MK Canals: Fundraising/Income Generation

What will you be doing?

MK Canals is a place-based, partnership-driven organisation which delivers projects that benefit local communities and advocates for the contribution our canals can make to environmental sustainability. We have made a strong start in our first two years and have ambitious plans for the future. 

We currently have five Trustees (Chair, Treasurer, Charity Secretary, Volunteering Lead, Risk & Project Management Lead). To realise our plans we need additional trustees to grow with us and make a difference – starting with a Trustee to take lead responsibility for Fundraising & Income Generation. 

This trustee provides strategic oversight and practical leadership on fundraising and income generation activities, ensuring the charity develops sustainable income streams aligned with its charitable objectives. Key duties are to:

1. Lead the development and periodic review of a fundraising and income generation strategy appropriate to the charity’s size and capacity. 
2. Identify suitable income opportunities, including grants, donations, community fundraising, revenue generation, and partnerships.
3. Build and support a small team of volunteers working on fundraising and income generation activities and campaigns. 
4. Ensure compliance with charity fundraising regulations and guidance. 
5. Monitor fundraising performance, providing reports to the board. 
6. Oversee the building and maintenance of relationships with funders, donors, and supporters, ensuring appropriate relationship management, reporting and acknowledgment. 

What are we looking for?

We are committed to building a more diverse board and will particularly welcome interest from younger people, women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ people. 

We value ambition, vision, collaboration, professionalism, respect, pragmatism and impact, and are keen to hear from people who share our values and want to make a positive contribution. 

You don’t need prior trustee experience or even a knowledge of canals! What matters most is:

• A genuine interest in community, heritage, climate change, and social impact
• Strategic thinking and sound judgement
• Willingness to ask questions, offer perspective and contribute constructively
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a small, committed team

We also need you to bring to the role:

1. Experience of, or strong interest in, charity fundraising and income generation.
2. Understanding of good fundraising practice, including successful bid writing.
3. Ability to identify appropriate funding and income generation opportunities for the charity.
4. Good communication and relationship-building skills. 
5. Understanding of legal and ethical considerations in charity fundraising and income generation (or a willingness to learn). 

What difference will you make?

Your contribution as a Trustee will directly help both you and us to:

• Create a lasting legacy: secure lasting environmental and public amenity improvements for generations to come, shaping decisions that last decades, not months. 
• Make real community impact: develop Milton Keynes’ canals a resource for supporting wellbeing, inclusion, social connection, and environmental sustainability.
• Blend heritage and purpose: use the story and heritage of our canals to protect them for the future and sustain community benefit in times of growing climate change. 
• Have genuine influence: play an active role in setting strategy, priorities and future direction for our organisation as an emerging local, regional, and national partner 
• Learn and grow: develop our individual and shared experiences of governance, heritage, sustainability, community development and charity leadership.

You'll be involved in the successful delivery of grant funding and income generation for the organisation. This will sustain a growing portfolio of projects that will range from landscaping and habitat creation, from festivals and walking maps to making access improvements for canal and canalside users, to supporting water management programmes and more!

Anything else...

We are shaping roles to the time that individual Trustees can offer, and building teams of Lead Volunteers and Volunteers for them to work with and support.