Administrator to the Board

Location

Remote | United Kingdom

Job description

Administrator to the Board 

The Peter Sowerby Foundation () is a significant, charitable grant-maker, supporting work in the fields of health, education and community, the arts and the environment.

Registered with the Charity Commission in 2011, the Foundation aims to fulfil the charitable aims of its late settlor, Dr Peter Sowerby, who was a retired GP from rural North Yorkshire and founding partner in Egton Medical Information Systems (EMIS), which now provides database and records management software for over 10,000 healthcare organisations in the UK.

The Foundation is currently managed by a board of four Trustees. These include David Aspinall, Chair of Trustees; Dr David Stables, Peter Sowerby’s former GP partner and an expert in management information systems; Sara Siegel Poulios, lead partner in Deloitte’s Healthcare Strategy who has been seconded to senior positions in the Department of Health and NHS, and Dr Carole Longson, Chief Scientific Officer at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

Since it was established in 2013, the Foundation has awarded hundreds of grants. Some of these have been small grants to local, grass-roots organisations, whilst others have been to large, well-established charities and educational institutions. In total, the Foundation has awarded c. £15 million in grants since inception.

The Foundation currently receives grant solicitation and directorial support, under contract, from Cause4 () and an outsourced finance function provided by FLB Accountants (

The Foundation is currently seeking a new Administrator to the Board.

Position : Part-time, 8 days per month, permanent contract. 

Location: Home-working

Reports to: Chair of Trustees, David Aspinall

The Administrator will provide an efficient support and administrative service to the Board (especially the Chair) by providing co-ordination for grant execution, board administration and governance compliance.

Other duties will include supporting administrative duties as required by the Trustees and their advisers.

Specific Responsibilities:

Governance:

• Supporting the Chair and trustees in ensuring that the charity law and regulatory requirements of reporting and public accountability are complied with.
• Ensuring that the Foundation’s internal governance policies are comprehensive and regularly reviewed in accordance with Charity Commission guidelines.

Administration:

• Coordinating Board meetings. Liaising with the Chair/Grant Manager to plan, arrange agendas and support the development of papers for trustee meetings, along with the preparation of the subsequent minutes.
• Providing secretarial support to the Chair and trustees – for example, note taking at meetings or arranging additional meetings and visits to grantees.
• Providing the Foundation’s advisors with administrative support as required, for example, related to grant calls generating large numbers of applications.
• Supporting the sourcing of other external contractors – for example, expert evaluators.
• Providing systems support to Trustees and Advisers (remote systems) and liaising with external IT consultants to ensure the good maintenance and operation of the IT network and website.
• Supporting the development of the Foundation’s external communications – for example, implementing agreed changes to the Foundation’s website. Undertaking other administrative duties as required.

Financial support:

• Liaising with accountants and auditors, especially in the preparation of annual statutory accounts.
• Supporting the Chair in ensuring that grant payments/invoices are paid.
• Supporting the Chair in liaising with outsourced banking and investment management functions.

Person Specification

Administration skills:

• Excellent administration and organisational skills.
• Previous experience in a charity or grant making organisation and/or an understanding and experience of the processes of grant-making and monitoring of impact.
• Strong project management skills and experience of successful project delivery including managing outsourced contractors.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to manage and work with a range of different stakeholders, both within and outside of the organisation.
• An understanding of, or experience in, using CRM or grant management systems.

Governance skills:

• A good working knowledge of charitable governance in the UK and the Charity Commission regulatory framework and direct experience of supporting Trustees to achieve good governance.

Financial skills:

• An excellent understanding of budgets and financial processes.
• A good working knowledge of the input and analysis of financial information using Microsoft Excel and related software.

General:

• An alignment with the objectives of the Foundation.

Equal Opportunities

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. Our definition of diversity encompasses responding to issues around race, ethnicity, faith, disability, age, gender, sexuality, class and economic disadvantage and any social and institutional barriers.

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