Meet our fundraising team

Our fabulous fundraising team has a wealth of experience and knowledge that can help you get started or take your fundraising efforts to the next level.
We want to introduce you to the faces behind the job titles, the people who guide and support your fundraising, working with you to improve life after brain injury.

Let’s meet Sarah Clay, Trust and Foundations Manager.

I’ve worked in the charitable sector for virtually my whole career.

Initially, I was involved in distributing grants from the national lottery, advising local groups on making applications, and then moving on to applying for funding myself.
I’ve worked in organisations large and small, and in various sectors, from countryside restoration to mental health and disability. I’ve had a few general fundraising roles, but the vast majority of my work has been in applying for grants and charitable trust donations, including several years working as a freelance trust and grants fundraiser. I’ve also ‘sat on the other side of the fence’ as a freelance grants assessor for BBC Children in Need, which gives a great insight and helps in writing bids.

Tell us about your role at Headway.

I’ve been at Headway since September 2022 and in that time it’s been great seeing how many trusts and foundations support our mission to improve life after brain injury.

I spend a lot of time crafting letters to charitable trusts. This brings an important revenue stream to the charity. Raising money through grants and trusts enables us to deliver specific projects and support our wider activities such as the Headway helpline.

It’s a great role as I get to work closely with colleagues across the organisation. This could be through developing new projects that might be suitable for grant funding. I also liaise closely with our services to gather information for evaluation reports for our funders. A key aspect of the role is being able to let our fantastic funders see the impact of their support, whether their donation is large or small. I couldn’t do my job without all the info everyone provides to do this!

How do you support our #HeadwayHeroes in their fundraising efforts?

I support charitable trusts and grant providers who are #HeadwayHeroes with information on how their incredible support is making a difference to people’s lives.

What do you love about your job?

Working with my amazing colleagues, they are all so enthusiastic and committed!
I find it so rewarding every time we receive a donation/grant from a funder – regardless of how much it is for!

Tell us about an achievement you are proud of.

Re-establishing our trust and grants programme after there had been a significant gap in staffing.

How would you describe the working culture at Headway?

Positive – everyone seems excited at what the future might hold for Headway and our work in improving life after brain injury as we develop our strategy.

 

Trusts and foundations play a significant role in helping Headway to reach and improve the lives of people with brain injury, their families and carers across the UK. Find out more here.