Funding manager jobs

Our client is a leading independent funder.  They aim to improve the natural world, secure a fairer future and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK.  They provide c.£50million annually in grants to organisations working towards their aims. They also have an allocation of £60 million for social investment and a £10m impact investment allocation, alongside their£1.3bn endowment.

The foundation’s strategy is underpinned by the need to tackle structural inequality, racism and the causes and impacts of climate change.They believe that we need bold action and impact like never before, so as well as funding brilliant organisations, they we will work alongside partners and collaborators to remove barriers and secure progress, using their voice to quietly influence and effect change. 

Prospectus is delighted to be working with the foundation to recruit a Funding Manager for their Creative, Confident Communities (CCC) strategic aim, which focuses on communities connected by ‘place’. Through this programme, they are working towards places where communities can fulfil their creative, human, and economic potential.  

The role:
This role will work within the Creative, Confident Communities Team in making a significant contribution to the delivery of the foundation’s strategy, specifically focused on place-based and community-led change across the UK. The primary aim of this role is to bring grant-making expertise and knowledge to add capacity to the team moving forward.

This is a unique opportunity to work with and support a range of organisations, initiatives and projects that are seeking to create place-based change, working with communities across the UK to achieve this. The foundation has independence, resources and influence that enable them to move at pace and make a positive difference for people and communities in the UK. They have ambition and an appetite for risk, to try new things and work with new and unusual partnerships to deliver their aims. A key question that guides the foundation’s work and action is “what more can we do?” – the foundation is looking for someone to join them and contribute to answering that question.

This will include identifying and building a pipeline of relevant activities aimed at delivering on the aims and objectives of the programme. This is a very relational role with emphasis on building and brokering collaborations, attending webinars, forums and conferences to further harness sector learning relevant to the aims of CCC. 

The role is full-time and candidates looking to work 0.8 full-time will also be considered.  At present, the foundation has a hybrid approach to working and the candidate will work from the Kings Cross office two or three days per week – these will include Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Occasional UK travel will be required, which may include an overnight stay.

The person:
The successful candidate will have substantial grant-making experience and will ideally have gained this within a community driven Funder or Grant-maker in the UK. An environment where the core objectives of the CCC programme are very apparent and the knowledge and understanding is there to bring to the table.

A deep understanding of the challenges faced by communities and places across the UK is essential and having hands-on experience of tackling these issues will be very valuable to this role. Being thoughtful, analytical and inquisitive, the role requires advance problem solving and synthesising sometimes quite complex information and delivering to a wide range of audiences in digestible and concise communication.

Collaboration is key to success in this role and evidence of having worked in close knit and very busy team in connected areas of work will be important in addition to being able to work independently and to manage your own time will be important.

The foundation believes that a greater diversity of views, skills, and lived experience will help generate better ideas, and will lead to better decision making.  Learn more about the Foundation’s values and how they work. We want to encourage applicants with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply.  We're particularly keen to hear from those with those with lived experience of racial inequity, disability, or poverty.

First stage interview:
Thursday 23rd April (Virtual)
Second stage interview:
Tuesday 28th April (in person) (PM)

As a specialist Recruitment Practice, we are committed to building inclusive and diverse organisations, and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We invest in your journey as a candidate and are committed to supporting you in your application. 

Senior Trusts Funding Manager

£46,482 a year

Permanent, Full time (35 hours a week)

London, E15 2GW and working from home.

1 in 4 of us in the UK are disabled, and we are a diverse, proud and vibrant community. We’re here to create an equal future with all disabled people. We campaign to transform attitudes to disability, tackle injustice and inspire action.

Together we will be unstoppable. 

We are looking for a highly experienced Trust Funding Manager to lead and grow our portfolio of high‑value trust and foundation relationships. This role is part of the Partnerships and Philanthropy team, whose work is central to securing sustainable income and building long‑term partnerships that support Scope’s mission.

