Head of Impact Investment and Grants

Home based with travel to London required

Job Ref: 27315

"Shaw Trust promotes team spirit, inclusiveness and it is an organisation where everybody is somebody. I am proud to be part of this great organisation."

Shaw Trust is a leading employment charity in the UK. Each year we support over 300k people to find and keep meaningful jobs, providing education, training, health and wellbeing support for those starting their careers and those looking to progress in their jobs. We work with employers to create better workplaces and we're one of the largest not-for-profit residential children's home providers, improving outcomes for looked after children and helping care leavers into employment. We're focused on system change, creating real and lasting social value in the communities we support across the UK. As a charitable social enterprise, we reinvest a portion of the surplus from our government contracts and revenue from our charity shops into our Foundation.

The Foundation has three pillars:

1. Impact insights: Reporting against our impact on employment, education, skills and wellbeing, and sharing evidence-based insights to improve future practice and programmes related to employment and wellbeing
2. Innovation projects: Designing and trialing innovative solutions to improve the systems where we work, either by testing new interventions or by creating join up existing provision
3. Investment in local charities and social enterprises: Providing funding and support to local charities and social enterprises working to improve access to good meaningful work, with a view to help them scale new ideas and interventions

Overview of the Programme

The Head of Impact Investment & Grants is at the heart of designing and running our programme to support local organisations working on improving employment outcomes for people facing barriers in life in the areas where we work: Employability, Education, Learning and Skills, Community Health and Wellbeing, Justice, and Children and Young People's Services including 50 children's homes.

As an organisation with over 40 years of experience helping to create a future where good employment is accessible to all in society, irrespective of life circumstances, our teams have a deep understanding of the barriers to work, particularly for those furthest from employment. We know it takes collaborative efforts to solve these challenges and want to use our Foundation to identify local organisations that have reach, expertise and innovative ideas. We will bring funding (at first this will be grants but we would look to impact investing), incubation support (transfer skills, share knowledge and advice) and partnerships to help grow their impact and sustain their activities. Support will be bespoke to and designed with each organisation.

Shaw Trust is committing seed funding to establish and grow the programme. Our current annual budget for investment is £250k-£300k and is expected to grow year on year. Over time, the programme will be a platform for like-minded philanthropists and partners, with the ambition to pool resources to increase the scale and impact of the Foundation.

This is a senior role, driving a new pillar within the Foundation. The candidate will help shape the programme, combining funding, capability building and partnerships to support local organisations that work to improve employment and continued education outcomes for the people whom we serve. They will need to understand how local organisations work to solve the problems we care about and identify who to partner with how to best support them.

The candidate will work with the Chief Impact Officer to design and deliver the strategy for the programme, establish funding windows focused on specific problems Shaw Trust identifies in the geographies where we work, create grant/investment processes and governance, and stand up and manage the programme. We anticipate that the programme will also offer coaching and training support to help the charity leaders to grow their organisations and scale the impact of their interventions.

The role will work closely with the CIO and our Partnerships team to develop and deliver a fundraising and partnership strategy, drawing on existing relationships and expanding to other organisations across public and private sectors.

The post holder will also collaborate with our Head of Impact and Evaluation, who will design an evaluation framework and support charities in monitoring and reporting on progress.

The post holder will have:

• Successful track record in building strategic relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders.
• Previous experience designing/improving/managing a grants/investment programme.
• Experience in consulting, investment management or other in-depth grant making and capacity building work.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone to design a new programme, influence its growth and work across a large delivery organisation with over 3,000 staff committed to improving wellbeing and employment outcomes.

This role is homebased with travel to London for team meetings required.

Employee Benefits

As an employee of Shaw Trust as well as positively impacting people's lives, you will have access to the following benefits:

• 25 days annual leave per year (plus bank holidays), with incremental increases post 3 years' service up to 28 days, and the option to purchase additional holiday
• 2 days paid volunteering leave each year
• An enhanced pension scheme after 6 months
• Life Assurance at 3 times your annual salary rate
• Access to a suite of learning and development opportunities including paid for apprenticeship and masters' levels qualifications, and management development programmes
• Opportunities to connect with our employee diversity networks (LGBTQ+ Support Network, Racial Equality Network, Disability Equality Network, Women's Network), MANaging Network, Menopause Network Group
• Health and Wellbeing initiatives including internal support, employee assistance programme and health cash plan
• Opportunity to request flexible working from day one

For further information and to apply, please visit:

Closing date: Midnight 23 February 2025.

Shaw Trust reserve the right to close this vacancy early if sufficient applications are received.

If you have accessibility requirements and/or would like further information about the role, please contact:

Shaw Trust is committed to safeguarding. All applicants who are offered employment will be subject to an enhanced disclosure from the DBS. Shaw Trust is a registered charity: 287785.