Bookkeeper / Grant Finance Lead

Help us set up and stabilise our grant tracking system. We need support bringing clarity to our funding - what's been received, spent, and what remains. A focused, high-impact project with the option for light ongoing involvement.

What will you be doing?

We're looking for someone to help us bring clarity and structure to how we track our grant funding as we grow.

This is not a general bookkeeping role. We already have support in place for day-to-day finance. What we need is someone who can help us set up and stabilise a clear system for tracking grants - what has been awarded, what has been spent, what it has been spent on, and what remains.

This role starts as a focused project to design or refine a simple, practical way of tracking grant spend alongside Xero. Once in place, there is the option to stay involved on a light, ongoing basis.

Key tasks include:

• Designing or improving a spreadsheet system for tracking grant income and expenditure
• Organising existing purchase orders, invoices, and receipts into a clear structure
• Reconciling those records against Xero to ensure accuracy
• Using Xero tracking categories (or similar) to allocate costs to the correct grant or project
• Setting up a simple, repeatable process for future grant tracking
• Producing clear monthly snapshots of budget, spend to date, and remaining balance
• Flagging anything unclear, missing, or at risk

This role is about creating clarity and confidence in our financial records so we can make informed decisions and stay accountable to funders.

It is not a treasurer or governance role, and it does not involve decision-making about how funding is spent. The CEO remains responsible for spending priorities and delivery decisions.

You'll be working closely with the CEO in a small, values-led organisation focused on early support for neurodivergent children and families.

What are we looking for?

We're looking for someone with solid experience in bookkeeping or finance within a charity, CIC, or grant-funded organisation.

This role is focused on grant finance rather than general bookkeeping, so it's important that you understand how to track restricted and unrestricted funds, and how to allocate income and expenditure to specific grants or projects.

You don't need to be a senior accountant or work at a strategic level, but you do need to be confident in:

• Tracking spending against multiple funding streams
• Keeping clear, organised and audit-ready financial records
• Producing simple budget vs actual summaries
• Spotting gaps, inconsistencies, or risks in financial data

Experience using Xero is important, particularly tracking categories or similar tools for organising income and expenditure by project or fund. You should also feel comfortable working with spreadsheets where needed to create clearer visibility.

Just as important as technical skills, we're looking for someone who:

• Enjoys bringing structure and clarity to messy or incomplete systems
• Can keep things simple and practical rather than overcomplicating
• Is comfortable working independently on a defined project
• Can explain things clearly in plain language
• Is reliable and takes ownership of their work

Experience with grant-funded organisations is strongly preferred, but we're open to people who can demonstrate similar experience in project-based or fund-based financial tracking.

This role would suit someone who enjoys problem-solving, building something that works, and seeing a clear before-and-after impact from their work.

What difference will you make?

This role will help us move from scattered or hard-to-interpret financial information to a clear, reliable system for managing our funding.

By making our grant tracking visible and accurate, you'll enable us to understand what funding we have, how it's being used, and what remains. That clarity is essential for planning services, making confident decisions, and avoiding risk.

Your work will directly strengthen our ability to:

• Manage multiple funding streams responsibly
• Demonstrate clear, accountable use of funds
• Prepare for funder reporting and future funding applications
• Grow sustainably without losing oversight

In practical terms, this means more stability in how we deliver support, and more confidence in expanding what we offer.

Ultimately, your contribution helps ensure that funding translates into real, consistent support for children and families who need it. By creating a system that works, you're helping us focus our time and energy on relationships, early intervention, and positive outcomes - rather than trying to piece together financial information.

This is a role where the impact is both immediate and lasting. You'll leave behind a system that continues to support the organisation long after the initial project is complete.