Permanent, Full time (35 hours a week)

Location: Here East Press Centre, 14 East Bay Lane, London, E15 2GW and working from home.

About this role

In this role, you will lead the management of a portfolio of trusts and foundations with the potential to make significant gifts. You will focus on building strong, long‑term relationships at the six‑ and seven‑figure level, through inspiring proposals and effective stewardship.

 You will:

· Research, identify and cultivate trust and foundation funders to maximise income

· Manage a diverse portfolio of new and existing Trust and Foundation funders

· Develop and submit high-quality, tailored 6 and 7 figure funding applications

· Produce clear, meaningful impact reports including outcomes, learnings and stories

· Deliver agreed income targets, contributing to team and organisational fundraising goals

Please include examples in your application that show how your skills, experience, and values match the person specification in the job description.

About you

We are looking for someone with experience of Trust Fundraising.

You will have experience of:

· Cultivating 5, 6 and 7 figure proposals

· Building a trusts pipeline, ensuring opportunities are organised and acted on appropriately

· Working with an organisational CRM system

· Disability issues or projects tackling disability inequality is beneficial but not essential

· Able to write strong, persuasive narrative for five, six and seven figure funder proposals and reports

· Strong financial skills including budgeting and grant reporting

· Knowledge of Trust and Foundation funders and trends

· Able to use Microsoft Word and Excel effectively

· Able to work positively with internal and external individuals and teams.

We welcome applications from people with lived experience of disability and from all backgrounds.

We also ask you to share how you support Scope’s values and contribute to our goal of creating a fair and equal future with disabled people.

Additional information

You must have the legal right to work in the UK to apply for this role. We cannot provide visa sponsorship.

Anonymised applications

We use an anonymised application process to support our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

All applicants must submit an anonymised CV and complete a short online application form.

Our values

Pioneering, Courageous, Connected, Open, Fair.

We trust each other and give colleagues freedom to be creative, push boundaries, and change minds.

Our promise to disabled people

We are proud to be a charity that stands for disability equality. We welcome applications from disabled people and anyone with an impairment, condition, or access need. We want our team to reflect the communities we serve.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to ensuring disabled applicants are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

If you meet all the essential requirements for this role and choose to apply under the Offer an Interview Scheme (previously known as the Guaranteed Interview Scheme), we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants are offered an interview.

To opt in, simply tick the relevant box in the application form to let us know you would like to be considered under this scheme.

If you need any changes or support during the recruitment process, please email us via our website.

You can also find more details about asking for adjustments at interview on our website.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

EDI is a priority at Scope. We welcome applications from people of colour and other underrepresented communities. We aim to create a culture where everyone feels they belong, treating all with dignity and respect. As a disability equality charity, accessibility and inclusion come first. We listen, learn and continuously improve.

You can find out more about our approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on the Scope website.

Benefits

· 27 days holiday and bank holidays

· Flexible, hybrid, and remote working options

· Pay progression at 6 months and 2 years

· Company pension

· Excellent training and career development

· Strong colleague networks (disability, race, LGBTQ+, gender, social mobility, carers, young people)

· Discounted gym membership, cycle-to-work scheme, and more

How to apply

Click the apply button to create an account and complete your application form.

Closing date for applications: 11:59pm GMT, Tuesday 31 March 2026.

Portfolio Manager, Funding Department

6 - 9 Months Fixed Term Contract

£45,905 - £48,848 pa

City of London E1 8QS and we are a hybrid working organisation

Please note this is a hybrid role based on the successful candidate working at least two days a week in our London office. Remote contracts would not be considered for this role.

Purpose of Role

The Portfolio Manager will play a key role in the success of the team responsible for Comic Relief’s funding programme focused on tackling the effects of poverty. This role is focused on forced migration (in a team that also works in areas such as food insecurity, homelessness in the UK, and maternal and child health internationally),

The Portfolio Manager will hold direct responsibility for new Comic Relief grant making and ongoing grant management both in the UK and internationally, ensuring excellent grant making practice.

