Volunteering Coordinator

Location: Remote and various locations around Newington Green, London
Hours: Part-time, 7 hours per week

Type: Contract ending beginning July 2023 and ending December 2023
 Salary: £27,000 pro rata

Role Description

This role is a vital part of our work at the NGA as it covers all elements of the NGA volunteer experience from recruiting through to support and good partings.  Your work will contribute to the success of NGA’s projects, its growth, and its ability to make a meaningful improvement in the lives of the people we serve..

The Volunteering Coordinator role will focus on the development and delivery of effective strategies and actions for  recruiting, selection, and onboarding of new volunteers and communication and engagement, development, support,  training, recognition and retention of onboard volunteers as well as community-building amongst volunteers.

This role requires strong written communication skills as you will coordinate our volunteer outreach and engagement programme, and will coordinate volunteer recruitment listings and communications to multiple audiences through means that may include email communication, digital newsletters, website posts, and social media.

The successful candidate could also have the opportunity to gain exposure and experience in other areas of the charity, e.g. fundraising, partner relationship management, marketing, and other projects, as time allows.

Main Duties of the Volunteering Coordinator

  • Create and support the creation of  materials for volunteer recruitment including role descriptions for use in such channels as volunteer listing sites and social media. 
  • Maintain, update, and modify volunteer recruitment descriptions posted with a variety of volunteer opportunity listing services.
  • Handle and coordinate responses to volunteer applications.
  • Manage volunteer onboarding.
  • Coordinate, arrange, and monitor volunteer training. This will include training common to all NGA volunteers and training specific to individual projects. 
  • Encourage and collect volunteer feedback and information about  satisfaction levels.
  • Seek, assess, and ensure that suitable actions are taken in response to volunteer feedback.
  • Ensure that action is taken by appropriate NGA leadership when there is volunteer dissatisfaction or when other challenges arise in volunteer situations.
  • Organise and participate in volunteer recognition programmes and special events.
  • Identify and implement means of enrichment for volunteers that further NGA’s and the volunteers’ goals.
  • Organise means for volunteers to connect and promote the development and maintenance of a cohesive community of NGA volunteers.
  • Maintain accurate records and provide timely statistical and activity reports on the volunteer programme.
  • Managing children/young people and adult safeguarding training as well as other types of relevant volunteer training.

Person Specification

Each criterion is marked with an E for essential or D for desirable

Skills
  • Ability to learn and adapt to new technology quickly (E)
  • Persuasive, accurate, and persuasive written communication (E)
  • An ability to discern and understand volunteer motivations and needs (E)
  • Able to coordinate well with a wide variety of colleagues and other stake-holders and recognise and balance their needs (E)

Knowledge
  • An understanding of the interests, attitudes and needs of diverse people in the Newington Green area  (D)
  • An understanding of the power of strong community connections to improve life situations (D)
  • A general knowledge of the typical processes involved in volunteer recruiting, onboarding, training, and support (E)

Experience
  • Experience recruiting, working with or managing people (E)
  • Organising and/or working with volunteers (D)
  • People management, support, and coordination (E)
  • Experience in data management (E)
  • Use of Podio or similar flexible database software (D)
  • Use of Google applications or other similar software (E)
  • Use of Slack software (D)
  • Use of Nation Builder (D)

Competencies
  • A proactive, self-motivated and creative approach to work (E)
  • A warm, friendly and outgoing attitude (E)
  • Highly organised and detail oriented with the ability to and manage multiple projects simultaneously, prioritise tasks and work to deadlines (E)
  • Ability to prioritise and deliver high quality work with minimum supervision (E)
  • Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively in a wide range of media and audiences (E)
  • An orientation toward process improvement (D)
  • Problem solving and decision-making skills with a record of making evidence-based decisions balanced with pragmatism, innovation, flexibility and common sense (E)
  • Able to promote an understanding of, and a commitment to the vision, mission and values of NGA (E)
  • Motivation to improve inclusion and representation of our diverse community throughout the organisation (E)
  • Ability to take direction and feedback without defensiveness (E)
  • Open-minded attitude (E)
  • Flexible and able to operate in loosely structured environments (E)
  • Ability to motivate and inspire people (E)
  • Ability to discern and understand volunteer motivations and goals and use this to create best outcomes for the volunteers and NGA. (E)

Application process

To apply for this role, please send your CV and a substantial covering letter to  [email protected]. Your cover letter should detail how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the requirements of this post. 

The deadline for applications is rolling but we hope to have a suitable person in place by 3rd July, 2023. Following application, shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview. We recommend that you apply at your earliest convenience.  We screen applications as they are received as well as interview and appoint suitable candidates on this basis regardless of the closing date.

We particularly encourage and welcome applicants from underrepresented groups and those from the Newington Green area. We recruit based upon equality of opportunity for all and candidates will be selected for interview based on their skills, knowledge and experience.