Charity registered in Scotland SC049833
Cattanach is an independent funder with a mission to ensure young children in Scotland grow up loved, safe, respected and achieving their full potential. We know that supporting children’s earliest relationships and wellbeing shapes their future health and wellbeing like no other time in their lives. Cattanach currently spends about £1 million per year providing grants and development support to registered charities across Scotland. We fund holistic community-based support for children and families in the early years, and we form strategic partnerships with organisations working to improve policy, practice and services for families with young children, underpinned by a commitment to realising babies’ and young children’s rights.
This newly created role of Fund Programmes Manager presents an exciting opportunity for an experienced grantmaker to join our small but dedicated team and help shape and deliver a new portfolio of grants programmes that will contribute to a high quality ecosystem of support for families and young children in Scotland. We welcome applications from people who share our appetite for change, are willing to do things differently, and are keen to learn from the organisations we support, international best practice, and - above all - young children and families themselves.
Top job! Head of Policy & Public Affairs
- Full time
- £50,000 – £60,000
- Edinburgh
- Closing 20th February 2023
The wellbeing of future generations is at the heart of what we, at Cattanach, strive for, and we do so by supporting the youngest children from before they are born to about the time they start school. As a grant funder, we currently support a range of charities across Scotland to add the greatest and most sustainable value possible to the lives and wellbeing of young children but we have the ambition to do more…
This newly created role of Head of Policy and Public Affairs will ensure Cattanach plays a more direct and leading role in developing and shaping Government policy, using a strong evidence and data-led approach to ensure all children across Scotland receive the required support during their early years.
Acting as an ambassador for the organisation to effectively build and maintain Cattanach’s awareness, reputation and influence across Scotland, you will promote the benefits of increased collaboration and seek opportunities for co-production activities involving both early years children and adults. Embracing innovation, we want to encourage relevant stakeholders to think differently about the approaches required to ensure children in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected so that they can realise their full potential.
With relevant experience of working in a policy, influencing or external engagement role, you will be able to demonstrate a proven track record in raising an organisation’s public profile and evidence of building and maintaining relationships with a diverse range of external stakeholders, including policymakers. Outwith your core experience, the successful candidate must thrive on working in partnership and demonstrate their energy, drive and enthusiasm for the role.
Are you passionate about supporting very young children and their families?
We at Cattanach are looking to recruit a Grants & Relationships Officer to join our team. Together, we want to drive positive change for very young children in Scotland and hope to strengthen our support for frontline Early Years organisations.
For more information on our work and team, visit our website: cattanach.org.uk.
As Grants & Relationships Officer with Cattanach, you will be liaising directly with registered charities across Scotland who support families with very young children (pre-birth to about school age). Your daily will be varied and work may range from supporting proposals to our evaluations process and our learning offers. Working closely with the Chief Executive and team, you will provide support to charities whenever they need us, in particular around proposals, evaluations, and ongoing learning; this will include in-person visits to settings across Scotland.
You will feed into reports for our Grants Committee and Board and support the Cattanach team in keeping our grants management system and wider database up to date. As part of a small but ambitious team, your work will be varied and may look very different day-to-day – ranging from support with research summaries to hosting a webinar or organising training for grantees.
We are specifically looking for a motivated and enthusiastic professional with a demonstrable passion for the Early Years, and, ideally, previous experience in Early Years frontline work. Previous experience around impact work/evaluations, is a plus but not mandatory. The ability to understand and identify best practice guidance and research will be helpful.
Cattanach is committed to developing the right candidate, and a bespoke training plan will be offered. The most important characteristics are a clear passion for improving the lives of very young children, the willingness to learn new things, and being comfortable to work independently within the context of a small team. We will provide comprehensive training to support the transition into the grant-making world if the successful candidate has no prior experience. We ask that all candidates demonstrate their understanding and commitment to the four Cattanach values:
- integrity – We strive to be fair, ethical and accountable.
- love – We recognise the importance of nurturing relationships, with kindness and compassion at the heart of all our work.
- consideration – We are mindful of the challenges, hopes and aspirations of others.
- hope – We are passionate about enabling change through our work with partners and the organisations we support.
Our team has shown a preference to working from our Edinburgh offices, and virtual working can be discussed within the context of the team. Since the role involves a significant number of ad-hoc in-person meetings with our grantees, residence in Scotland is essential. Work can be organised flexibly to suit you and the charities we work with.
