About Us

At The Shepherd Centre, we believe every child with hearing loss deserves a world of choice. For over 50 years, we’ve been empowering children to listen, speak, and thrive - helping them build confidence, independence, and bright futures.

As a highly regarded for-purpose organisation, we provide specialised programs for children with hearing loss and their families, tailored to every stage of their journey. From our world-leading early intervention programs for babies and toddlers to Hear for You, our mentoring program for school-aged children and teenagers, we’re there every step of the way. Today, we support over 900 families across Australia, offering in-person and online services from 10 locations in NSW, ACT, Queensland, and Tasmania. Through our global platform, HearHub, we equip health professionals worldwide with the tools to support children with hearing loss.

When you join The Shepherd Centre, you become part of a passionate, purpose-driven team dedicated to making a real difference. Our values—integrity, courage, compassion, empowerment, creativity, and innovation—guide everything we do, ensuring every child and family receives the best possible support. We foster a family-friendly, flexible work environment where our people can thrive—both professionally and personally.

As a child-safe organisation and an equal-opportunity employer, we are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone feels valued.

Join us in shaping a future where every child has a voice.

About the Role

The Senior Philanthropy Manager is responsible for leading the strategy and execution of TSC’s major gifts program. This includes cultivating and soliciting six-figure philanthropic gifts from new and existing donors, managing a robust pipeline, and mentoring team members in relationship fundraising. The role plays a critical part in achieving TSC’s income targets and expanding its base of high-value supporters.

This is a permanent, full-time (38 hours per week) opportunity for an experienced and motivated individual ready to make a meaningful impact.

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Lead and implement major gifts strategies to secure six-figure donations, identifying and engaging new prospects
• Identify and engage new major gift prospects through research, networking and leveraging internal and external relationships.
• Develop compelling cases for support and tailored proposals aligned with TSC’s mission.
• Develop and execute individualised donor engagement plans, including face-to-face meetings, events, and impact reporting
• Collaborate with the Director of Fundraising to set and monitor income targets and KPIs
• Manage and grow a portfolio of high-net-worth donors, ensuring personalised cultivation and stewardship
• Support donor engagement through meetings, events, and impact reporting, maintaining ethical fundraising practices.
• Maintain high standards of donor care and ensure alignment with ethical fundraising practices
• Supervise and mentor team members, fostering a collaborative, high-performance culture
• Collaborate with Clinical and Executive teams to identify funding opportunities and engage donors meaningfully.
• Ensure accurate CRM record-keeping and provide regular performance reports.
• Contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and post-campaign evaluations

Essential Criteria

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in major gift fundraising or high-value relationship management
• Proven track record of securing six-figure gifts from individuals or foundations
• Strong leadership and mentoring capabilities
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills
• Strategic thinker with the ability to manage complex relationships and competing priorities
• CRM database experience, Microsoft Dynamics preferred but not essential
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint)
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
• Ability to work independently as well as within a team environment
• Willingness to obtain a Working with Children Check and a NDIS Worker Check
• Full working rights to work in Australia.

Why Join The Shepherd Centre?

We don’t just profess our values, we truly practice them through the work that each and every one of us performs each day. We act and communicate with Compassion and Integrity in everything we do. We strive to Empower everyone we meet – our children, families and stakeholders. We foster Innovation – committed to finding better ways of doing things, through evidence-based practice. And finally, we support our people to be Courageous and harness their Creativity to unlock potential, enable progress and create new opportunities.

At The Shepherd Centre, we are passionate about improving outcomes for the children accessing our programs and we support our people to have a great work-life balance. We offer competitive benefits including:

• Competitive salary with not-for-profit salary packaging – claim up to $15,900 of your salary tax free per year + meal entertainment expenses up to $2,650 per year
• Flexible work hours, including options to work some days from home/remotely
• A full Christmas and New Year shutdown period to recharge
• Option to work a 9-day fortnight, with 1 day off per fortnight
• Excellent internal professional and career development opportunities
• A supportive and collaborative work environment
• A family friendly and professional company culture
• Free confidential access to Employee Assistance Program

How to apply:

Please submit your resume and a cover letter outlining how you meet the key requirements of the role. 

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible, as we will be actively shortlisting applications as they are received. As such, this position may be filled prior to the closing date. We thank you for your application, but only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

If you have any questions about the role, or if you require any reasonable adjustments to equitably participate in the recruitment process, please contact us at [email protected] using the subject line: Senior Philanthropy Manager enquiry via EthicalJobs.

The Shepherd Centre is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to providing a work environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. Please let us know if you have any support or access requirements at the time of your application.