CLOSED: Director of Finance and Resources, Cripplegate Foundation/Islington Giving

Deadline: Friday 26th January 2024

Job Title: Director of Finance and Resources
Salary: £60,000 – £65,000 per year, plus generous pension contribution and holiday allowance
Location: Islington, London (hybrid)
Hours: Full time (35 hours); part-time (four days) considered

Are you our next Director of Finance and Resources?

Do you have financial and organisational expertise from any background (public, private or charity sector) and would you like to join an innovative, place-based, grant-making foundation?

Are you interested in taking the next step up in your finance and resources career and would like to develop and expand your professional skills?

Do you thrive on working collaboratively and collegiately with partners, teams and boards?

Are you a creative thinker, able to work with others to bring about innovation?

Are you passionate, as we are, about addressing issues around poverty and inequality?

If so, then you might be just the person we are looking for to lead our Finance and Resources work.

About Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving

Cripplegate Foundation is a grant-making foundation focused on poverty and inequality and operates in the London Borough of Islington and a small part of the City of London. It is a pioneer of a place-based giving movement, building on a decade of innovative partnerships and grant programmes.

Our vision is of a society where everyone has the opportunity to live a rewarding and fulfilled life, free from poverty and inequality. We aim to bring about change to improve the lives of Islington’s most disadvantaged residents. We take an evidence-based, innovative and proactive approach and work in partnership with others to improve local support and resources, funding voluntary organisations and advocating positive change in policy and practice.

We have grown our role from a local grant-making trust established more than 500 years ago and now have an endowment of over £45 million. We make grants of c.£1.8m a year from the income from our endowment and from money we raise through Islington Giving.

Islington Giving forms a significant part of the work of Cripplegate Foundation. It operates as a restricted fund of the Foundation and brings together a coalition of local, regional and national funders, residents, businesses and voluntary organisations to tackle stubborn issues of poverty and inequality. Islington Giving works with residents, and together we raise funds, share power, increase opportunities and create connections with and for local people. Islington Giving has its own board which includes representatives from leading coalition partners. The Foundation provides administrative support to Islington Giving and manages its resources and programmes, including fundraising.

The Foundation has a reputation for quality and innovation and for its supportive approach to the development of voluntary organisations. We have commissioned and published important research into disadvantage and inequality in Islington. This has provided the evidence base for the Foundation’s and Islington Giving’s strategy, partnerships and programmes.

Over the years we have achieved a successful record of spotting and seizing opportunities for new avenues of work, new resources and partnerships. We have become a major influencer in the grant giving sector on a London-wide and national level and have achieved significant innovations, such as:

Creating and developing Islington Giving, which has shone a light on poverty and inequality and raised over £10 million since 2010 to invest in innovative programmes and inspiring the development of many other local giving schemes across London, through London Funders.
Pushing forward with ambitious diversity, equity and inclusion goals across everything we do from our grant making to our endowment and impact investments, and the makeup of our board and staff team, and we publicise our strategy and progress annually on our website.
Partnering with Islington Council to promote community development through the Community Chest, a small grants programme, and to support residents through the Islington Resident Support Scheme, one of a few local welfare support schemes remaining in England.
Developing new replicable grant programmes, such as:
- The Catalyst grant programmes for individual life-changing grants delivered with partners;
- Advice projects which take welfare rights services to residents;
- Young Grantmakers and Golden Grant Makers, supporting young people and older people to run their own grants programmes; and
- Good Neighbour Schemes based on social housing estates.

Our success is reflected in the role we now play in influencing policy on a local and wider level, using evidence from research, our learning from own work and our partners, and from working through extensive networks.

The Foundation has a small committed, passionate and talented staff team. It is constituted by a Charity Commission Scheme and has a single corporate trustee with 16 directors, known as ‘Governors,’ who make a huge contribution to our success.

Please do read our annual report found on our website.

Why Islington?