The Portfolio Manager will collaborate with other teams in the funding department and across the wider organisation to support Comic Relief’s overall objectives, including income generation.

Key responsibilities:

Grant making and ongoing grant management

· Manage new grant making, including working with colleagues to design funding opportunities, assessing funded partners, designing appropriate ongoing support mechanisms, and working with learning colleagues in the Funding Team on appropriate data collection

· Manage assigned funding portfolios and relationships with funded partners, ensuring that the portfolio is managed in a timely and responsive way, using Comic Relief’s (CR’s) systems and processes.

· Coordinate with other colleagues across the different teams in the funding department to ensure effective and efficient ways of working, and fruitful collaboration and learning across different funded issues and areas.

· Manage all ongoing requirements, such as narrative, financial and risk reporting, collaborating across the funding team and wider Comic Relief as appropriate.

· Work with the Assurance and Finance teams to ensure ongoing compliance across the portfolio with legal requirements, our grant conditions, reporting requirements and best practice.

· Collaborate with Partnerships colleagues to manage donor reporting and other information needs for external and internal use, such as information about our funded work and our partners.

Cross organisation and sector collaboration

· Support resource mobilisation partnerships through collaborative and supportive working with Comic Relief’s communications, fundraising and partnership teams.

· Work with the Partnerships Team to support strong relationships with existing and potential co-funding partners, including corporates and/or trusts, foundations and institutions, and support proposal development, reporting and other requirements.

· Work collaboratively across CR to support storytelling around CR’s impact.

· Develop a good understanding of areas of social change within assigned funding portfolios and areas of new grant making to be able to represent Comic Relief’s funding and priorities to internal and external stakeholders

· Contribute to internal communications regarding the work of the team and the wider Funding Team.

· Represent Comic Relief to strategic partners and co-funders, in relevant networks, and at external events.

General

· Manage the work of consultants and other contractors as required.

· Communicate in an open, honest and transparent way with funding applicants, funded partners and funding partners.

· Ensure that, when applicable, people with lived or learned experience are actively engaged with our work, contributing to the design and decision-making process of our funding portfolios.

Note: Some UK and/or international travel may be required for this role. 

Person specification

Essential criteria

· Significant understanding/experience of the systems and structures that perpetuate social injustice and keep people trapped in poverty, including the best approaches to address them

· Experience and knowledge of grant making and programme design, including developing, implementing and evaluating programmes, and managing grants within a donor and / or implementing organisation.

· Experience of managing restricted donor funding and supporting ongoing donor management (e.g. government funding and/or funding from other institutions, trusts foundations or corporate entities)

· Personal and effective relationship builder with high emotional intelligence to nurture trust and respect in all relationships.

· Motivation, flexibility and resilience to navigate unforeseen challenges and collaborate effectively.

· Analytical thinker with the ability to see the bigger picture and make appropriate and effective decisions.

· An understanding or lived experience of social injustice, and proven track record of working in alignment with Comic Relief’s commitment to social justice, anti-racism, diversity, inclusion and equity

Desirable criteria 

· Experience with or knowledge of decolonising philanthropy and the wider funding sector

· Understanding of, and commitment to, the use of storytelling to engage the public in programmatic work

· Experience of budget management

Perks and benefits:

· Flexible working hours

· Work from home option

· Life Insurance

· Wellness programs

· Employee Assistance Programme

· Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

· Paid emergency leave

· Sabbatical Opportunities

· Professional development

· Mentoring/coaching

· Paid volunteer days

· Payroll giving

· Salary sacrifice

· Team social events

· Extracurricular clubs

· Cycle to work scheme

· Free fruit

To apply please visit our website via the link and apply online.

Comic Relief reserves the right to close the role early if a large number of applications are received.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London,

There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work.

Disability Confident Employer

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV and application questions.

We ask that candidates that wish to be considered for this scheme email us via our website to discuss further. Please do not email CV's/cover letters.