Grants Officer, North West and South West London

About the Role

The primary focus of the Grants Officer is to support schools and youth organisations to operate the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme effectively and to promote, grow and deliver this and other JPF grant programmes across London and Essex. Although the geographical remit of each Grants officer can change on occasion, it is anticipated that this role will be responsible for the London Boroughs across North West and South West London, plus uniform youth groups who deliver their activities cross-borough.

The Achievement Award scheme is JPF’s flagship programme, with almost 2000 schemes in over 1400 schools, colleges and youth organisations across London and Essex. Through the programme, we invest millions of pounds each year to support young people and youth work. This is an amazing chance for you to have a big impact. The Achievement Award Scheme enables schools, colleges and youth organisations to recognise, reward and celebrate young people’s achievements. At JPF we are passionate about encouraging young people to raise their aspirations, believe in themselves and make a contribution to society. Achievement Awards are designed to recognise a wide range of achievement, not just those achieving academically but those ‘doing their best’ or demonstrating leadership, resilience and determination.

The post holder will manage delivery of the scheme and associated small grants in an assigned area of London and/or Essex. They will be responsible for maintaining positive relationships with schools and youth organisations in a dedicated area of London or Essex. The role will involve significant travel to visit schools and youth organisations, as well as outreach and community engagement work to identify and support new groups to apply to join our small grants schemes. This work will also include evenings and occasional weekend work, especially to support our Achievement Award celebration events.

The successful candidate would therefore be someone who has flexibility to travel, work out-of-office hours, enjoys building local relationships and public speaking, as well as navigating a busy grants and assessment caseload (desk-based processing, telephone calls/emails, and regular use of a database). It could be a great role for someone living in North West or South West London.

JPF is an Equal Opportunities Employer and we seek to build a team that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We particularly welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates as they are currently under-represented in our team.

The primary responsibilities of the work will be:

• To promote and strengthen the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme and associated programmes (Leader Award Grants, Educational Visits, Environmental Awards and Partnership Programmes) in schools and youth organisations.
• To support schools and youth organisations to administer the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme to a high standard and maximise the positive impact it has on young people.
• To ensure that schools and youth organisations make use of all the small programmes and partnership programmes associated with the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme.
• To ensure that accurate data is recorded on all JPF systems.
• To support programme growth, impact and reach by building stakeholder relationships in your assigned local area.
• To assess new applications and monitor the impact of the Achievement Award Grants we make in your assigned local area. • To work with your colleagues in the Grants Team to deliver excellent grant making and relationships with Jack Petchey Foundation beneficiaries.

About You
This is an exciting opportunity to join us as we grow our work as a Foundation. You will have an opportunity to use and develop a wide range of skills in a dynamic and supportive team that is committed to maximising our positive impact on young people.

The role demands a wide range of skills and a high degree of autonomy, reliability and flexibility. We are seeking an efficient, highly organised team member with excellent communication skills and a passion for our work. You will need to be able to manage your own workload within agreed targets and maintain a programme of planned visits, while creating new development opportunities.

You will possess an eye for detail, good administration skills and the ability to communicate confidently and present a positive external profile for the charity. This is a busy and satisfying role, with each Grants Officer leading relationships with between 350-400 organisations.

Evening and weekend work is a requirement to meet the demands of this role, which on occasion can require up to 2-3 evenings in one week, depending on the event schedule. Time off in lieu will be granted for additional hours worked.

This is a perfect time to join the Foundation —under our new Head of Grants team, we are exploring how to streamline our processes, work with AI and improve our guidance. This is your chance to make your mark within a motivated and ambitious team, and help us to reach even more young people with our funding.

Main Areas of Responsibility

1. To develop, manage and promote the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme and other JPF opportunities.

1.1. Identify schools and youth organisations not currently running the scheme and proactively promote the Achievement Award (AA) scheme to them, following up as required.
1.2 Receive, assess and process all grant applications to join the AA scheme, in accordance with JPF policies and procedures.
1.3 Attend, participate and assist with delivery of Achievement Award celebration events (usually evenings), including making a speech to congratulate the young people.

2. Quality Assurance for the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme

2.1 Support schools and youth organisations on the Jack Petchey Achievement Award (AA) scheme to operate the scheme to the highest possible standard.
2.2 Implement a programme of face-to-face and digital monitoring visits to schools and youth organisations in your area on the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme, to ensure that JPF funding is well spent and to identify opportunities to improve delivery.
2.3 Provide timely support to organisations so they are able to run the AA scheme effectively.
2.4 Organise and deliver digital and in-person events to support schools and youth organisations to operate the Jack Petchey Achievement Award scheme effectively.

3. To administer the Jack Petchey Foundation grant making process

3.1 Ensure accurate records are kept on the Foundation’s database (Salesforce), including up-to-date contact details and records of communication with groups in receipt of or applying for grants.
3.2 Approve/authorise payment of AA grants and related programmes in accordance with JPF policies.
3.3 Ensure appropriate grant reporting by schools and youth organisations and negotiate return of funds where a grant has not been used in accordance with conditions.
3.4 Proactively manage risk, being alert to potential fraud.
3.5 Ensure that clubs and groups receive all necessary materials to operate the Achievement Award scheme effectively. 3.6 Assess and approve Leader Award Grant, Educational Visit Grant and Environmental Grant applications in accordance with JPF policy.
3.7 Provide regular reports on the work for the Head of Grants Team, Chief Executive Officer and the JPF Board as required.

4. To promote the wider work of the Jack Petchey Foundation to schools and youth groups

4.1 Identify case studies and other stories and material that can be used for JPF communications, supporting communications team colleagues to raise awareness of our opportunities and impact.
4.2 Represent JPF at digital and physical events, local networks, funders’ fairs, and community or young people’s forums to help promote JPF’s small grant programmes and other opportunities.
4.3 Support and promote JPF’s partnership programmes, for example the Jack Petchey’s Speak Out Challenge, Step into Dance, Panathlon and First Give.
4.4 Contribute to the review of any small grant programmes as requested by the Head of Grants Team.
4.5 Assist with digital and face-to-face monitoring and reporting in relation to groups that have received a JPF Project Grant or other JPF funding. 

5 Other Responsibilities
5.1 Actively contribute to Grants and JPF Team meetings.
5.2 Take a lead on specific projects as agreed within the Grants Team.
5.3 Contribute to the assessment of other grant programmes as requested by the Head of Grants Team.
5.4 Provide telephone/email support and advice about JPF funding streams to existing grantees or potential applicants.
5.5 Work at all times within the policies, procedures and values of the Jack Petchey Foundation, in particular safeguarding, health and safety, and data protection policies.

These are the normal duties requires of the position. However, it is important that all staff are prepared to be flexible as they will be required from time to time to perform other duties.

The post holder will work as part of the wider team from the Jack Petchey Foundation headquarters in Canary Wharf with some home working possible within the framework of the JPF Hybrid Working Policy. You will be required to travel to attend visits, events and meetings, including at weekends and in the evenings. Some travel across London more widely may be required on occasion to support uniform youth groups in your portfolio who deliver their duties cross-borough around your assigned areas.