Trusts & Grants Manager

We are expanding to help more children learn to read across the country. Schoolreaders recruits’ volunteers from local communities and matches them to a primary school where they listen to children read on a one-to-one basis. Before the pandemic over 12,700 children in over 650 schools were receiving weekly reading sessions from a Schoolreaders volunteer.

Our aim is to make a real difference to the state of literacy in the UK, particularly for those children further disadvantaged due to Covid-19 and school closures. One in four children are leaving primary school not able to read to the expected standard.

DUTIES:

1. To take the lead in maintaining and growing our well-established support from trusts and foundations. You will manage your own portfolio of trust supporters, involving research, bid-writing and meeting monitoring requirements, plus face-to-face meetings, often at the highest level.

2. To line manage a trust officer, (one part time direct report).

3. To work with the Head of Fundraising to develop a medium to long-term fundraising strategy for developing sustainable support from existing and potential trust and foundation supporters where possible aiming for multi-year partnerships.

4. To research and identify other sources of grant-funding, including national and local statutory grants.

5. To input into annual budget plans, monitor progress and income on an ongoing basis, and prepare monthly variance reports for the trusts/grants team.

6. To help develop and maintain our fundraising database and our systems for applying and reporting to trusts and grant-makers, to ensure effective coordination across the team.

7. To make face-to-face presentations and represent Schoolreaders as necessary.

8. To work with other members of the Schoolreaders team, including our volunteer County Teams, to maximise opportunities for fundraising from trusts and grant-makers.

9. To ensure that the role is carried out in accordance with fundraising legislation and good practice. 10. To ensure that due diligence is carried out thoroughly with all funding partners.

11. To carry out any other duties which are relevant and appropriate to the role.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Criteria

Skills

Essential or Desirable

Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills (including PowerPoint presentations): Essential

Excellent written skills with an ability to write compelling, informative bids and reports: Essential

Proactive and highly motivated, with excellent organisation skills: Essential

Proven ability to work with others in a team and to motivate others: Essential

Ability to successfully prioritise workload with competing deadlines: Essential

Results-orientated with evidence of achieving ambitious targets: Essential

Excellent relationship management: Essential

Strong research, analytical and report writing skills: Essential

Knowledge

Knowledge and understanding of good practice and legislation relating to fundraising, including GDPR: Essential

Fully computer literate with excellent IT skills including high competency in excel.: Essential

Hands on experience of fundraising databases: Essential

Experience using  Salesforce: Desirable

Proven experience of managing budgets: Essential

Experience

At least 2 years line management experience: Essential

At least 2 years relevant trusts / grants fundraising experience : Essential

Proven track record of generating significant one off and multi-year grants from major trusts and grant makers: Essential

Other

Ability to travel to occasional meetings with supporters as required: Essential

What you can expect:

An exciting and rewarding role where you can develop your own trust management skills whilst making your mark on a fast-growing national children’s charity. Schoolreaders is a highly professional charity which values every team-member’s contribution to our team efforts. We offer a generous holiday allowance, enhanced sick pay, an employee assistance programme, plus training and development opportunities. If you want to be part of a great team in a fast-moving, welcoming environment whilst making a huge impact on children’s literacy across the country, this could be the perfect role for you!

Applications will be reviewed, and interviews offered, on an ongoing basis. We reserve the right to close the role prior to the closing date should a suitable applicant be found, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Schoolreaders is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and requires staff to share this commitment. This post is subject to a range of vetting checks including a basic disclosure check of unspent criminal convictions.

Schoolreaders CIO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England and Wales (1159157)