Charles Gordon Foundation: Request for proposals

We’re looking for a consultant to support Charles Gordon Foundation’s development into a leading early years grant-maker in Scotland.

Background

The Charles Gordon Foundation is a family grant-making organisation. The Foundation is a Liechtenstein-registered charity overseen by its Board of Trustees based in Vaduz. Our grants administration is carried out in the UK by Prism the Gift fund. The strategy development, grant recommendations and oversight are the responsibility of the UK-based Advisory Group, which is made up of three members of the family.

The focus of our giving is ensuring that babies and infants in Scotland have the best start in life. We began awarding grants in 2019 and awarded grants to a value of £500k in 2020. We have ambitions to do and achieve more, expecting to award funds of circa £1m each year for the next 3 years. We are seeking consultancy support to help us do this – to develop and drive forward our strategy and build partnerships in Scotland.

What are we looking for?

Ideally, we are looking for an individual consultant or consultancy:

• With expertise in the first 1,000 days of the early years; and
• With experience of developing a grant-making strategy; and
• Based in Scotland with good connections within the early years sector.

However, we will consider proposals from consultants/consultancies who are based in other areas of the UK and who have a strength either in grant-making or early years.

In addition, we are looking for an individual consultant or consultancy:

• Who shares our ambition to ensure babies and infants get the best start in life.
• Who has a track record of building and managing relationships with grantees and strategic partnerships.
• With analytical thinking skills to define what success looks like and to help monitor and evaluate impact.
• Who will be a credible representative for the Foundation.
• Who is self-directed, organised and flexible.

What does the work entail?

We expect the following activities being undertaken as part of this role:

• Developing our grant-making strategy, in partnership with the Advisory Group, to maximise impact
• Driving forward the successful implementation of our strategy
• Identifying and capitalising on emerging opportunities
• Researching and recommending partners and projects relevant to our funding priorities
• Building new and managing ongoing partnerships
• Managing the grant-making process including assessing proposals
• Representing the Advisory Group at meetings and events
• Reporting to the Advisory Group and Trustees
• Developing a monitoring and evaluation framework
• Developing and maintaining a website

What you can expect:

We are recruiting on a consultancy basis. Initially on a fixed term of one year with the intention to extend this.

We will consider those with availability between 1-3 days per week. These hours can be worked flexibly.

We expect the work to involve attending meetings and events in Scotland and the occasional meeting in London.