Lead Funding Manager

Our client is a leading independent funder.

They aim to improve our natural world, secure a fairer future and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK.

The foundation provides c. £50million annually in grants to organisations and initiatives with brilliant ideas who share our goals. We also provide social and impact investment for organisations with the aim of creating social and environmental impact.

Their strategy focuses on three interdependent aims: improving Our Natural World; tackling injustice to deliver A Fairer Future; and nurturing Creative, Confident Communities. We also want to play a more active role ourselves using our range of tools to effect change. In addition to funding, this includes convening and brokering alliances, commissioning research, and using our influence to achieve our goals.

Prospectus is delighted to be working with the foundation to recruit a Lead Funding Manager on a full-time (or 0.8) to lead the delivery of the foundation s priorities for Gender Justice and Children and Young People s Rights, as part of A Fairer Future (AFF) team. This role is a maternity contract for up to 12 months. A hybrid working model is in place which entails working at least 2 days per week in their office in Kings Cross (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and the remainder flexibly working from home if you wish).

In A Fairer Future, there are five focus areas:

• Arts and creativity making change
• Children and young people s rights
• Gender justice
• Migrant justice
• Racial justice

The role:
This leadership role will provide grant-making and strategic support capacity to the AFF team, which currently consists of 7 people reporting to the Director of A Fairer Future. The role will take on existing relationships in the form of a portfolio of larger grants at various points in their funding journey. This person will pick up these relationships and ensure continuity as well as assessing new applications. This role will take a lead on strategic initiatives, driving impact in the Gender Justice and Children and Young People s Rights priorities. Committed to social justice, the candidate will be ambitious to help create change using the foundation's full range of tools and approaches. This role will be responsible for informing, influencing and monitoring the implementation of the AFF strategy and programme, including developing and assessing proposals for activities, leading on the delivery of impact, and maintaining external networks to provide strategic guidance to the Foundation.

Convening collaborations, commissioning research and mobilising networks to create change will be core aspects of this role in addition to supporting other team members with expertise relating to the two sectors. This person will be responsible for managing the larger grant relationships throughout out the grant cycle, capturing and embedding learning along the way. They will also be responsible for site visits and facilitating online discussions with organisations, as well as representing the foundation at sector forums and events concentrating on the AFF priority areas.

The culture at the foundation is collaborative and nurturing, so working closely with colleagues to share ideas and learn from each other will be essential in this role.

The person:
The successful candidate will have substantial grant-making experience in addition to having knowledge of the Children and Young People and/or Gender Justice sectors, perhaps gained through work in the voluntary or local authority sector, or through another funder. Highly organised, intellectually curious and pragmatic, this person will be able to unpick complex information and will be confident and experienced in assessing grant applicants financial information. They will understand the charity funding world and importantly, the challenges faced by marginalised communities across the UK in the face of widespread inequity. The AFF team works with the Involving Young People s Collective, candidates should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the value of co-production.

IT confident and systematic in their approach, this person will also be confident and empathetic team leader in addition to being an excellent communicator, both in person and in written work. Excellent attention to detail, thorough and collaborative in their approach to work, this person will be a real team player whilst being able to work under their own steam, working in a fast-paced environment.

A broad understanding and experience of systems change principles and an appreciation of the nuanced intersections between the various priorities of the AFF programme will be important to success in this role. The ability to contribute to the effectiveness of a busy team through encouragement and inspiration will also be important.

This role represents a fantastic opportunity for someone with the right skills and experience to really effect positive change and to make a real mark in one of the leading funders in the UK.