About Us

The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest community funder in the UK - we’re proud to award money raised by players of The National Lottery to communities across the UK. Last year alone we gave out over half a billion pounds (£508.5 million) of National Lottery funding to over 11,000 community projects across the UK, enabling even more people and communities to bring their ideas and ambitions to life. We support a wide range of health, educational, environmental, and charitable projects with grants ranging from as little as £500 to multi-million-pound programmes. 86% of our new grants were for less than £10k.

At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. National Lottery funding is open to everyone and we’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of grassroots groups right up to large UK-wide charities. We have changed how we work across the Fund to help us serve people and communities more effectively, working flexibly and on their terms; working closer to communities.

Our England Portfolio

The National Lottery Community Fund manages 5 distinct funding portfolios: the UK portfolio, supporting work that spans the 4 countries, the Wales portfolio, The Scotland portfolio, The NI portfolio and the England portfolio.

Across its 5 portfolios, the National Lottery Community Fund commits over £500m every year. The England portfolio is by some measure the largest of the 5 portfolios with an annual commitment budget of over £400m.

The grant portfolio in England includes a small grant programme, for grants up to £10,000, a medium to large grant portfolio, for grants upwards of £10,000, and a portfolio of large, thematic investments.

As part of our transformation to working more closely to the communities we support, we have 6 regional teams across England, working across 6 regions: London, South East & Eastern, Midlands, North East & Cumbria, North-West, South-West and Yorkshire & Humber. Team members are dispersed, based in their local communities. The regional teams are mainly responsible for awarding and managing our grants over £10,000, but, crucially, are also responsible for developing the local understanding and local connections that will enable us to ensure that our funding makes the most difference to local people and communities. 

Relationships are at the core of the way the regional teams work; relationships with applicants, grant holders, other funders, local decision-makers and other stakeholders and, of course, the local communities that we are aiming to support.

Our local ways of working need to respond to the local context but remain sufficiently consistent across our organisation – we are all part of the National Lottery Community Fund and our core goals and principles need to transpire in whatever we do, wherever we do it.

We are committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Our funding is for all communities whatever their starting point and we understand that some will need extra support. In adopting an equity approach to our funding, we recognise groups are situated differently due to structural inequalities and we need to develop our funding in a way that understands and addresses the specific circumstances and root causes of disadvantage.

About the Role

This is an exciting temporary opportunity to lead our Midlands team as the Senior Head of Region for 14 months, to maximise the impact of our funding and lead the strategic direction and management of our regional portfolio. You will be accountable for all aspects of strategic and operational management within the dedicated region, including local prioritisation, grant budget management, operational excellence, and key stakeholder management. You will be the key representative of the National Lottery Community Fund in your region.

Our Midlands region spans rich and diverse communities and geography across the East and West Midlands, both rural and urban, with a population of over 11 million, including the second largest city and conurbation in the UK, along with about half of England's mid-sized cities and a long list of counties across 65 Local authorities, with a complexity of deprivation. You will oversee awards of approximately £49m per annum within the region alongside being responsible for a portfolio of approximately £200m grants in management. You will lead a team of 32 remotely-based mobile team members in the region.

You will be a key member of the England Leadership Team, maintaining strong relationships with other Regional Heads as well as with colleagues in the Central Funding and Support Teams.

We’re looking for someone who is passionate about making a difference through our funding, with a deep understanding of the communities we serve. You will have experience of building and leading teams and driving a culture of inclusion with an ability to coach, inspire, and empower people. Your ability to build and maintain excellent relationships with a diverse range of senior level internal and external stakeholders will be second to none, you will have experience in creating connections and facilitating divers stakeholder networks and you will be a confident communicator, comfortable in all environments. You will demonstrate an ability to work in an agile way, ensuring we are flexible and continue to improve in line with feedback and insights from customers and frontline staff.

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract 14 Months (Maternity Cover)

Hours: 37 Hours per week

Location: Birmingham with frequent travel

Interview Date: 16 or 17 June

The location of this role is as stated within the advert however due to the pandemic colleagues are temporarily remote working and this is under regular review in-line with government guidelines.

About You

As an experienced senior leader, you may, or may not come from a funding background but you may have significant experience of working with communities in the VCSE sector, and/or developing strategies involving stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds, designed to deliver greater joint impact. You will be responsible for achieving our strategic aim of being for everyone. You will need to a good communicator, able to translate a vision into reality. The role will give you the flexibility to make the role your own and develop alongside the organisation; working collaboratively with the team to produce a broad portfolio of relationships and investments across the Midlands region.

Specifically, you’ll need to demonstrate your experience and qualifications in these areas: 

• Strong commitment to make a positive impact in communities across the Midlands
• You are an inclusive leader, with highly developed people skills, using your gravitas to enable others to achieve their full potential. You have the ability to offer guidance and direction through consistent and realistic core principles, setting priorities and deliverables based on an understanding of the organisational as well as external context
• Good decision-making skills, considering evidence, analysis and personal experience to take and mitigate risk as appropriate
• Implementing effective performance management, planning, risk analysis and governance resulting in greater impact and efficiency
• Developing and enhancing relationships with senior stakeholders across sectors, representing the Fund externally
• Experience in budgeting and data analysis, as well as developing and delivering annual and longer-term strategic operating plans
• Values-driven and passionate about the Fund’s purpose

We believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. As such we particularly encourage applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, LGBT+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds.