Please note that the post entails significant travel across Scotland although overnight trips are rare. We are keen to honour our staff’s needs and preferences, and provide equipment for remote-working as and when it is required.
Cattanach offers a competitive benefits package, including life and private health insurance, and on-going attractive training opportunities.
If you would like to have an informal chat before applying, please contact our Chief Executive Sophie (sophie@cattanach.org.uk).
Cattanach Trustees, with Early Years/Charity Expertise
- Management Board
- Unpaid
- Edinburgh or Glasgow, dial-in via video-conference is possible
- Closing 3rd May 2022
Background
Are you passionate about making a difference for very young children and their families? Research has shown that strong attachment and nurturing relationships during the first years of life have the highest chances of building resilience and improving lifelong outcomes. Therefore, any investment made during these first years of a child’s life will have the highest impact – it is about prevention over intervention. We at Cattanach strongly believe this is how we can make the biggest difference for the public good with the endowment we have been entrusted with. The COVID 19 pandemic is bringing long-standing inequalities to the forefront and we are more determined than ever to make a difference to very young children and their families here in Scotland.
Our grants support organisations that help families with children from pre-birth to about three years of age to form strong relationships with those in their closest circles - parents, grandparents, siblings and carers – and enjoy a happy and healthy early childhood. In particular, we want to foster strong attachment, build resilience, improve family mental health and work towards prevention over waiting until things are broken. You can find more information in our 2020 Stepping Stone Strategy. We also work with partners in the voluntary, public and private sectors to jointly achieve the National Outcome for children and young people:
"We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential."
Together, we want to drive positive change for very young children in Scotland and hope to strengthen our support for frontline organisations. For more information on our work, please visit our website (you can find our Constitution here).
Trustee Profile
We are looking for one or more Trustees to join our Board at this exciting time, who would also become part of our Grants Committee.
Over the last three years, we have been growing as a funder and as an organisation, with a highly skilled team, fruitful and productive partnerships, and a strong commitment to being a strategic as well as a successful grassroot funder.
Cattanach welcomes applications from individuals in the private, voluntary and public sectors. We are particularly interested to hear from individuals with experience and expertise in one of the following areas:
- Early Years Practice and Pedagogy
- Early Years Education
- Researchers and/or Policy professionals with a specialisation in the Early Years
- Social work with Early Years focus
- Childhood development
- Clinical staff with a practice in infant and/or perinatal mental health
- Charity Sector experience
Our Chief Executive, Dr Sophie Flemig will be delighted to have an informal chat with you to provide further information; please contact her via Becca (becca@cattanach.org.uk).
We ask that all candidates demonstrate their understanding and commitment to the four Cattanach values:
- INTEGRITY – We strive to be fair, ethical and accountable.
- LOVE – We recognise the importance of nurturing relationships, with kindness and compassion at the heart of all our work.
- CONSIDERATION – We are mindful of the challenges, hopes and aspirations of others.
- HOPE – We are passionate about enabling change through our work with partners and the organisations we support.
Time Commitment
As Trustee with Cattanach, you will attend four Board meetings per year and be a member of at least one of our Committees, each of which meet four times a year. Meetings tend to be held in Edinburgh or Glasgow, and dial-in via video-conference is possible.
We ask Trustees to accompany staff on at least one project visit every year and to partake in a one-day Strategy Seminar in the autumn. The total time commitment for a Cattanach Trustee is about 10-12 days per year, including reading and preparation time, all meetings (Board and Committee) and individual/Board development. About 60% of this time can be organised flexibly while 40% is reserved for meetings as a Board.
Are you passionate about supporting very young children and their families? We at Cattanach are looking to recruit a Learning Officer to join our team. Together, we want to drive positive change for very young children in Scotland and hope to strengthen our support for frontline Early Years organisations. For more information on our work and team, visit our website: cattanach.org.uk.
As Learning Officer with Cattanach, you will be liaising directly with registered charities across Scotland who support families with very young children (pre-birth to about school age) as part of our evaluations process and our learning offers. Working closely with the Chief Executive and Grants & Relationships Officer, you will provide support to charities in working on their evaluations and growing their Early Years practice through our bespoke learning offer; this will also include in-person visits to settings across Scotland. You will feed into reports for our Grants Committee and Board and support the Cattanach team in keeping our grants management system and wider database up to date. As part of a small but ambitious team, your work will be varied and may look very different day-to-day – ranging from support with research summaries to hosting a webinar or organising training for grantees.
