The Donkey Sanctuary is an international animal welfare organisation, offering care and protection to donkeys worldwide. Our vision is a world where every donkey has a good quality of life, and our mission is to improve the lives of donkeys every day. We will achieve this by transforming the lives of donkeys in need worldwide by fostering greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually life-enhancing relationships. 

We have an exciting opportunity with in our Supporter Services team. As a Supporter Services Assistant, you will complete the financial processing of selected income and maintain an accurate and legally compliant database of supporters' personal data and interactions with the charity. Possessing outstanding interpersonal and diplomatic skills, you will deliver exceptional customer service to new and existing supporters, ensuring that they feel welcomed, valued and inspired to support the charity.

About you:

• Experience of entering and recording confidential and sensitive data accurately.
• Able to work well under pressure and maintain a high degree of concentration, accuracy, numeracy, literacy and attention to detail.
• Strong customer service skills and experience of working in a customer service environment.
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal). Adept at flexing communication styles to different individuals.
• Adaptable to the demands of working in an area of rapid change and development.
• Excellent organisation and planning skills, able to demonstrate the ability to prioritise own workload deliver on deadlines which may affect the smooth running of other departments.
• Competent IT skills (Word, Excel and Outlook).

About the role:

Your principal duties and responsibilities will include –

• Acting as a principal point of contact for supporters' enquiries received through email, letter or telephone, responding in an accurate and timely manner.
• Positively engaging with supporters over the phone by providing appropriate and accurate information to ensure that the varied general enquires that are received can be dealt with in a professional manner.
• Resolving routine enquiries and complaints and applying best judgement to escalate complex queries and complaints in a timely manner.
• Sorting, opening and preparing incoming mail for processing using judgement to identify any items requiring immediate action whilst adhering to audit requirements relating to cash handling.
• Personal accountability for GDPR compliance and the reporting of data breaches, thereby minimising the risk of exposure to legal action.
• Using the CRM system, maintaining accurate records of personal information, interactions and financial transactions.
• Updating and maintaining working legislative knowledge of gift aid declarations to ensure that they are processed in accordance with HMRC requirements.

What we offer in return:

Based at The Donkey Sanctuary main site in Sidmouth, this is a variable hours, fixed term contract, starting as soon as possible until 31st December 2026.

Benefits:  

Competitive pension.

Life assurance 

31 days holiday (including Bank holidays), rising to 34 with each full year of service, pro rata for part time hours.

Wellbeing team.

Recorded Pilates and Yoga classes.

Long service awards.

Healthshield plan –

• Reimbursement of. some medical expenses up to the specified limits per membership.
• Offers, discounts and cashback on shopping, travel and entertainment from participating outlets.
• Access to a 24/7 GP and counselling service.

Free parking.

Subsidised restaurant and shop.

Closing date for completed applications: Sunday 23 August 2026.

Before submitting your application, please ensure you read our candidate journey page, in particular our FAQs section – https://jobs.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/jobs/candidate-journey/

The Donkey Sanctuary is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable people (children and adults), and expects all staff and volunteers to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to safer recruitment processes, including an application for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check where required for the post.

The Donkey Sanctuary also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and, for relevant posts, may request information from applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

Please note: The Guaranteed interview scheme is only applicable to candidates who consider themselves to have a disability applying for roles based within the United Kingdom.

NOTE TO APPLICANTS: We look forward to receiving your application, but we do ask you to complete this in your own words, and not to employ an Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing tool or assistant. Applications that are considered not to be an applicant’s own work may not be shortlisted for interview.

Before submitting your application, please ensure you read our candidate journey page, in particular our FAQs section – https://jobs.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/jobs/candidate-journey/