• Duration: Permanent 

• Salary: Circa £43,000 per annum 

• Job Level: Level 4  

• Hours: 35 hours per week. Other flexible arrangements will be considered 

• Disclosure Level: Basic. This role involves no direct or indirect work with children  

• Reports to: Institutional Funding Lead or Private Funding Lead,, Foundation Partnerships 

• Team: Partnerships & Philanthropy / Fundraising  

• Location: Hybrid working from home and at 1 Westfield Avenue, London E20 1HZ 

At the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we pull together to achieve the best possible results for children in danger around the world. We believe in an inclusive workplace and in the power of fulfilled colleagues who share the same values and goals, enjoy their work, and are motivated to do their utmost for children.  

Our work is guided by the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child and the Sustainable Development Goals, which recognise the universality of children’s rights. 

ABOUT THE TEAM  

The Foundations Manager is a core role within the Foundation Partnerships Team, which sits within the Partnerships & Philanthropy division alongside the Corporate and Philanthropy teams.  

UNICEF UK’s Foundation Partnerships team builds and nurtures partnerships with like-minded institutions, trusts, foundations, and statutory bodies, with the goal of unlocking funding for UNICEF’s global mission to keep children, healthy, happy, and safe. These partnerships are key to support a wide range of UNICEF programmes in countries which have the greatest need. 

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The primary focus of this role is to maximise income and support for UNICEF UK through building and managing relationships with institutions, trusts, and foundations. Key to your success will be the ability to proactively identify, cultivate, convert, and steward partnerships with institutional partners and/or trusts and foundations at the six and seven-figure level. The postholder will be a proactive fundraiser who can work at pace and is confident at building networks and developing new partnership opportunities.   

What we will expect you to achieve 

• Manage a personal portfolio of existing trust and foundation partners, giving primarily at the six and seven-figure level. 

• Retain and grow your caseload of existing partners by providing a consistently high level of donor stewardship, building strong relationships with partner focal points, and proactively exploring opportunities to grow and diversify partnerships. 

• Develop face-to-face relationships with key donors and prospects – proactively coordinating outreach, including meetings and requests for financial support at the right time.  

• Research, engage and build relationships with institutional, trust and foundation prospects to maximise income and support for UNICEF’s work internationally and in the UK.  

• Provide excellent grant management with responsibility for ensuring donors receive high-quality reports (narrative and financial), monitoring compliance with contracts, and effectively managing and communicating change to internal and external stakeholders. 

• Support the Private and Institutional Funding Leads, as well as the Head of Foundation Partnerships, on existing major strategic funding partnerships, as requested.  

• Build a personal network of donor and prospect contacts, including by identifying and attending relevant events.  

• Work collaboratively with key internal stakeholders, including UNICEF’s Country Offices, Regional Offices, and teams at UUK, to effectively manage all relevant internal processes (e.g., risk screening, fund transfers, legal agreements etc).   

• Travel internationally where required (e.g., for donor visits).    

• Play an active role in the Foundation Partnerships team, contributing to wider team and organisational initiatives as required. 

• Demonstrate and model a commitment to our shared values, behaviours and inclusive practices (known as Our Shared Commitment) in all aspects of your work. 

  BEHAVIOURS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS 

This section contains the essential behaviours, experience, knowledge, and skills needed in order to be effective and successful in this role. All criteria in this section are essential.

Effective behaviours 

Supporter driven and mission aligned 

• Is committed to children and their rights and motivated to work towards achieving a world that is fit for every child. 

• Considers partners’ needs and pressures, balancing their expectations with doing what’s right for children.  

Analytical and Innovative  

• Analyse available information to make logical and sound judgments and question assumptions and seek further insight to inform decision making.    

Efficiency and effectiveness 

• Manage conflicting priorities to ensure that objectives are achieved and deadlines met. Suggest actions and work to adjust strategies and minimise risks to ensure the best results are reached. 

Results focused  

• Prioritises and sustains focus on work that will have the greatest impact on agreed aims and working to set targets and KPIs. 

Resilience  

• Remains positive and proactive, and quickly recovers from setbacks, keeping problems in perspective. 

•  Responds flexibly to unforeseen events, such as emergency responses, to ensure that effectiveness is not compromised.  

Positive relationships  

• Nurtures professional relationships with colleagues at all levels and with external contacts and partners, to support the achievement of objectives.  

Relevant experience 

• Demonstrable experience of managing high-value strategic institutional and/or trust and foundation partnerships.   

• Demonstrable experience of robust programme and grant management, including managing budgets, monitoring risk, evaluation, and reporting for partnerships at the six and seven-figure level.   

• Demonstrable experience of producing a range of high-quality written communications and confidently engaging with donors. 

• Demonstrable experience of producing complex and bespoke proposals for institutional donors, trusts and foundations and/or high-net-worth individuals. 

• Demonstrable experience of new business approaches, partnership development and management through all donor cultivation stages.