Trusts & Foundations Manager

Job Title: Trusts and Foundations Manager

Department: Income Generation

Responsible To: Head of Income Generation

Salary: £36,000 – £46,000 per annum (dependent on experience)

Contracted Hours/Pattern: 37 hours per week

Location: Cornford Lane, Pembury

Lead the charity’s trusts and foundations fundraising programme, working across the organisation to identify, shape and develop a strong pipeline of fundable projects, securing and managing grant income, developing compelling funding proposals, stewarding funder relationships and ensuring timely reporting on funded projects. The role is positioned as a strategic fundraising lead with responsibility for a significant income stream and for ensuring organisational priorities are translated into fundable opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a strong pipeline of trust and foundation prospects and fundable projects in collaboration with teams across the organisation
• Work proactively with Operations and the Inclusive Leadership team to identify, shape and prioritise a pipeline of high-quality, fundable projects aligned to organisational priorities
• Monitor changes in the funding landscape and adapt fundraising approaches
• Take a strategic approach to trusts and foundations fundraising, aligning funding opportunities with organisational priorities
• Develop organisational fundraising processes, templates and standard applications

Bid Writing & Income Generation

• Lead the development of high-quality funding proposals
• Partner with senior stakeholders across the organisation to co-create compelling, deliverable and fundable project proposals
• Increase internal capacity by enabling and leading colleagues to effectively contribute to funding bids
• Support acquisition, stewardship, retention and growth of funder relationships
• Ensure project concepts are developed with clear outcomes, budgets and impact aligned to funder expectations
• Facilitate the effective handover of funded projects to service managers/project leads and oversee progress to ensure delivery meets agreed timelines, budgets, and funder requirements
• Coordinate grant reporting with Finance and Operations teams
• Maintain compliance with funding obligations and reporting deadlines

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Fundraising, Marketing, Operations and Finance teams
• Act as a bridge between delivery teams and funders, ensuring ideas are shaped into viable, fundable opportunities
• Facilitate collaboration across departments to develop a sustainable pipeline of projects suitable for external funding
• Oversee contributions from colleagues involved in applications and reports
• Develop and maintain influential relationships to support income generation
• Provide constructive challenge and guidance to ensure projects are designed with clear outcomes, impact and strong funding potential
• Influence and guide colleagues at all levels to ensure projects are developed in a way that maximises funding potential

Budget & Income Responsibility

• Responsible for a fundraising target of approximately £100,000 in year one, reflecting a developing and underutilised income stream with significant opportunity and expectation to grow and scale over time
• Play a key role in shaping and scaling the trusts and foundations function to achieve significant income growth over time
• Develop budgets for funding applications with Finance support
• Responsible for budget expenditure and delegated financial decisions

Leadership Responsibilities

While the role has no direct line management responsibility, it requires strong leadership through influence, collaboration and expertise across the organisation.

• Lead and influence colleagues across teams to contribute to the development of high-quality funding proposals and reports
• Drive a collaborative approach to identifying and shaping fundable projects across the organisation
• Work closely with colleagues contributing to grant applications and reports
• Engage confidently with senior internal stakeholders and external funders
• Champion best practice in trusts and foundations fundraising across the organisation

Essential Experience & Skills

• Trusts and Foundations Fundraising
• Proven success securing funding from charitable trusts and foundations
• Track record of winning five- and six-figure grants
• Experience developing tailored funding proposals

Major Funders

• The National Lottery
• Lloyd’s Bank Foundation
• Garfield Weston Foundation

Relationship & Pipeline Management

• Identifying prospects
• Building and managing fundraising pipelines
• Stewarding funder relationships

Strategic Planning

• Producing and implementing trust fundraising strategies
• Developing programmes suitable for external funding
• Monitoring grant expenditure
• Developing project budgets alongside Finance teams

Systems & Data

• Experience using Salesforce or similar CRM/database systems
• Using data and insight to improve fundraising performance

As a charity we are looking for caring, hardworking and understanding people to join us to promote the values that Aspens champions.

See below our essential and desirable criteria for candidates applying for this role. We recognise that no candidate will meet every criterion. If you have strong experience in trusts and foundations fundraising and are excited by the opportunity to build and grow this area, we encourage you to apply.

Desirable Experience

• Experience of working across an organisation to develop service ideas or needs into fundable projects and programmes
• Demonstrable ability to lead through influence, working across teams and without direct line management responsibility
• Demonstrable experience preparing and submitting successful funding applications and proposals to charitable trusts and foundations
• Track record of securing five- and six-figure grants
• Experience working with major grant funders, including organisations such as The National Lottery, Lloyds Bank Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation
• Experience identifying suitable funding prospects, developing pipelines, and managing funder relationships
• Experience producing and implementing strategic plans for trusts and foundations fundraising
• Experience working with colleagues to develop successful tailored applications to trusts, foundations and statutory funders
• Experience reporting to major funders, including financial reporting and expenditure updates
• Experience developing and monitoring project budgets alongside finance teams
• Experience co-developing programmes suitable for external funding
• Willingness to work flexibly, i.e. events etc.
• Experience of establishing, developing or significantly growing a trusts and foundations fundraising programme
• Experience of fundraising within the health, social care, disability or related field (or transferable experience working with complex service delivery organisations)
• Experience of securing multi-year or strategic grants supporting organisational growth
• Experience developing systems, processes and pipelines specifically to support trusts and foundations fundraising, including effective use of CRM database

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