Trusts and Foundations Manager

Purpose of the role: 
As an experienced trusts fundraiser, you will drive the growth of our income from trusts and foundations. Your exceptional skills in building connections, securing funding, and delivering outstanding stewardship is vital to transforming the lives of people affected by spinal cord injury. You will manage and develop an increasingly diverse portfolio of charitable trusts, foundations and Grantmakers, including the National Lottery Community Fund. You will be a part of a passionate Partnerships Team, creatively working across trusts and foundations, corporate relationships and special events to maximise opportunities to sustain and grow income. 

Key stakeholders: Trustees, administrators, and grant officers from the full range of trusts & foundations (including family/private trusts, corporate foundations and National Lottery), senior leaders, trustees, volunteers, staff and service users

Values:

Our values are central to our approach:

All roles at Back Up should reflect our core values

We embrace challenge:
Challenge is central to our learning and growth; it helps us gain knowledge and skills. By finding ways to overcome challenge and move forward we gain a sense of achievement, supporting us to realise our full potential.

We have fun:
We believe that having fun allows us to connect with others, whilst opening up opportunities to develop, achieve and get the most out of life, showing that there is a positive future after spinal cord injury. 

We build inclusive communities:
We achieve more for people affected by spinal cord injury when we work together. We are collaborative and inclusive in our approach. We embrace diversity, working with and supporting individuals, groups, and the wider spinal cord injury community, bringing people together.

We are ambitious for each other:
We are driven by the needs of people with a spinal cord injury and their families. We are passionate, striving to be the best.  We set high standards, and we work hard to reach them.  We are proactive, push boundaries, try new approaches and we learn quickly. We recognise that failure doesn’t have to equal loss, rather an opportunity for growth. We listen to what people affected by spinal cord injury want and we seek innovative responses based on their feedback.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

General

• Research and submit compelling proposals and applications for high-value grants and donations (5+ figures) to secure income and support long-term sustainability. 
• Prospect research of new funders and partners capable of supporting Back Up’s work. 
• Provide timely, accurate reports and updates to funders showing the impact of funded work.  
• Delivering an effective stewardship programme to engage and thank funders, working closely with the partnerships team to inspire our donors 
• Maximise opportunities through Back Up’s networks, including the fundraising team, services staff, SMT, development board, board of trustees and volunteer networks. 
• Managing multi-year budgets and ensure accurate forecasting, monitoring and evaluating performance to meet agreed targets. 
• Support the maintenance and development of internal systems to manage restricted income and effective data flow and quality to support delivery of the Trusts and Foundations Strategy  
• Ensure up to date records of grants and donations and funder communications. 
• Manage, support, and develop the trust fundraising team and plans. 
• Build strong working relationships with services and finance to align funding with strategic needs and business plans  

Other key responsibilities

• Driving the development and delivery of the Trusts and Foundations strategy and annual business plans  
• Managing and monitoring the trusts and foundations pipeline, budget and forecasts; providing reports and updates on activity to the Head of Partnerships. 
• Ensuring income generation aligns with organisational plans. 
• Ensuring high quality applications, reports and stewardship to funders  
• Effective management of the Trusts and Philanthropy Officer to develop, feel supported and achieve targets. 
• Collaborating effectively with the Partnerships Team to maximise income from a range of opportunities.  
• Working effectively with fundraising, finance, and services teams to identify needs and maximise income. 

PERSON SPECIFICATION:

Essential:

• Proven success in securing income from a range of charitable trusts and foundations 
• Experience managing staff or volunteers and delivering against targets 
• Strong relationship-building, engagement and stewardship skills 
• Confident communicator with excellent written skills 
• Experience in supporting planning and monitoring of budgets, pipelines and KPIs 
• Familiarity with CRM and data tools for fundraising and reporting 
• A collaborative and proactive approach 
• The ability to manage conflicting priorities 
• Willingness to travel and work occasional evenings or weekends 

Desirable:

• Experience in high level cultivation and securing corporate foundation income 
• Knowledge of spinal cord injury or disability-related issues 
• Experience with digital tools such as Power BI, Mailchimp, Canva, and Asana

We welcome applications from everyone and encourage people from Black, Asian or other ethnically diverse backgrounds, as well as those with higher level spinal cord injuries, to apply. We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive team where everyone feels valued and supported.