For You

We seek to develop our staff and offer a wide range of personal development opportunities.

We offer a wide range of generous benefits including: 

• Generous annual leave and company pension scheme
• Flexible working to support staff with their work/life balance, taking into account things such as caring responsibilities, worship and attendance at religious festivals
• Enhanced paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Season ticket and cycle to work loans
• Paid volunteering leave

How to Apply 

Visit our website on The National Lottery Community Fund job page for further details about the vacancy and our application process.

Equal Opportunities

We believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds.

Equality, diversity and inclusion in our grant-making, and amongst our people, are all vital to our success in supporting people and communities to thrive.  We believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with.  We are committed to being an inclusive and great place to work, and recognise our people come from diverse backgrounds. We are a Disability Confident employer and positively welcome applications from disabled people.

Starfish Health and Wellbeing offers a range of services across the Midlands and North East England. We are looking for a Community Link Worker to support our Social Prescribing service during a period of maternity cover. 

Title: Community Link Worker – Social Prescribing – Maternity Cover
Location: Midlands
Hours: 37.5hrs per week
Contract: Temporary Fixed Term – (potentially 12 months if funding available- currently funded to September 2021)
Salary: £22,000 per annum (pro-rata)

Social Prescribing empowers people to take control of their health and wellbeing through referral to a non-medical professional who gives time, focus on “what matters to the individual” and takes an holistic approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. The successful candidate will support existing and help people to start new community groups by working collaboratively with local partners. Key outcomes are increased activity, community involvement and improved employability.

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual to support this project.

Duties will include:

1. Taking referrals from a wide range of agencies.
2. Relationship building, including working with GP practices within primary care networks, pharmacies, multi-disciplinary teams, hospital discharge teams, allied health professionals, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housing associations and voluntary, community and social enterprise, other organisations as required.
3. Provide personalised support to individuals, their families and carers to take control of their wellbeing, live independently and improve their health outcomes.
4. Co-produce personalised support plans to improve health and wellbeing.
5. Work together with local partners to collectively ensure that local VCSE organisations and community groups are sustainable and that community assets are nurtured, by making them aware of small grants or micro-commissioning if available, including providing support to set up new community groups and services, where gaps are identified in local provision. 
6. Help people identify the wider issues that impact on their health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.
7. Data capture.

You will need experience of working with people who have suffered with a mental health problem for at least 2 years, along with a high standard of written communication and excellent interpersonal skills.  Applicants must have a good understanding of the voluntary sector and demonstrate empathy and a non-judgemental approach.

Closing date for completed applications: Closing date 28th May 2021.
Interview date W/C 7th June 2021.

A DBS disclosure will be requested for the successful applicant.

Starfish is an Equal Opportunities Employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

No agencies please.

We are seeking an inspirational Chief Executive Officer to join our small independent charity, someone who shares our vision and values, invites innovation and thrives on making a positive difference to the people and communities we serve.

Martineau Gardens, holders of the Queens Award for Voluntary Service, is an organically managed community garden close to Birmingham city centre. We offer volunteering opportunities for Social and Therapeutic Horticulture; work placements for SEN students; environmental education for schools; family activities and courses for adults. We supplement our charitable income through public engagement activities including events; plant and produce sales; venue hire and visitor donations.

The opportunity to join as our new Chief Executive comes at an exciting time for the charity as we seek to grow our resources and expertise to support more people and maintain the restorative properties of the Gardens. We are seeking an individual who can develop strategy using a creative approach; someone with high levels of emotional intelligence and the ability to influence, who has experience of managing a team with diverse skills and who has expertise in budgeting and governance.

As Chief Executive Officer, you will lead and guide your team of 10 and support them to adapt and develop their services to ensure sustainability and identify opportunities for new ways of working, delivering plans that meet strategic and operational aims.
 
Reporting to the Chair of Trustees, the role of Chief Executive will support the Board of Trustees in fulfilling their responsibilities in the governance of the charity and will bring good strategic and analytical skills coupled with the credibility and gravitas to represent the charity, motivating and empowering through values driven leadership.

Potential candidates will need to be fully motivated to provide the dynamic and inspiring leadership needed to ensure the charity grows and to be able to support the Charity’s vision, mission and values. You will ideally have previous experience leading in the Charity sector, however we will consider applications from a wide range of backgrounds. Knowledge of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture is desirable but not essential.

If you have the ambition, credentials and values to help steer our charity to the next level, we would love to hear from you. Any offer made is subject to satisfactory references to the charity and an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure & Barring service (DBS) will be essential if successful.

Closing date: 27th May 2021
Interview date: Week commencing 9th June 2021