About Us
At Fern we offer an executive search level of recruitment for roles at any level at a cost lower than our competition.
We do this by working with a network of freelance experts who work with us project basis. For details on which consultant or team would suit your needs get in touch.
Tim Barnes
Founding Director
From Oceanography to Recruitment: An Unlikely but Purposeful Journey
Like many recruiters, I took the well-trodden path of an Oceanography degree before diving into recruitment (naturally). Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked across every type of recruitment company imaginable—from Dragons’ Den-style chaos to running my own firm, Bamboo Fundraising, for nearly a decade.
My focus has always been on the education and non-profit sectors, placing everyone from Country Directors in Mali to Community Fundraisers in Hampshire. Along the way, I’ve seen recruitment shift from the old-school, mass-marketing approach to something more thoughtful. A modern recruitment consultancy should be just that—a consultancy, offering tailored solutions rather than a one-size-fits-all service.
Where this makes the biggest impact is in helping organisations grow their fundraising capacity. Whether it’s a charity or school hiring their first fundraiser, a large NGO expanding into a new region, or anything in between, success starts with understanding exactly what’s needed—and that’s where an expert consultant makes all the difference.
I’ll make the introduction for free—if you decide to work with us, we’ll build a bespoke recruitment process, at a lower cost than the competition, and with guaranteed results.
If you need interim fundraising support, we also have a network of 20,000+ sector professionals, and we charge a flat fee 20% lower than competitors.
Amba Shirfield
Strategic Fundraising Advisor
Amba has worked in charity and educational fundraising and business development in Australia, North America, Asia and the UK for over 25 years, supporting small and large charities establish fundraising operations and strategies to generate philanthropic income streams from trusts, foundations, corporate sponsorship, venture philanthropy and major donors.
Amba brings a vast and diverse experience of fundraising, business development and communications to Fern Talent.
Arun Sharma
Training Director
Arun’s experience stretches across both commercial and not-for-profit sectors. Following a career in client services in the private sector, he moved into the charity sector and held fundraising positions at Marie Curie, Shelter, and Age UK. After 10 years in fundraising, he joined the ITV CSR Team and worked on various charity and community campaigns across a variety of ITV programme brands which funded charity and community projects in the UK and overseas.
It was whilst working at ITV, having gone from fundraiser to funder, that Arun saw the skills gap that was present in the fundraising sector. With this knowledge and the experience of having worked as a fundraiser and funder, Arun set up TFA in 2015, with a focus on providing charities and fundraisers development, through training.
Arun’s training covers three relevant areas for fundraisers and that is, how to build long-term sustainable relationships, how to make a long-lasting impact with your audiences whatever the size and how to ensure you stay relevant to your supporters.
Arun is passionate about supporting fundraisers with training as he knows the impact it can have on their career, the charity they are promoting and in turn the outcome to society.