We are specifically looking for a motivated and enthusiastic professional with Early Years experience in research, evaluations, and/or policy, and with a passion for improving the lives of very young children. Cattanach will provide comprehensive training to support the transition into the grant-making world if the successful candidate has no prior experience. We ask that all candidates demonstrate their understanding and commitment to the four Cattanach values:
- INTEGRITY – We strive to be fair, ethical and accountable.
- LOVE – We recognise the importance of nurturing relationships, with kindness and compassion at the heart of all our work.
- CONSIDERATION – We are mindful of the challenges, hopes and aspirations of others.
- HOPE – We are passionate about enabling change through our work with partners and the organisations we support.
Our team has shown a preference to working from our Edinburgh offices and residence in Scotland is essential. Work can be organised flexibly to suit you and the charities we work with. Please note that the post entails significant travel across Scotland although overnight trips are rare. We are keen to honour our staff’s needs and preferences, and provide equipment for remote-working as and when it is required. Cattanach offers a competitive benefits package and on-going attractive training opportunities. If you would like to have an informal chat before applying, please contact our Grants & Relationships Officer Jemma in the first instance (jemma@cattanach.org.uk). We are planning to hold interviews in May 2022.
Cattanach Trustees (Investments and Accounting)
- Management Board
- Unpaid
- Edinburgh
- Closing 2nd December 2020
Are you passionate about making a difference for very young children and their families? Research has shown that strong attachment and nurturing relationships during the first years of life have the highest chances of building resilience and improving lifelong outcomes. Therefore, any investment made during these first years of a child’s life will have the highest impact – it is about prevention over intervention. We at Cattanach strongly believe this is how we can make the biggest difference for the public good with the endowment we have been entrusted with. The COVID 19 pandemic is bringing long-standing inequalities to the forefront and we are more determined than ever to make a difference to very young children and their families here in Scotland.
Our grants support organisations that help families with children from pre-birth to about three years of age to form strong relationships with those in their closest circles - parents, grandparents, siblings and carers – and enjoy a happy and healthy early childhood. In particular, we want to foster strong attachment, build resilience, improve family mental health and work towardsprevention over waiting until things are broken. You can find more information in our 2020 Stepping Stone Strategy. We also work with partners in the voluntary, public and private sectors to jointly achieve the National Outcome for children and young people:
"We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential."
Together, we want to drive positive change for very young children in Scotland and hope to strengthen our support for frontline organisations. For more information on our work, please visit our website (you can find our Constitution here).
Trustee Profile
We are looking for at least two Trustees to join our Board at this exciting time, with an expertise in investment management, finance or accounting. We have been growing as a funder and as an organisation, with a new and highly skilled team, fruitful and productive partnerships, and a strong commitment to being a strategic as well as a successful grassroot funder.
Cattanach welcomes applications from individuals in the private, voluntary and public sectors. Our Chief Executive, Dr Sophie Flemig (sophie@cattanach.org.uk) will be delighted to have an informal chat with you to provide further information.
We ask that all candidates demonstrate their understanding and commitment to the four Cattanach values:
- INTEGRITY – We strive to be fair, ethical and accountable.
- LOVE – We recognise the importance of nurturing relationships, with kindness and compassion at the heart of all our work.
- CONSIDERATION – We are mindful of the challenges, hopes and aspirations of others.
- HOPE – We are passionate about enabling change through our work with partners and the organisations we support.
Time Commitment
As Trustee with Cattanach, you will attend four Board meetings per year and be a member of at least one of our Committees (Finance and Audit, Investment and Grants), each of which meet four times a year. Meetings tend to be held in Edinburgh or Glasgow, and dial-in via video-conference is possible.
We ask Trustees to accompany staff on at least one project visit every year and to partake in a one-day Strategy Seminar in the autumn. The total time commitment for a Cattanach Trustee is about 10 days per year, including reading and preparation time, all meetings (Board and Committee) and individual/Board development. About 60% of this time can be organised flexibly while 40% is reserved for meetings as a Board.