Head of Research and Impact

John Ellerman Foundation is an independent, endowed grantmaker and our organisational aim is to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world. The main ways in which we achieve this are by:

Awarding grants of circa £5.8m to charities for work which has national significance in the arts, environment and social action, and

Investing and managing our funds in such a way that balances the desire to maintain grantmaking capacity, operating in the long-term and addressing the risk that our investments are poorly aligned to our aim and values.

This is an exciting time to join us. As our Head of Research and Impact you will work closely with the Director and other members of staff and the Board to drive forward the delivery of the Foundation’s strategy for 2022-25, including through our Impact Framework and Investment Policy. Our strategy calls on us to deliver our work with 100% of our assets – namely our grantmaking, our investing, and our operations.

We are looking for someone who is excited by the work that the Foundation does, and can see the ways in which we can deliver more and better through our grantmaking, investing and operations. Our ideal candidate will be someone who has strong experience and expertise in research and investment, including using quantitative and qualitative research methods and commissioning/managing research projects. You will be committed to continuous improvement and have excellent communication skills, including being able to convey statistical and research material in a way that is clear and engaging. For this role, you need to have a good understanding of the charity sector, and the investment management industry and institutional investment policy, legislation and practice. You will also need to be enthusiastic, committed, adept at working in small organisations or teams and able to manage a varied workload with a range of deadlines.

We know that the next few years are critical for responding to the nature and climate crises, alongside the political, economic, cultural and societal challenges we face. We know that the next few years are critical for responding to the nature and climate crises, alongside the political, economic, cultural and societal challenges we face. In this role you will be responsible for continuing to develop the Foundation’s research and evaluation function internally and ensuring that we can report on the difference we are making to those we work with in an engaging and clear way. The principal way in which this will happen is through the Foundation’s Impact Framework, which was approved in November 2023, alongside other research and impact activities. The Impact Framework explores our role in supporting work happening across emergent and dominant systems in relation to our four core wellbeing themes of community, access, sustainability and equity, and the impact measures defined under each of these in relation to the Foundation’s grantmaking and investing.

You do not need a degree for this role, but we would like to see demonstrable experience of the requirements we have set out in the job description and person specification.

We value diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within our staff team and welcome applications from everyone. You can find out more about our approach to DEI in our DEI Policy available on our website here. If you have any access requirements that need to be considered in order to support your application to us, then please include details of these in your covering email alongside your application, and a member of the team will be in touch to discuss these further as needed.

If you have any questions about the role, then please get in touch with our Director on [email removed - click apply for more details]. You can also look at our website for more information about our work: ellerman.org.uk.