About us
The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK – we support people and communities to prosper and thrive.
National Lottery players raise an incredible £30 million a week for good causes. This money funds projects and activities that transform communities, protect our heritage and enrich lives through arts, sports and culture. We are proud to be one of 12 distributors responsible for awarding this funding across the UK.
Thanks to National Lottery players, last year we were able to award over half a billion pounds of life-changing funding to UK communities, supporting thousands of projects making a real difference to people’s lives.
Over eight in ten of our grants were for under £10,000 going to grassroots groups and charities across the UK doing great things to support their communities, during a particularly tough time.
We also distribute non-National Lottery funds, working closely with Government on funding for important issues, such as tackling loneliness, multiple and complex needs, mental health and distributing Dormant Accounts money.
Over the last five years we’ve awarded a total of £3.4 billion, of which £2.7 billion is National Lottery money.
We fund things that matter – whether helping communities respond positively to national, regional or local priorities, or helping the UK achieve its big social ambitions. Our grants range from £500 up to multi-million-pound programmes – supporting people and projects to do extraordinary things and bring great ideas for their community to life.
About the role
In the role of Funding Officer you will join the vibrant, friendly team in the North West region helping to make sure our funding supports a wide variety of communities and places locally. We are looking for talented local people from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences who share our values and are passionate about making a difference through funding. Whether through lived or gained experience you will really understand the communities we work with.
As a member of the funding team you will assess applications for funding and manage grants from our Reaching Communities and Partnerships programmes. You will use your local knowledge and experience, and the experience of our grant holders and local stakeholders, to ensure we are making the best decisions on the grants we make. By working closely with people and communities in a defined geographical area, you will understand what matters to them and where our funding can make the biggest difference.
Alongside gaining an understanding of our vision, our commitment to equity and inclusion and our funding programmes, you will be responsible for your own caseload; liaising with grant recipients, visiting projects, identifying and managing risks, supporting organisations to deliver their projects and measure their impact.
You will need to understand and respond to the different needs of our applicants and grant holders by providing advice and feedback and be willing to have challenging but constructive conversations.
Part of your role will be to represent the Fund within your local area including at funding fairs and external meetings and create opportunities for people to come together. Sharing learning from your conversations, events, grant holder reports and evaluations you will support the Fund in maximining our impact as a grant maker.
We are recruiting 3 posts, the successful candidates will live in the North West. Specifically, we are recruiting to the Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Lancashire teams – we are particularly interested in hearing from people who live in or have experience of working in Oldham, Rochdale, Wigan, Trafford, Burnley, Blackburn, Darwen.
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 37 hours per week
Interview Date: W/C 25th July 2022
Location: North West with regular travel within your team’s specific area
*If you would like to have a discussion before applying, please email Sarah Blackie
Sarah.Blackie@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
Essential criteria
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.
You will have:
Ideally you will live within the geographical area you are covering or have excellent knowledge of that area. You will be a remote worker, working from several locations across the area, including your home and our offices with the expectation that you will be flexible in order to get the best outcomes for our customers.
Desirable criteria
The ability to drive and access to a vehicle is beneficial for this role but not essential.
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:
Equal opportunities
Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and 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. We are committed to being an inclusive and great place to work, and recognise our people come from diverse backgrounds. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (B.A.M.E) backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We welcome applications from disabled people and will proactively make reasonable adjustments if needed through the recruitment process and during employment. This can be related to a physical and mental health conditions.
We are also proud to be a Stonewall Diversity Champion, supporting our commitment to being a great place to work for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) staff.