Over the past week I’ve had a few conversations with people who may be interested in applying for the role of director of grants at Trust for London – a role which I’ve loved over the past two and a half years, and which I’m leaving from at the end of the year. In these conversations I’ve described what the role entails, and what makes it interesting, exciting and challenging in equal measure.
I’m aware my network is limited and not everyone will have seen my offer to have an informal chat. I’m also conscious that not everyone will feel confident to reach out. With this in mind, I thought I’d share what I’ve covered in these chats so that others can see what I think are the main responsibilities of the role – and be encouraged to apply.
While this is not an exhaustive list, here are six areas which I spend a lot of time working on:
Our grant making strategy
With my colleague Klara, the Trust’s other Director of Grants, our main focus over the past two years has been the development and now the implementation of our new grant making strategy, which runs to 2030 and focuses on economic and social justice. This includes thinking about our role in supporting change in the seven thematic areas in which we want to see ambitious change happen that will positively impact on the lives of Londoners experiencing poverty and inequality, and working with our trustees to ensure we use our limited resources to achieve maximum impact. This part of the role requires a mix of big picture thinking, engaging with the partners we work with and fund, and careful thought on how to navigate complex topics sensitively – for example our efforts to support movement building in the Disability justice space using participatory grant making.
Our grant making approach
While the strategy sets out our ambition for change, we will not be successful without the right grant making approach and systems in place. Our values commit us to being a relational grant maker and a lot of thought goes into thinking about how this intention is reflected in all our operations and processes. For example, working alongside colleagues in our finance team to make sure receiving payments is easy and straight forward or ensuring that our application process only asks for the information we need to make decisions in a speedy manner.
The external context for our work
As director of grants – social justice, I hold direct responsibility for our work in this area. This includes overseeing our work to end migrant destitution, our work to increase household income and community wealth in Black and racially minoritised communities, and our work to contribute towards a strong, diverse and sustainable Disability justice movement. My role involves staying up to date with the political and policy context for our work, to ensure this informs our decision making and we are quick to respond to new challenges and opportunities. A particular joy of this role is the chance to collaborate with a range of partners, including other funders and regional government to make in-roads into some of these challenges.
Supporting our grants team
Our grants team recently restructured from being a generalist grants team to each grant manager taking on responsibility for a specific thematic area. A key part of being director of grants is supporting the team as they embrace working in new ways. In recent months this has involved supporting the grants team to be able to say ‘no’ to many brilliant organisations in a compassionate way due to our limited resources. Centring care and the wellbeing of team members is something I have tried to prioritise over the past two years, and kindness and empathy will be crucial values for the person who steps into this role next.
Our approach to learning
I also hold responsibility for our approach to learning, putting in place our overarching learning framework and ensuring we are able to collect, analyse and digest insights from our work and the work of our funded partners. This also involves ensuring our grants database supports us to this end, and that grants we make are correctly recorded so we can identify trends amongst different areas of work.
Working with senior management to ensure we are an effective organisation
Finally, I have the privilege to work as part of the Trust’s senior management team to make sure Trust for London runs efficiently and that our values are embedded in all we do. I have learnt a huge amount from having the chance to work on areas that are adjacent to my focus on grant making, including responsible investment and managing our endowment. Conversations are wide and varied, stretching from ensuring our policies on GDPR are up to date to reflecting on the origins of our endowment and considering what action we take in response.
The different aspects of the role are exactly what makes the role exciting and challenging. It has stretched me, and I often find myself jumping from a meeting that is diving into the minutiae of our operations to being inspired by conversations with big strategic thinkers, to supporting a member of the team on how to navigate a tricky and complex challenge. But I have found I am able to navigate these different challenges by being rooted in my own values and the values of the Trust.
If you are a thoughtful and values led leader committed to social justice this is definitely the role for you.