The Organisation

Prospectus is delighted to be assisting the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) to recruit for a new Director of External Affairs, to be based from their Head Office in London.

ACF is the membership body for UK foundations and grant-making charities. Their mission is to support foundations to be ambitious and effective in the way that they use their resources for social good. Collectively their 380 members hold assets of around £50bn and give over £2.5bn annually to a wide range of charitable causes. ACF provides a range of services to their members, including policy, advocacy, publications, events, learning and professional development.

This is an exciting time to join ACF, and as such are looking for an experienced and ambitious Director of External Affairs to continue to develop the scale and scope of ACF's external affairs work.

The Role

The Director of External Affairs is responsible for managing ACF's relationships and reputation. The Director will ensure that ACF are positioned at the leading edge of thinking about foundations and their work, act as a senior representative of ACF, inform policymaking, and develop their branding, positioning and media management so that it supports the mission, reflecting the quality and ambition of the work that they do. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team the Director will oversee a high performing team that lead on their work to shape the operating context for charitable foundations in order that they can be ambitious and effective in their pursuit of social good.

The Person

Experience and attributes to include:

- Strong experience within a communications and/or public affairs role with significant experience of developing, executing and evaluating successful policy and communications strategies that influenced change

- Strong media exposure with the experience to manage and advise on areas relating to reputational risk

- Exceptional leadership and management skills, with the ability to work well in a team

- Understanding of the policy context within which the charity sector operates and track record of influencing change within a policy environment

- Commercial and financial acumen, able to set and manage budgets and create and capitalise on new opportunities to generate income from a range of sources

- Track record of demonstrating judgement, diplomacy and tact, and negotiating skills in managing multiple stakeholder relationships and a persuasive and diplomatic networker at a variety of levels

- Empathy and commitment for ACF's aims and core values, including environmental sustainability

To Apply

To read more about this exciting opportunity, and to find out how to apply, please see the full Job Pack.

To apply, please upload your CV in Word format and include a supporting statement as part of your application, addressing your experience in relation to the key points on the person specification, which should be no longer than 2 sides of A4.

A Prospectus consultant will review and assess all submitted applications. As part of the selection process candidates may be invited to meet with a consultant at our offices.

Panel Interviews: 23rd October 2019