Grants Officer – London

We are delighted to have received three-year funding from The Aviva Foundation to fund this brand-new Grants Officer role based in London.

You’ll be part of our Programmes team supporting kinship carers in London to access grants which will help reduce financial stress. This could be grants to buy things like white goods and uniforms or accessing Buttle grants to support children growing up in kinship care.

As Grants Officer you’ll talk to kinship carers, discuss their needs, their priorities and then write charitable grant applications on their and their family’s behalf.

You will oversee and deliver the grants process, including co-ordinating the purchase of items (such as children’s clothes, beds or washing machines), collecting receipts for items as required by the funders and liaising with all teams to ensure timely receipt of funds within the charity and to the kinship carers.

Building relationships with funders is core, sharing the impact of the grants and insight about the lives of kinship families in London. You’ll work closely with Programmes, Peer Support, Training and Advice colleagues who work with kinship families in London.

You will also create and run online and face-to-face workshops and clinics, helping kinship carers to understand how to apply for other grants, thereby encouraging resilience and confidence to apply for grants themselves.

You will be a proactive and persuasive relationship builder, able to create partnerships with a range of organisations and peer support groups that support kinship families.

You’ll build trusting and respectful relationships with kinship carers who you will work one-to-one with in community settings. And you’ll build relationships with a range of grant giving organisations across London.

We’re looking for someone who can really deliver impact and demonstrate how embedding this role into the community helps to unlock funding and support for kinship carers at a local level.

Service delivery

• Deliver our new grants service across London.
• Meet performance targets and KPIs as directed.
• Work with kinship carers and their families across London to gather information to complete and submit grant applications.
• Administer grants we secure for our kinship carers and carry out all the necessary administration related to grants.
• Undertake research to identify funders and build excellent relationships with local grant making charities in order to increase support for kinship families.
• Deliver grant workshops at peer support groups sharing information about locally available grants and providing advice and support on making a successful application.
• Run face-to-face grant clinics within peer support groups or community venues in London, working directly with kinship carers to write and submit requests for grants.
• Build meaningful relationships and partnerships with community organisations and venues across London to promote this service and drive referrals.
• Create and run online and face-to-face grants workshops for kinship carers to understand and navigate their way through applying for local grants.
• Carry out income and expenditure checks with kinship carers, signposting to specialist debt advice if required.
• Strive to ensure kinship families who access our programmes and services are reflective of the diverse communities in which we work and embed equity, diversity and inclusion principles.

Monitoring and reporting

• Effectively use Salesforce to deliver the grants service.
• Accurately record statistical data regarding the grants work.
• Monitor the quality of our grants work, collect case studies and create reports for our funder.
• Maintain systems for collecting feedback from users for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
• Comply with any monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements as part of Kinship’s internal processes, as well as any funder or local authority funding requirements for the services being delivered, including producing quarterly performance reports as required.
• Track and monitor the progress of grant payments and work with the finance team to complete the grants journey.

Collaboration, signposting and partnership

• Refer kinship carers to the Advice service (and other Kinship services) as required.
• Work with colleagues in Programmes, Peer Support, Training and Advice to integrate this service into their offer for kinship carers in London, providing a holistic experience.
• Work closely with Kinship’s programmes and services teams to develop the grants work we do and ensure we are meeting the needs of our kinship carers.
• Work closely with the Regional Programmes Manager (line manager), attending regular support and supervision meetings and contributing to an integrated approach to service provision.
• Work closely with colleagues as required to support the promotion and delivery of programmes and services for kinship carers, including the advice service and peer support.
• Build effective working relationships with other organisations in the sector.

Confidentiality, safeguarding and data protection

• Ensure all data is stored in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Maintain confidential case records and administrative systems, including details of advice given and referral sources.
• Ensure all safeguarding policies and procedures are always followed to protect both staff and service users.
• Ensure impartiality and confidentiality when dealing with kinship carers.

Team and culture

• Act in the best interests of Kinship and the families we support.
• Deliver effective administration with attention to detail and keeping to deadlines.
• Take responsibility for your ongoing continued professional development.
• Work in line with Kinship’s values.
• Represent the Programmes team at Kinship team meetings.
• Represent Kinship at external meetings and events as required.

Knowledge, abilities, skills and experience

Essential
The successful candidate will have:

• Proven experience of writing successful grants within a charity context.
• Experience of speaking to vulnerable people on the telephone, face-to-face and online, and gathering information with empathy and understanding.
• Experience of working with socially excluded or marginalised people and their families in face-to-face and community settings.
• Experience of running online and face-to-face workshops.
• An understanding of budgeting, managing money, income and expenditure.
• Proven understanding of the importance of confidentiality and a non-judgmental approach.
• Evidence of awareness of safeguarding issues and good practice.
• Experience of organising and prioritising a busy workload without close supervision.
• Proven clear understanding of the need to keep grants records and communication with kinship carers and funders up to date.
• Excellent research and writing skills.
• Ability to complete online grant applications to a range of charitable grant providers.
• The ability to work flexibly, collaboratively, and effectively as part of a small team.
• Proven ability to remain calm under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and in particular a sensitive telephone manner, offering encouragement and empowerment.
• Evidence of strong written and oral communication skills.
• Attention to detail and accurate in all aspects of work.
• IT proficient.
• Full clean driving license and use of a vehicle, with willingness to travel within London for work purposes.
• Ability to work occasional evenings.

Desirable, but not essential, criteria include:

• Lived experience of kinship care.
• In-depth subject knowledge on kinship care and issues affecting kinship carers.
• Experience using Salesforce within a service environment.

General attributes:

• Travel to London office for team meetings and supervision.
• Knowledge and understanding of kinship care and/or children and families who need support.
• Commitment to the values, aims and objectives of Kinship.
• Ability to apply Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Principles in all areas of work.
• Right to work in the UK.