Grant manager jobs in milton keynes

Regional Net Zero Carbon Fundraising Officer

Salary £35,000 - £38,000 FTE

35 hours per week

Three-year fixed term contract

Are you an experienced fundraiser with a proven track record of stakeholder engagement and experience of coordinating and developing large-scale funding proposals? Do you have a passion for the environment and reducing carbon emissions? If so, read on.

The Church of England’s Net Zero Carbon (NZC) programme has been established to help the Church deliver its commitment to reaching its NZC goals. It aims to equip, resource and support all parts of the Church to reduce carbon emissions from the energy used in its buildings, schools and through work-related transport.

All parts of the Church will need to raise funds to implement this Net Zero plan. To this end, the Dioceses of Chelmsford, Ely, Norwich, St Albans and St Edmundsbury and Ipswich are collaborating on the shared ambition to achieve NZC across our diocesan estates and are looking to appoint a Fundraising Officer to work across the region to identify funding opportunities and secure funding towards delivering net carbon zero projects.

This is a new role and, as such, offers an excellent opportunity for the successful candidate to make their mark. You will develop and maintain relationships with a range of potential funders and internal and external stakeholders across the region. You’ll need drive, initiative, resilience and the ability to shape an approach to NZC fundraising across the region. Above all, you’ll need to be an excellent communicator and relationship builder with a proven ability to adapt your approach as appropriate, be this creating links with the national NZC Team, influencing and securing funding from grant-making bodies, or delivering training and advice on securing funding locally. Given the scope and nature of the role you’ll also need to be highly organised, flexible and sympathetic to the ethos of the Church of England.

We recognise that this is a specialised role, and training and support will be available for the post-holder both locally and from the national Church of England NZ Fundraising team.

A full driving licence and access to a vehicle are also required. The role will be home-based and can be anywhere within the region, with regular travel across the region required. The role will be employed by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich so line management meetings will be in Ipswich.

The five dioceses are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All post holders and volunteers are expected to share this commitment.   
   

All appointments are subject to acceptable pre-appointment checks, including a satisfactory DBS check where required.   

Closing Date for Applications: Tuesday, 18th November 2025 

Interviews: Wednesday, 3rd December 2025 

About us

Literacy Pirates’ vision is for every child to have the literacy skills, confidence and perseverance to succeed at school and beyond. We provide free, after-school literacy support to children who are falling behind in class and who have fewer opportunities for additional support due to their personal circumstances than others. Founded in East London, Literacy Pirates’ programme now runs online and serves children anywhere in the United Kingdom.
 
Literacy Pirates is on an exciting journey of growth, rolling out our innovative learning programme to reach more children than ever before. An ambitious, fast-growing charity we have set ourselves a goal of reaching 3,000 children a year nationally, by 2030 compared with 650 this year.

What we're looking for

We are looking for a talented Bookkeeper to maintain our financial records and handle financial operations in the charity.

Core duties include processing all routing transactions encompassing supplier invoices, sales invoices, bank transactions, petty cash, credit cards and treasury management. You will also make payments, prepare our in-house payroll and submit pension returns. 

You will work closely with our Finance Director to support the month end close while complying with and upholding the Charity’s policies and procedures. 

 Our ideal candidate will have experience in a similar role, ideally have worked for a charity and be familiar with Xero. You will also have at least one of the following: 

• A relevant qualification such as an accountancy or business degree
• Part or fully qualified with an accountancy body, such as the AAT
• Demonstrative qualification by experience.

Required skills 

• Proven bookkeeping experience in a similar enviroment 
• Solid understanding of financial operations in a SME environment 
• Proven ability to calculate, post and manage accounting figures and financial records 
• Accurate data entry skills along with an eye for numbers 
• Proficiency in English and in MS Office 
• Qualified to degree level, or partly or fully qualified with an accountancy body, or demonstrable QBE 

Person specification 

• Highly organised 
• Dedicated to providing excellent service and building positive working relations 
• Able to balance speed of work with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills 
• Able to work independently at times and use initiative 

Responsibilities

Process all financial transactions in our finance IMS (Xero) accurately and promptly encompassing: 

• Accounts payable 
• Employee and volunteer expense claims 
• Sales invoices, grants, donations and other income 
• Bank transactions 
• Petty cash 
• Credit cards
• Download bank records into the IMS and reconcile all bank accounts 
• Monitor savings and move funds between accounts ensuring that we comply with our investment policy 
• Operate credit control on the sales ledger and issue payment receipts to customers and donors 
• Make payments to creditors and settle expense claims 
• Prepare payroll to draft status, pay staff and HMRC, report pension contributions 
• Electronically store all required records in line with statutory requirements 
• Update contacts and restricted fund profiles in the finance IMS 
• Make Gift Aid claims 
• Operate within the Charity’s financial procedures and prevailing accounting standards 

Support the Finance Director with any of the following: 

• Operating restricted funds 
• Balance sheet reconciliations 
• Financial reporting (internal/external) 
• Budgeting and forecasting 
• Statutory reporting 
• Supporting the annual audit process 
• Any other reasonably requested duty

We seek a Finance Officer to join our small team. You will report to the Head of Finance to provide bookkeeping and accounting support for Global Dialogue and Global Dialogue Ventures Limited. You will use Xero and be responsible for many aspects of operational finance including maintaining accurate records in the organisation’s purchase and sales ledgers; processing accounts payable and receivable; bank and other reconciliations; supporting month, quarter and year-end closes; and resolving ad hoc queries. 

