Trusts and Grants Manager

Trusts and Grants Manager Salary:
From £42,479 (dependent on experience) Contract type:
Permanent

Hours:

Full-time Location description:
Hybrid between home and Poole - minimum 2 days a week in Poole with regular (potentially monthly) travel to region Interview date: 13th 14th October 2026 Closing Date: 4th October 2026 Reference: 21883

About us Our purpose is simple: to save lives  hours a day, every day, RNLI lifesavers are ready to launch to the rescue. We're looking for an experienced and ambitious Trusts and Grants Manager to join our Trusts and Grants team to manage and expand a portfolio of prospects and Grantmakers to help raise funds for our lifesaving work. This will be a full-time, permanent post.

Securing funds from Trusts and Grantmakers will help equip, train and protect our extraordinary voluntary lifesaving crews and lifeguards so that they can do what they need to do to save lives r role You will work as part of a supportive and collaborative team to help develop and steward a portfolio of Trusts, largely in Wales, the West of the UK and Ireland, building sustainable long-term relationships with Trust supporters to help meet and exceed the teams financial targets and deliver our Trust fundraising strategy.

You will:

- Provide excellent stewardship to the Trusts on your portfolio, carefully crafting stand-out grant applications and impact reports with detailed budgets and timelines that clearly demonstrate to funders the impact of their donations.

- Through intelligent relationship management, develop an in-depth understanding of each of your Trusts, exploring their needs and motivation to ensure you build long-term, strategic relationships.

- Expand your portfolio of Trust supporters by carefully researching and identifying new funders and finding creative ways to make new approaches and open doors to new prospects.

- Develop excellent relationships with stakeholders across the RNLI, working collaboratively with project and finance managers to identify and package RNLI projects to find a creative best fit with Trust objectives.

- Use RNLI engagement opportunities, key anniversaries, station events and peer connections to find creative ways to keep funders engaged and excited about our work, inspiring them to continue to give.

- Develop excellent relationships with your regional colleagues and internal stakeholders to understand their needs, keep abreast of potential funding opportunities and ensure a collaborative, joined-up approach to your donor management.

- Share your networks, skills, knowledge and experience with your colleagues in the Trusts and Grants team and support your teammates by leading on specific project themes and areas of expertise.

- Maintain excellent record-keeping to ensure accurate and timely grant management and reporting in line with grant agreements, internal policies and processes, GDPR and Third Sector accounting good practice. About you We are looking for a passionate and resilient Trusts and Grants Manager with:

- Good experience of managing a donor portfolio including prospecting for six-figure gifts and managing large, complex donor relationships in a Trust fundraising environment or very similar discipline.

- Natural writing skills and an ability to craft and adapt creative, engaging and concise fundraising proposals and targeted impact reports.

- An unswerving attention to detail.

- An understanding of how to work with project managers to identify funding packages that will match your Trusts objectives and motivations, with a knack for simplifying complex project information and presenting it in accessible way in funding applications.

- High emotional intelligence and strong, confident communication skills with good experience in building…