High-Value Fundraising in 2025: What the Past Year Tells Us About 2026

As we close 2025 and prepare for the year ahead, it is clear that high-value fundraising in the charity sector has moved into a more mature and strategic phase. The shifts first felt in 2024 have not only continued but also accelerated, reshaping how charities think about income diversification, team structures, and long-term sustainability.

Trusts and foundations remain an important part of many income portfolios, but their declining reliability, through early application closures, reduced opportunities, and heightened competition, has forced charities to look elsewhere for stability. In response, corporate partnerships and philanthropy have become central pillars of high-value fundraising strategies rather than supplementary streams.

What has defined 2025 most clearly is not just where charities are focusing their efforts, but how they are building the internal capability to acquire, manage and retain high-value supporters over the long term.

Corporate Partnerships and Philanthropy: 2025 in Review

Corporate partnerships continued their upward trajectory in 2025, evolving from a growth opportunity into a core strategic function for many charities. Organisations that invested early in corporate fundraising capacity saw the strongest returns, particularly those that clearly separated new business acquisition from partnership management.

Philanthropy also remained central to high-value fundraising, but 2025 brought renewed focus on the scale of untapped potential. Research from the Charities Aid Foundation shows that 86% of High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) give to charity, contributing at least £8 billion annually. Yet much of this giving remains under-strategised and reactive rather than planned. For charities, this gap represents both a challenge and a significant opportunity, prompting greater investment in new business specialists with the skills to unlock this potential.

New Business as a Specialist Discipline: Corporate Partnerships and Philanthropy

Demand for corporate fundraisers with strong new business credentials remained high throughout 2025. Roles focused on prospecting, pitching and securing high-value partnerships are now firmly established, with candidates who can demonstrate success in the £100,000–£500,000 range commanding premium salaries of £45,000–£55,000 for mid-level manager roles that previously sat closer to £40,000. This makes new business roles particularly attractive to candidates, as they typically offer higher salaries and, in the context of rising inflation and living costs, top talent is increasingly choosing new opportunities based not only on the cause but on remuneration as well.

This salary inflation reflects a broader shift in mindset. Charities increasingly recognise that corporate income requires specialist skills, commercial confidence and the ability to align propositions with corporate priorities such as ESG, social value, employee engagement and long-term impact.

A similar trend has emerged in philanthropy. The ability to identify, cultivate and secure five- and six-figure gifts from HNWIs is now a highly sought-after skill. Organisations are prioritising fundraisers who can open doors, build major gift pipelines from scratch and convert prospects into committed donors, while maintaining long-term relationships.

This demand for new business specialists has created a highly competitive market, with more vacancies than well-seasoned and accomplished fundraisers who can consistently secure new business. As a result, many charities are struggling to fill these roles. To overcome this, organisations are either increasing salaries or turning to specialist recruiters to actively headhunt proven new business talent.

New Business Fatigue

Based on our daily conversations with candidates, we are already seeing growing resistance to highly specialised roles that focus exclusively on either new business or account management, particularly where the split is heavily weighted 80/20 in one direction. Instead, candidates are increasingly seeking more nuanced roles, favouring positions that offer a more balanced mix of new business and account management to avoid overly repetitive workloads and support longer-term career satisfaction.

Although the market is unlikely to see a significant increase in genuinely balanced roles, it is important for hiring managers to bear this in mind when designing positions. Roles that offer variety across new business and account management can support greater job satisfaction, reduce burnout and improve long-term retention, particularly in competitive market where experienced fundraisers have strong alternatives.

Looking Ahead to 2026: The Rise of Account Management Roles

As new business activity continues to drive partnership growth, 2026 is likely to mark a shift in how these relationships are resourced. Many charities are now recognising an imbalance: heavy investment in acquisition without sufficient capacity for stewardship, delivery and retention.

In response, we expect a rise in corporate account management roles across the sector. As portfolios expand and partnerships become more complex, charities will need dedicated professionals focused on protecting income, managing expectations, strong communication and delivering against objectives and demonstrating impact. These roles will be critical in unlocking long-term value through renewals, uplifts and multi-year commitments, reflecting a growing understanding that sustainable corporate income is built through relationship-led management, not one-off wins.

Mirroring this shift, philanthropy teams are also likely to introduce more stewardship-focused roles in 2026. As HNWI portfolios grow, dedicated relationship managers will be needed to ensure an excellent donor experience and maximise lifetime value, freeing new business specialists to focus on securing the next generation of high-value gifts.

We anticipate that account management salaries will be benchmarked slightly lower than new business-focused roles, typically around £40,000–£45,000, as charities remain less willing to pay a premium for positions perceived to deliver a lower immediate return on investment than acquisition roles.

Trusts and Foundations: Stability, Restructuring and a Measured Return

Trusts and foundations have remained a relatively static income stream throughout 2025, with many organisations reducing targets in response to ongoing challenges. Early application closures, fewer available opportunities and intensified competition have continued to undermine predictability, prompting charities to rely more heavily on corporate partnerships and philanthropy as their primary high-value income drivers.

That said, 2025 has also marked a quiet but notable shift. After significant cuts to trusts and foundations teams in 2024 and 2025, many charities have begun to reinvest cautiously in this area towards the end of 2025. While income expectations remain conservative, organisations are increasingly recognising the value of maintaining in-house expertise and pipeline continuity for this income stream.

Looking Ahead to 2026: Trusts and Foundations

Looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate a gradual increase in trusts and foundations recruitment, particularly at officer level, alongside a smaller number of manager roles. Rather than rebuilding standalone trusts teams, many charities are expected to integrate trusts and foundations within broader high-value structures. In practice, this is likely to mean trusts specialists reporting into a Head of Philanthropy, with responsibility spanning both major donors and trust income, rather than appointing separate Heads of Trusts.

While recruitment volumes will remain lower than in corporate partnerships and philanthropy, trusts and foundations will continue to play an important, if more tightly managed, role within diversified income portfolios, providing balance and resilience alongside more growth-driven streams.

Looking Ahead: What This Means for 2026

The direction of travel is clear. High-value fundraising is becoming more specialised, more competitive and more relationship-driven. In 2026, we are likely to see:

Continued salary pressure for experienced new business fundraisers, with salaries typically ranging from £45,000–£55,000, reflecting the premium placed on income generation. (This can be seen in our salary benchmarking survey coming out soon)
Account management salaries sitting slightly lower, around £40,000–£45,000, as charities remain less willing to pay a premium for roles perceived to deliver a lower immediate ROI than new business acquisition
An increasingly competitive recruitment market, with more vacancies and a relatively small pool of experienced new business candidates
Candidates seeking more nuanced roles, often favouring positions that offer a balanced split between new business and account management to avoid overly repetitive workloads
Further growth in account management and stewardship roles across both corporate partnerships and philanthropy teams
Greater integration between acquisition and relationship management functions to support long-term income sustainability
Gradual increase in trusts and foundations recruitment, particularly at officer level, alongside a smaller number of manager roles.

Charities that invest in people, structure and long-term relationship capability will be best placed to thrive in 2026.

Final Thoughts

By the end of 2025, high-value fundraising has moved beyond experimentation and into consolidation. Corporate partnerships and philanthropy are no longer optional growth areas, they are central to organisational resilience.

For charities, success now depends on balancing ambition with infrastructure: securing new supporters while building the capacity to steward them well. For fundraisers, the landscape offers significant opportunity, particularly for those who can combine strategic thinking with exceptional relationship management.

As we move into 2026, one thing is certain: high-value fundraising is no longer just about winning support, it is about earning trust, sustaining relationships and delivering impact over the long term.

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