Islington faces real and harsh challenges. It is home to great wealth and has many cultural and commercial success stories. However:

38% of children in Islington live in poverty. This is the third highest in London.
34% of residents over 60 face income deprivation compared to a London average of 22%, and many of our older residents experience high levels of loneliness and isolation.
Islington has the highest rate of people living with a disability at 16.2% compared to the London average of 13.2%.
53% (7,500) of primary school age children, and 70% (5,300) of secondary school age children, are eligible for deprivation Pupil Premium.
Levels of depression and serious mental ill-health are the highest in London.
Incidence of domestic violence is rising, and disproportionately affects women aged 18–44, as well as BAME women.

Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving aim to help address these issues. We now need the right Director of Finance and Resources to support us to take the organisation forward and do ever more creative and pioneering work.

It’s an exciting time to join us!

The next few years promise to be pivotal in shaping the future role of Cripplegate Foundation and taking Islington Giving even further. The current post holder has made a significant contribution to the development and leadership of the Foundation and the new post holder will inherit a strong finance and resources function. There will, however, be lots of exciting challenges to engage with as part of the Senior Management Team and in terms of the ongoing development of the finance and resources team and function.

The opportunities to make a real contribution are many, including:

Working creatively and innovatively with the Senior Management Team, the Governors of Cripplegate Foundation and the Board of Islington Giving to develop new visions and programmes for the future.
Leading the finance and resources function and provide advice and guidance to ensure that Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving continues to demonstrate best practice and maintains its reputation as a respected, trusted and thoughtful grant-maker, employer and investor.
Helping to build an organisation where equality, diversity and inclusivity are embraced and where the board, staff and programmes evolve to reflect the diversity of our area.
Leading a passionate and committed team to ensure that they can contribute fully and reach their potential.
Working with trustees to modernise the Foundation’s investment strategy to incorporate and embed responsible and impact investing into our endowment portfolio.

About you

The new Director of Finance and Resources will need to be consultative, with strong listening skills and respect for the opinions of others. They will need the confidence and expertise to advise and guide the team and Governors, enabling them to deliver innovation, whilst maintaining best practice and ensuring compliance. They will need to be able to relate to the big picture and vision, whilst also being able to consider the detail. The applicant could be someone who is developing their career, with the potential to learn about how to lead and develop the finance and resources function of a grant-maker. Or they may be someone who has already held a similar role in another organisation or charity. We understand that this is a complex and varied role and that some applicants may need to develop some of the non-financial areas of expertise. So, whatever your background, we would be delighted to hear from you, especially if you:

Have experience of leading and managing,
Are a strong communicator and relationship builder,
Have a sound track record of managing finances,
Have experience of, or a curiosity to learn about, investments,
Have a commitment to ensuring that Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving continue to flourish.

We value diversity, equality and inclusivity. Applications are welcomed from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to gender, race, age, sexual orientation and religion.

How to apply

Download the Director of Finance & Resources recruitment pack.

Cripplegate Foundation is committed to best practice in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. We are an equal opportunity and London Living Wage employer. We actively seek and encourage applications from candidates from diverse backgrounds and are keen to ensure that all those that represent the Foundation reflect the communities we serve and the wider community we work in at every level within the organisation.

If you would like to apply for this role, please submit an up-to-date CV and a short covering letter of no more than two pages of A4, outlining your suitability for this role based on the job description and person specification. Please also complete, if you wish, the equalities monitoring form at the end of the recruitment pack. Please send these three documents (CV, Covering Letter, and Equalities form if you wish to complete it) by 10am, on Friday 26th January, to recruitment@cripplegate.org.uk.

Further Information

If you require any further information or you would like to discuss anything in more detail, please contact Jess at recruitment@cripplegate.org.uk or ring 020 7288 6940. Please note that we follow an anonymous recruitment process for all vacancies, which means the interview panel will not know the names of who has applied until they have shortlisted for the role. All applications made will receive a confirmation email acknowledging receipt. In cases where there are a very high number of applications, we may not be able to inform all candidates of the outcome of their application, but you will be contacted prior to the dates shown above if you have been successful and are invited to interview.