Ethan Hopkinson

As a key member of the Senior Management Team, working closely with the Board of Trustees, Chief Executive, and other Senior Managers, I am responsible for the development and implementation of the branch’s fundraising and engagement strategy whilst supporting the overall day-to-day management of the branch.

Developing the branch’s fundraising and engagement strategy required researching expansion opportunities, considering both current and potential supporters, reviewing the current activities of the branch, and proposing new and innovative activities to grow both income and engagement.

Implementing the new strategy has seen an overhaul of the organisation’s attitude towards, embedding a culture of fundraising and engagement throughout all departments, and creating new ways to recruit supporters with the vision to make supporting the branch as easy and accessible as possible.

Supporting the overall management of the branch includes playing an active role in the annual budget setting process, then supporting the Chief Executive and the branch’s external Accountant to process and monitor financial transactions, working closely with other Senior Managers to support their departments as required and to deliver cross-departmental projects, deputising for the Chief Executive during periods of absence and contributing to the development and delivery of the branch-wide strategy.

Leading on the branch's events and community engagement activities, helping to rebuild the support that had been lost throughout the Coronavirus pandemic whilst supporting the Head of Operations and Trustees with the development of strategic fundraising plans.

Whilst not a member of the Senior Management Team, the role offered support and advice where required and supported other teams with cross-department activities and initiatives.

Working with the Head of Operations and the branch's Accountant the role was required to monitor and account for the levels of income generated and ensuring that expenditure was kept within budget.

The life-saving work of The Air Ambulance Service spread the length and breadth of England - with those communities not served by the emergency service still being served by the heart-warming work of the Children's Air Ambulance.

The widespread nature of the charity's operations meant that there were countless opportunities to grow and develop the supporter base upon which the charity survived. Community Fundraising Executives were expected to fully embed themselves within their local communities to engage with existing supporters, familiarise themselves with potential opportunities, and secure new support.

Covering such a large region made it impossible to attend every event, or meet every supporter, personally, and as such, Executives relied upon the support of committed volunteers that they'd recruit, train and encourage.

All Community Fundraising Executives were responsible for the delivery of their own events, as well as monitoring and reporting on their income and expenditure to ensure that it was in line with the budget and contributed to the overall growth of the charity.

Joining the charity at a very exciting time in their existence, as the formulated plans for expansion in order to care for more adults with learning disabilities and autism, meant that this role was vital to helping the charity secure support to help them reach their goals.

Additionally, as the charity hadn't undertaken fundraising before, thanks to local government funding of core services, it presented the opportunity to develop the fundraising plan from scratch.

Despite having been part of the local community since Milton Keynes was established, few knew about the work of the charity and therefore a huge amount of work was required to bring the organisation to the forefront of the Milton Keynes voluntary sector.

Working closely with internal contacts, including Trustees, the Chief Executive and members of the Management Team, along with key figures within the local community we exposed the charity to the Milton Keynes community resulting in new-found engagement and support.

A role combining the role of the Community Fundraiser with a structured training and development plan to develop the required skills, knowledge and experience required to be a successful Community Fundraiser.


The training provided an introduction to the profession and covered a range of topics including the legalities of fundraising, compliance with the Fundraising Regulators’ Code of Conduct, how to develop meaningful relationships, stewarding supporters to maximise income and support and forecasting and monitoring income and expenditure.

As this role combined training with on the job experience, there was a caseload of supporters to steward, recruitment targets for the number of new supporters that should be attained and income targets to be met.