This role is part-time. We are open to negotiating a working pattern that works for the successful candidate and for Global Dialogue. 

Terms Permanent, 21-28 hours per week, subject to 12-week probationary period

Location Home-based. Must have right to work in UK.

Reporting Reports to the Head of Finance 

Remuneration This role has been benchmarked at a UK salary of £33,000 (pro rata for a part time position). Global Dialogue offers a range of benefits including 25 days’ annual leave plus public holidays (pro rata), a flexible working policy, and personal development leave. We contribute 6% to our employee’s workplace pension (on qualifying earnings).

More about Global Dialogue 

We currently host seven large networks and collaborations.  Internationally, these including Ariadne, the network of European funders for social change and human rights; the Funders Initiative for Civil Society (FICS) including narrative initiative The Hive; Hamrah, an initiative to strengthen the resilience and increase the impact of a cohort of Afghan civil society organisations in exile; and the International Education Funders Group (IEFG). 

We have five organizational commitments – when you work with Global Dialogue, you will find us to be Purposeful, Accountable, Respectful, Practical, and Equitable. These are not abstract values but active principles that guide how we work together, make decisions, and support the people, programmes, and movements we serve.

Job Description

Maintaining purchase ledger: 

• Review staff and consultant expense claims 

• Reconcile monthly credit card and Soldo statements

• Help prepare for bi-monthly pay runs by reviewing bill postings, ensuring they have received appropriate approvals 

• Setting up payments in bank accounts

• Manage the posting and reconciliation of Employee of Record invoices

 Maintaining sales ledger: 

• Post grant income to Salesforce and Xero, following up any missing paperwork and queries

• Manage monthly programme income and reporting reminders 

• Maintain Salesforce to ensure accuracy of data

 Bank: 

• Bank reconciliation for organisation’s GBP, EUR, USD bank accounts, for review by Head of Finance

• Paypal processing and reconciliations

• Support Head of Finance with FX transaction adjustments

 Reconciliations and journals: 

• Support Head of Finance with a variety of monthly and quarterly reconciliations, prepayments and accruals

• Help maintain the fixed asset register and support with monthly depreciation journals

• Help to prepare a variety of other monthly journals 

Finance systems, policy and training development: 

• Work with Head of Finance to keep finance policies and other documentation up to date

• Help draft new policies and guidance notes as required

• Provide Xero training for all new-starters and work with Head of Finance to keep training needs under review

• Act as a sounding board to programmes on finance queries and manage the Finance Team inbox

• Manage staff Soldo requests

Person Specification 

• A recognised accountancy qualification and/or qualified by experience in accounting 

• Able to demonstrate strong experience of Xero accounting software

• Good MS Office skills, especially Excel

• Track record of working to deadlines without close supervision and can ‘hit the ground running’

• Detail orientated

• Strong analytical and numerical skills, including the ability to sense check your own work

• Solid understanding of processes and a commitment to continual process improvement

• Good written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain finance to non-financial staff

• Able to manage a varied workload and to work flexibly in a small team

• Good interpersonal skills, supportive of other colleagues and with the ability to build effective working relationships

• Understands the importance of confidentiality

Desirable: 

• Commitment to personal progression development in the field of finance 

• Advanced Excel skills 

• Experience of training staff in the use of finance procedures and systems 

• Experience of voluntary sector or charity accounting is not essential but would be advantageous 

• Interest in human rights and social change 

Statement of Equal Opportunities   

We value, welcome and respect all the differences that make us who we are and recognise that the intersections of our identities enrich our community. This includes age, cultural background, disability and mental health, ethnicity and race, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and social background. We also recognise that the interconnected nature of these social categorisations can lead to overlapping systems of discrimination. We have a robust Equality and Diversity Policy that is periodically reviewed, ensuring that candidates and employees are treated fairly.   

When talking to our team candidates can expect:    

• To be asked questions that are relevant to the role    

• All recruitment materials to be written in such a way that avoids direct and indirect discrimination, for example, without the use of gendered language   

• To be given a chance to ask questions ahead of the interview  

• To be given a clear understanding of what to expect in the interview  

• To be compensated if asked to undertake an exercise that requires significant input

• To be treated with kindness and respect in every stage of the recruitment process    

• Never to be asked irrelevant questions related to a protected characteristic   

• That reasonable adjustments will be offered and implemented at every stage of recruitment 

• Any concern or complaint raised to be taken seriously, investigated fully and managed in such a way that it would not negatively impact any recruitment decision.  

How to apply   

We use an online platform to manage our applications. Please follow the link to submit a CV and cover letter (not more than 2 pages) in English, detailing why you are interested in this role and how you meet the criteria set out in the person specification.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an initial online interview during the week commencing 24th November 2025.  

Thank you for your interest in working with Global Dialogue. We look forward to hearing from you.