Funding Officer

We are looking to recruit a Funding Officer to join the London, Southeast and East Team, working in the North East London area. As a funding officer you will assess requests for funding and work together with colleagues to make funding decisions. You will manage grants using local knowledge, best practice, thematic expertise, and the experience of customers and stakeholders to improve our grant making and inform our decision making. By working closely with people and communities from a defined geographical area, you will understand what matters to them and where our funding can make the biggest difference.

Being responsible for supporting local people and communities you will have a strong understanding of our vision, our commitment to equity,diversity and inclusion and our funding products. You’ll also need to support our stakeholders, helping them to make connections that will help them achieve their goals.

Being responsible for the pipeline of projects you will need to understand and respond to the different needs of our customers by providing support and considered feedback and be willing to have challenging but constructive conversations.

As Funding Officer, you will ensure our grant management and assessment play an effective part in contributing to the Fund’s knowledge and learning as a grant maker. You will manage your own caseload, liaise with grant recipients, undertake project visits, identify, and manage risk and support organisations to deliver their projects and measure their impact.

You’ll also need to work within the Fund’s policies and procedures and the necessary legislation, and in a way that is in line with our vision and principles.

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 several other Funding Officers.

Interview Date: Monday 20th February and Tuesday 21st February

Location: North East London – Hybrid working -Remote working with expectation to travel around the North East London Region

Salary: £27,810-£28,810 + a non-consolidated subsistence allowance of £1000 per annum pro rata.

If you would like to have a discussion ahead of applying, please do email Deborah Meyer - Lewis at deborah.meyer-lewis@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk 

What we are looking for

We are looking for local talented people from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences who share our values and are passionate about making a difference through our funding.

Whether through lived or gained experience you will really understand the communities we work with. You could come to grant-making from a variety of backgrounds. Whatever your background, we will expect you to have some skills and experience in areas such as:

• project management
• Research / data gathering & insight
• Basic accounting and budget management
• Database administration
  

You will need to show an understanding of the voluntary and community sector, so you will find it helpful to have paid or unpaid work experience in these areas. You might have experience in the type of projects that we fund, for example, community work, the arts, sports or conservation.

In return we can offer the opportunity to develop relevant skills and gain experience working with one of the largest funders in the UK. You can progress to becoming a trained and skilled Funding Officer with good progression routes in the sector.

 

Essential criteria:

• Strong listening and verbal communication skills.
• Strong writing skills with the ability to interpret large amounts of information and convey complex information in a succinct and clear way.
• Ability to build and maintain excellent relationships at several different levels with a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Ability to use own initiative and work collaboratively with others to ensure good use of knowledge and insights in the decision-making process. Confidence to use your judgement, take the initiative and challenge when appropriate.
• Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and the ability to apply this lens to assess and challenge applications. 
• An ability to manage a large workload, prioritise with minimal supervision, and keep Manager up to date on key issues and risks.
  

Ideally you will live within the geographical area you are covering and have excellent knowledge of that area. You will work from several locations across the area, including your home and our offices with the expectation that you will be flexible in order to get the best outcomes for our customers. 

Desirable criteria: 

• Previous experience of grant making.
• Knowledge of North East London and its charity sector and experience working with underrepresented communities in the region.

Equal Opportunities

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. We are committed to being an inclusive and great place to work, and recognise our people come from diverse backgrounds. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (B.A.M.E) backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We welcome applications from disabled people and will proactively make reasonable adjustments if needed through the recruitment process and during employment. This can be related to a physical and mental health conditions.