Funding Officer

London

£23,100 - £26,400 + generous benefits

Are you a confident communicator who enjoys working with people?

Do you see the potential in ideas as well as the challenges?

Are you passionate about your community?

We are looking for a Funding Officer to join our London team to ensure that our funding responds to what matters to the local communities. You will build long-term relationships with people and organisations, talk about their ideas and ambitions and assess funding requests providing useful feedback and support.

About us

The Big Lottery Fund is the largest community funder in the UK. Last year we distributed more than £700 million to over 13,000 projects.

We believe strong, vibrant communities are built and renewed by the people living in them. Communities come in all shapes and sizes, and National Lottery funding is there for everyone.

We focus on supporting charities, community groups and people with great ideas, local or national, large or small, which will create opportunities for people to improve their lives. We aim to work with people flexibly and on their terms, improving the ways we engage with communities and building new partnerships with other funders, charities and individuals.

We are changing the way we work in England by improving our grant-making and moving closer to the communities we fund. We are looking for diverse and talented people who share our values and are passionate about making a difference to people and communities by advancing equalities and funding great ideas that matter to communities.

About the role

Funding Officers are responsible for our grant-making activity in a geographical area, including pre-application support, assessment, grant management and gathering and sharing learning. You will ensure that our funding responds to the local context, and challenge yourself and colleagues to continually improve the way we work.

In London our team is organised in 5 geographical areas, each led by a Funding Manager:

• South London covers Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Croydon, Merton, Sutton and Bromley
• North London covers Islington, Hackney, Barnet, Haringey, Enfield and Harrow
• West London covers Brent, Kingston, Ealing, Richmond, Hounslow, Hillingdon and Wandsworth
• East London covers Tower Hamlets, Newham, Greenwich, Barking and Dagenham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering and Bexley
• Central London covers Camden, City of London, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea

This recruitment is in particular focused on Central London.

You will build long term relationships with people and organisations in the area you cover, this will include reaching out to new and different groups, supporting people who are applying and continuing to work with them after a grant has been awarded.

You will be responsible for understanding how an organisation’s ideas align with our funding priorities, and making good judgements about when to take an application further or when to signpost to other opportunities.

You will combine local knowledge, understanding of best practice and the experience of grant holders to make informed recommendations about who and what we fund.

You will represent the Fund within your local area including at funding fairs and external meetings, and create opportunities for people to come together. You will share learning from your conversations, events, grant holder reports and evaluations with other colleagues so that we can maximise our impact.

You’ll be part of a team, led by a Funding Manager and comprised of a number of other Funding Officers.

About you

We are looking for people who are passionate about making a difference through our funding, who really understand the communities we work with.

You will have:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills and confidence to operate in a wide range of environments
• Ability to build and maintain excellent relationships
• Strong analytical skills
• Ability to manage your own workload with minimal supervision
• Sound numerical skills Sound IT skills Confidence to use your judgement, take initiative and challenge when appropriate

You will live in London and you will have or apply yourself to develop excellent knowledge of the particular areas you will be covering. You will work from a number of locations, including your home, with the expectation that you will be flexible in order to get the best outcomes for our customers.

For you

We seek to develop our staff and offer a wide range of personal development opportunities.

We offer a wide range of generous benefits including:

• Generous annual leave and company pension scheme
• Flexible working to support staff with their work/life balance, taking into account things such as caring responsibilities, worship and attendance at religious festivals
• Enhanced paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Childcare vouchers Season ticket and cycle to work loans Paid volunteering leave

We are an equal opportunities employer and celebrate the diversity of our staff. We positively encourage applications from individuals regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. We also offer opportunities for part-time employment. We welcome applicants who can speak a second language.

About applying

To apply online and further details about the role, our application process, the Fund’s work, and our range of excellent benefits, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/jobs

Closing date:  5^th August 2018

Interviews to be held in London. Dates: w/c 20^th and 27^th August 2018