Funding Officer

• Are you a confident communicator who enjoys working with people?
• Do you see the potential in ideas as well as the challenges?
• Are you passionate about the power of communities to change things for the better?  

You’ll be part of a team of Funding Officers, led by a Funding Manager, responsible for our grant-making activity in a geographical area. There are eight Funding teams in Scotland each covering a different geographical region with between 4 and 8 Funding Officers in each team. 

Funding Officers usually work on grant-making activity within one local authority area and are the main point of contact for all grant-holders and applicants in that area. 

Role Responsibilities include:

• You will provide advice to prospective applicants, assess applications and will be in regular contact with grant-holders as they progress with their projects. Your recommendations will guide decisions on awarding grants and how we support grant-holders. 
• You will contribute to learning and evaluation of our work, outreach and stakeholder engagement in your area. You will ensure that our funding responds to the local context and our commitment to equity and inclusion. You will be expected to challenge yourself and colleagues to continually improve the way we work.
•  You will be responsible for understanding how an organisation’s ideas align with our funding priorities and making good judgements about when to take an application further or when to signpost to alternative opportunities. You will be able to communicate clearly and concisely your recommendations about who and what we fund. Your natural curiosity combined with a genuine interest in people and projects in your area will enable you to try new approaches and develop your understanding of what works. 

During your first few weeks with the Fund, in person training will be delivered in Glasgow, you can expect to be office based on most working days. After the initial training period work patterns are more flexible. In a typical week most full-time Funding Officers would be likely to spend one day in our Glasgow office, one or two days out for meetings and project visits in their assigned area, and will work from home on other days. 

There can be occasional weekend and evening working, but most of our work takes place on week days in normal working hours.

When applying please specify which Funding role you would like to be considered for, this can be both. 

About You

We are looking for talented people from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences who share our values and are passionate about making a difference through our funding. Whether through lived or gained experience you will really understand the communities we work with. 

We are very open to flexible working both full time and part time applications, minimum 2 days a week.

Interview Date: W/C 22nd April – face to face in Glasgow
Location: Hybrid working – home, community, office (Glasgow city centre)

Essential criteria

• Communication ability:  
  We’re looking for people with the ability to change their communication style to make themselves understood, listen carefully to others and ask questions to clarify what they mean, and write factual reports that draw together many sources of information.  
• Ability to build and maintain relationships:  
  We’re looking for people who can develop productive working relationships with people inside and outside an organisation and are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. 
• Ability to analyse information and come to a judgement:  
  We’re looking for people who can bring together information from a range of sources to make decisions and can clearly explain their judgement to others. 
• Ability to self-organise and plan work: 
  We’re looking for people who can plan and organise their own time to meet regular deadlines and complete varied tasks and projects
•  Values-driven and passionate about the Fund’s purpose.

Desirable criteria

•  Ability to work with financial budgets and business plans: 
  We're looking for people who are able to work with and interpret numerical information and can understand financial documents. 
• Ability to use IT tools and learn processes: 
  We're looking for people who are able to use common office software and are able to learn how to use new systems and follow detailed process. 
• Knowledge of the third sector: 
  We’re looking for people with an active interest in learning about the third sector in Scotland and working with under-represented communities 

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why the National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.)