Volunteer Co-ordinator

Volunteer Co-ordinator - (Closing date Monday 17th May)

Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) provides practical support, education and services for disadvantaged people living in Brighton and including the unemployed, pensioners, unwaged and those in poor housing or on low income.

Salary:  £27,688 rising to £29,526 (pro rata) plus 3% employers pension contribution

Hours: Part time 21 hours per week, very occasional evening & weekend work. (Initially working Tuesday, Wed, Thursday 9.30 to 4.30 pm with some flexibility)

Principal Tasks

We are a small but busy charity which relies on volunteers to run the majority of its services with the support of a small team of paid workers. The post holder will be responsible for leading the development and delivery of the volunteer programme to meet the organisations operational needs. The post holder will co-ordinate volunteers to help deliver all of our services and look at innovative ways to maximise participation. This will include recruitment, support, monitoring, development and management of volunteers and associated projects. They will be responsible for creating exciting and engaging content for the organisations website and social media channels, and finding ways to engage new services users as well as volunteers with our charity. They will be responsible for the system administration of the organisations CRM database/outcome monitoring system, including supporting administrative volunteers to help with this.

Volunteer coordination

• To organise volunteer interviews induction meetings - and to ensure that volunteers are recruited, DBS checked/follow up references, trained and handed over to relevant Project Workers.
• Directly responsible for administration of volunteers.
• Directly responsible for the reception area it’s staffing by volunteers, information available to centre visitors and processes in place.
• Build relationships with service users to ensure they have every opportunity to engage with volunteering and ensure that service users are aware of the benefits and responsibilities of volunteering.

• Work across the organisation with staff and trustees to enable volunteers to be active at all levels of the organisation and in all service areas, including support for volunteers to become trustees.
• To work with all members of staff to ensure that volunteer roles are developed, recruited to and that volunteers are supported effectively in their roles.
• To work creatively to explore and develop new volunteering opportunities to maximise the participation of a diverse range of people.
• To reach out to the most socially excluded people and marginalised communities and find ways to reduce barriers to volunteering/participating.

Engagement and Participation

• To work with volunteers to co-ordinate the engagement and participation at our community centre and projects, increasing use of our services as appropriate and to ensure we are reaching the people who need us the most.

Wider volunteering development and outreach

• To work with local volunteer schemes to ensure a flow of new volunteers to roles across the organisation
• To build connections with other local organisations and promote the Centre’s services and activities.
• To signpost volunteers and service users into other volunteering opportunities as appropriate.

• To seek out relevant training opportunities for volunteers to support them in their roles.
• To support long term engagement of volunteers through events, training delivery, team meetings and consistent communications.

Project Implementation

• Lead administration of the organisations CRM/database system, including creating new contacts, logging activities, creating tasks, running reports, training staff and volunteers, managing access and other tasks as required (training on our CRM is available for the right candidate).

• To work with the Fundraising Co-ordinator to ensure that funders’ monitoring and evaluation requirements are met. This includes overseeing data collection and effective outcome monitoring and evaluation techniques.
• To work closely with the Welfare Rights coordinator and IT support worker to coordinate Digital Support volunteers to deliver digital inclusion projects. This includes overseeing project planning and service monitoring.
• Implement and review new volunteer-related systems and processes as necessary.
• To work closely with other staff members and volunteer teams to create engaging content for the organisational website and social media channels, this will include consistently scheduling posts and coordinating a small team of social media volunteers.
• Support our volunteer Trustees in their roles with the administration of the AGM and new trustee recruitment.

Day Co-ordination:

To work with the PWG (project workers group) to provide a weekly rota for day co-ordination sessions. This requires being the first point of contact for service users; assisting users who are sometimes in distress and referring to appropriate services including other agencies; also diffusing any potentially disruptive behaviour in the centre. It may also require dealing with emergency repairs.

Team

• To take collective responsibility for the management of the organisation and effective decision making – (as part of the PWG)
• To take collective responsibility for housekeeping as necessary, to help deal with deliveries and donations which requires a level of physical fitness.
• To attend and participate in team meetings, staff supervision, staff reviews, training and PWG meetings as required.
• Work with the team to ensure that all polices, procedures and guidelines are implemented.

• To produce reports as appropriate for the internal organisation.
• To undertake other duties as reasonably requested by Trustees.

Person Specification

The successful candidate will possess a desire to make a significant contribution to achieving the organisation’s vision and mission. They will be a person with a warm and enthusiastic manner, who is self-motivated and proactive, and has a demonstrated ability to work well within a team and with empathy for the values of BUCFP.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate:

1. At least 2 years’ experience of project planning & volunteer management.
2. Desirable background in voluntary sector and support services.
3. Demonstrated ability to work with people at all levels and from diverse backgrounds. 
4. Experience of working with and supervising teams of volunteers, and an awareness of legislation and regulations relevant to volunteering.
5. Excellent communication skills; both written and verbal appropriate to diverse groups of people, including funders, service users and people in distress.
6. Experience of using outcome monitoring tools or CRM databases essential.
7. A high level of computer literacy
8. The ability to think strategically and creatively about volunteering, development and user participation.
9. Ability to deliver effective training to a range of volunteers.
10. An understanding of the needs of vulnerable individuals - unemployed people and hard to reach groups, including those with dependency and mental health issues; and the ability to help people reach their potential.
11. Ability and willingness to share responsibility and workload with other workers as part of a team. – be self motivating, pro-active and able to work under pressure in a hectic environment.
12. Ability to work independently and imaginatively and experience of creative problem solving.
13. An understanding of safeguarding and how it relates to volunteering activity.
14. A commitment to the ethos of Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project
15. Desirable experience of training delivery and implementing policies and procedures.

Skills and Aptitudes:

• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills, with ability to represent the organisation effectively both internally and externally.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, capable of making and developing relationships with volunteers, donors, team leaders, and Area Office and international staff.
• Good time management and flexibility to work on a range of tasks in order to ensure deadlines are met. Strong organizational skills.

Other requirements:             

A Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) check is required for this role. The successful applicant will be required to undertake accredited first aid, level 2 food hygiene, and safeguarding training

Employer: BUCFP is a registered company limited by guarantee 3537262 and a registered charity number 1069236.

Visit: www.bucfp.org

To apply for this role, please fill out the attached application form as well as submitting your CV