Grants & Commissioning Manager

Why you’re here – if you only remember one thing – remember this!

The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador are one of the planet’s first UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a global conservation priority due to unique biodiversity - with species found nowhere else on Earth, and a local community dependent on maintaining a healthy ocean and island environment. Based in London, Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK registered charity to focus exclusively on the conservation and sustainable development of the Galapagos Islands. We are looking for a proactive individual with good storytelling skills to produce fundraising applications and reports that inspire. You will be joining our friendly team at an exciting time for the organisation, as we strive to achieve our key ambitions by the year 2030 across our programmes, fundraising and communications efforts. As part of GCT’s Programmes team, you will work closely with the Senior Development Manager (SDM) to secure grant funding from trusts and foundations across our programme portfolio (including island restoration, community & nature, ocean protection and plastic pollution topics), with an increasing focus on securing multi-year funding to embed sustainability in our programme delivery. You will be a great writer, researcher and comfortable working with numbers, enabling you to identify new fundraising opportunities and develop engaging proposals and reports with clear budgets. You will also be an organised individual, ensuring you can effectively balance your time across competing deadlines and tasks.

What we want

·        An individual with a proven track record of fundraising success from trusts and foundations, or in producing high-quality written work on environmental, education or sustainable development topics

·        An excellent storyteller and communicator, who is able to write proposals for a wide range of audiences and is confident making enquiries regarding potential applications

·        A highly organised individual, ideally with experience developing fundraising strategies or projects and meeting funding targets

• A proactive approach, able to work on own initiative as well as part of a small team

What you will get

·        A connection with cutting edge conservation projects in the planet’s first World Heritage Site, the Galapagos Islands and the surrounding Galapagos Marine Reserve

·        Opportunities to develop your skills with training from the GCT Programmes team

·        Opportunities to benefit from professional external training to support further development where relevant and feasible

·        Support from a fully engaged, friendly staff team

What you’ll deliver

·        Work with the SDM to achieve an annual fundraising target for trusts and foundations income (£285K in 2024), also helping to secure ‘Transformational Gifts’ where required

·        Produce high-quality, compelling grant proposals with clear budgets and measurable indicators

·        Ensure all trust and foundation donors receive quality reports and a high-level of donor stewardship

·        Support the development of GCT’s projects by aligning project plans with fundraising opportunities, including targeted research for new potential trusts and foundations

·        Administrative support to the SDM including the upkeep of GCT’s trusts database and planning documents, and coordinating mailings to trusts contacts such as for events or new magazine issues

·        Support the SDM with quarterly trust and foundation fundraising updates for the GCT Senior Leadership Team and Board

How we’ll measure it

·        Amount of restricted & unrestricted income secured through trusts & foundations

·        Contribution to development of GCT projects and our 2030 strategy

·        Number of applications sent vs. number of successful applications (success rate)

·        Number of ‘repeat’ funders engaged & donating

·        Number of ‘new’ & ‘historical’ (a funder who has previously given to GCT, but not for many years) funders engaged & donating

What you’re responsible for

·        Increasing restricted & unrestricted income from trusts and foundations in line with GCT’s fundraising strategy with the SDM

·        Researching, writing and submitting proposals to potential funders

·        Development of budgets for proposals that secure income against GCT’s planned internal and project spend

·        Producing high quality project reports for donors, ensuring all donors are reported to on time

·        Maintaining excellent relationships with existing funders through regular communications

·        Reviewing annual fundraising success for GCT projects and developing annual fundraising plans for trusts and foundations with the SDM

·        Keeping our database and internal documents up-to-date for trust and foundations/key contacts.

Person Specification

Work Experience

·        1-2 years proven experience in trusts fundraising and/or a role that involves strong writing skills (both creative and scientific writing experience is welcomed)

·        Experience working with budgets

·        Experience fundraising for, or communicating about, environmental/conservation, education or sustainability projects

·        Experience of working with a database and managing contact lists

Technical knowledge and skills

·        Excellent writing skills with strong attention to detail required

·        Experience of working within the charity sector (including relevant voluntary roles)

·        Excellent verbal communication skills and a confident and polite telephone manner, and an ability to represent the charity at funder meetings & events

·        Ability to organise and prioritise workloads in order to meet deadlines

·        Strong research skills

·        Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel

General

·        A passion for conservation and the natural world

·        A passion for story-telling and inspiring others

·        A good team player

·        Willingness to undertake any other duties which may be required from time to time (e.g. helping at occasional evening events)

Desirable (not essential)

·        Experience of working with volunteers

·        Knowledge of fundraising best practice

·        A degree or equivalent background in an environmental, science, education or policy topic

·        Ability to speak Spanish

Place of work:           Galapagos Conservation Trust office, central London (hybrid working with min. 1-2 days per week in the office)

Hours of work:          Full time (35 hours per week), 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (with one hour unpaid lunch break, 7 hour working day)

Reports to:                  Senior Development Manager

Line Manages:      No direct line management, possible volunteer management

Salary:                          £27,000 per annum

Galapagos Conservation Trust: Who We Are

Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK registered charity to focus exclusively on the conservation and sustainability of the Galapagos Archipelago. With nearly 30 years of experience working in Galapagos, we collaborate with our strong local network of NGOs, community members, authorities and researchers, as well as international partners, to deliver projects that achieve measurable conservation outcomes, improve sustainable livelihoods, and protect the environment. As described in our 2023-2025 strategy, our work falls under two programme themes: ‘Ocean Protection’ and ‘Restoring Islands’, taking an approach that considers conservation at the ecosystem scale, and ensuring our efforts tackle priority threats through a suite of solutions centered on science, education, community innovation and policy.

To Apply

GCT welcomes applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.

To apply for this role, please send (i) a CV, (ii) covering letter explaining how you meet the key requirements of the role and your motivation for applying, and (iii) an example of your writing, preferably on an environmental/education/sustainable development topic (< 500 words) 

Closing Date: midday (GMT+1) on Monday 15th April. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so submitting your application early is encouraged as the role may be filled early.

Thank you for your interest in joining the GCT team!