Senior Grants Officer Location: Fully Remote Salary: £30,000 per annum plus benefits We are recruiting for a Senior Grants Officer. The Fundraising Department at The Forward Trust plays a crucial role in supporting our mission to empower individuals to break the cycles of addiction, crime, homelessness and unemployment. Our team is dedicated to securing vital funds, generating around £2million per year, through various channels, including grants, events, corporate partnerships, and individual donations. We work collaboratively across departments to develop and implement effective fundraising strategies, ensuring that we can continue to provide life-changing services to those in need. One of our unique strengths is the ability to place our service-users at the heart of everything we do, including fundraising. With around a third of our workforce in active recovery and/or having had experience with the criminal justice system, and access to our community of over 28,000 individuals who have benefitted from our support, we can provide living proof of our long-lasting impact. By joining our team, you will be part of a dynamic and passionate group committed to making a tangible difference in people's lives. Role Responsibilities An exciting opportunity has arisen within our Fundraising Team to help grow and maximise income from trusts and foundations and other grant giving organisations. As an integral part of the team, you will identify, engage, and approach new grant giving organisations as well as maintain and strengthen relationships with existing supporters to secure funding for our life changing and life-saving services across prisons and communities in the UK. Over the last two years, we have been working hard to lay the foundations to be able to engage and secure more supporters and advocates for the organisation, enabling us to increase the amount of charitable income we secure. With a new strategy, team structure and customer relationship systemin place, it is a great time to be joining a passionate, fun, and target-driven team within a motivating and inspirational environment. You will be working as part of a team of 10 and the role is fully remote with expectation to travel to Vauxhall once per month. You will also be expected to have the flexibility to attend events and be able and willing to travel to the services in the organisation and supporting fundraising events. Please not you will need at least 1 years' experience of trust and grant fundraising. The Ideal Candidate We are looking for a excellent communicator who is good at building and maintaining relationships and who has writing and fundraising experience. Please also see a list of skills and experience needed for this role below;
About Us We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.
To Apply If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for the Forward Trust, please click apply to be redirected to their website to complete your application. |
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced leader to help diversify the environmental sector by scaling a Black-led nature organisation to be able to demonstrate leadership on a national scale and promote and serve the interests and needs of ethnically marginalized communities in accessing nature.
Our Ambition
We’re on an exciting journey of growth. Our vision is to become a nationally recognised, well-resourced Black institution for learning about and caring for nature.
We aim to:
- Be the go-to resource for people of colour learning about the natural world and accessing outdoor spaces with confidence.
- Be the go-to resource for mainstream environmental organisations seeking to understand Black and Brown perspectives on nature.
- Strengthen networks and community among POC-led nature organisations across the UK.
Our operating income for 2025-2026 is £230,000. Our ambition is to generate an income of over £1 million by 2027-2028, growing to a 15+ staff team.
How the COO will support our vision
The role of Chief Operating Officer is central to helping us achieve our ambitions, ensuring that Wild in the City has the resources, infrastructure and working environment to achieve its annual plans, long term aims and deliver high-quality programmes.
We are not expecting the COO to implement the key areas of operations alone, we will work together to prioritise and generate the resources to build a team to cover the functionality required for steady growth. We are also motivated to ensure that the role’s salary is reviewed to meet market expectations as the role grows, dependent on funding.
This role needs an exceptional candidate who enjoys making a role their own, who is motivated by turning strategy into impactful action and who finds fulfilment in supporting others to achieve.
The COO will ensure that;
- We secure ongoing, long term financial resources, creating stability and underpinning growth, and scaling into operations in multiple regions, nationally
- We grow our staffing to provide a steady infrastructure and achieve our strategic objectives, including creating operations, fundraising, communications and research teams, and increasing our field team.
- We retain our relational, open, authentic, personable, dynamic, collaborative, innovative culture as we grow.
Who We're Looking For
We are looking for a dynamic and dependable Chief Operating Officer (COO) to help realise our vision.
We’re seeking an emotionally intelligent, commercially competent, and values-driven leader who can bring clarity, stability, and energy in a fast-paced and mission-led environment. You will thrive in turning strategy into action and impact, and in driving Wild in the City forward in scaling our delivery and leadership on a national scale.
You will bring:
- Proven experience in operational and strategic leadership
- Strong financial and commercial acumen, including income generation, budgeting, and long-term planning
- A successful track record of managing people, partnerships, and multi-disciplinary teams
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills across staff, volunteers, partners, and board members
- Emotional resilience, sound judgement, and a calm, authentic presence
- A genuine connection to our mission and values
We welcome people from all backgrounds to fulfill the role of COO. We are mindful of the lack of diversity within senior leadership in the environmental field and encourage those from Global Majority backgrounds to apply.
Why Join Us?
This is an exciting time to join Wild in the City, we hope that you will make an application. As COO, you’ll play a central role in shaping the next chapter of our development - growing our influence, supporting Black leadership in nature, and helping transform access to the natural world for communities of colour.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.