tools, but it allows us to identify and engage high-quality candidates who may not be actively looking for a new opportunity. Most importantly, we listen carefully and work in partnership with organisations to understand exactly what success looks like for them.
What are you most looking forward to achieving at Merrifield?
I’m looking forward to building strong, lasting relationships with charities across the sector and helping organisations find exceptional fundraising talent that can make a genuine long-term impact.
I’m also excited to continue growing my own expertise within recruitment and contribute to Merrifield’s reputation for delivering a thoughtful and consultative service.
What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
“Stay hungry.”
When you’ve worked at an organisation for a long time, it’s easy to become complacent and stay in your comfort zone. Over time, that can limit both personal growth and the organisation’s progress. Either find ways to reignite that hunger and ambition or recognise when it’s time to move on gracefully and seek your next challenge.
If you’re looking to strengthen your fundraising team, Grace would be delighted to hear from you.
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