Volunteering Matters are a national volunteering and social change charity. We believe that everyone across the UK should have the opportunity to thrive. We bring people together through the unique power of volunteering, to overcome some of society’s most complex issues.

We are looking for a talented, dynamic, and professional Volunteer Engagement Manager to join our team in the City of Edinburgh. The right candidate would be someone who can work flexibly, is driven, and is passionate about supporting parents and families. It is also important that the post holder can commit to our organisational values – being Compassionate, Empowering, Inclusive, Positive and Straightforward.

An introduction to the role

In this role you will support the delivery and development of our established Family Supporters programme across the City of Edinburgh. Family Supporters is an effective mentoring programme which offers practical, emotional, and social support to parents and families across Edinburgh, empowering them to face a range of life challenges and issues. We recruit, train and match dedicated, local volunteers to help families every step of the way, spending 1-1 time together on a personalised set of goals chosen by the family, for the family. The programme supports parents and families in lots of ways such as improved living standards, budgeting skills, healthier eating, better school life and behaviour, help to access Education, Employment or Training, access to physical and mental health and wellbeing resources/aid, as well as introducing parents to community resources, to name a few.

Further information on Family Supporters Edinburgh can be found online, and on our website.

Information on Employee Benefits

Our ambition is to be the best place to work in the charity sector. We offer lots of employee benefits including:

• Fully flexible working
• Unlimited annual leave, to achieve a positive work-life balance
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loan (public transport)
• Competitive and supportive maternity/adoption/family leave provision
• Competitive and supportive sick leave provision
• Access to our free Employee Assistance line

Our ways of Working

We offer flexible working by default. This means that our staff have significant flexibility when it comes to place of work, working hours, and are empowered with the responsibility of managing their own diary and workload.

Part of your working week will need to be based in local communities within the City of Edinburgh, meeting with volunteers, parents and families, partner organisations and others. For the remainder of the time, you can be based from our City of Edinburgh office or at home (must be locally). If working from home, you will need good internet access and a suitable home working environment, all IT equipment, mobile phone and any home working supplies will be available.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Role model and display our organisational values – being Compassionate, Empowering, Inclusive, Positive and Straightforward
• Teamwork across the regional staff team and the wider charity, working in a flexible way
• Deliver and develop the Family Supporters programme across Edinburgh, meeting ambitious goals and milestones, ensuring all volunteers and families involved achieve positive outcomes
• Attract, recruit, train and provide ongoing support to a team of dedicated volunteers, from a wide cross-section of the community
• Maintain Volunteering Matters standards around quality and effective Volunteer Management
• Establish and maintain excellent working relationships with stakeholders including colleagues, volunteers, families, Social Services, Health and Education teams, third sector partners and others
• Support appropriate risk assessment, safeguarding, quality assurance and audit processes
• Develop relevant promotional material and information, for Family Supporters, and for our organisation locally
• Ensure quarterly statistical data is collected and that the programme meets its agreed goals, reporting format and schedule as required by our funders.
• Administration tasks including the use of Office 365, Microsoft Teams and other relevant software

This job description is intended to include the broad range of responsibilities and requirements of the post. While some variations may be expected, these will be at an appropriate level for the role.

Person Specification

Skills & Knowledge Required

• Excellent knowledge of the life challenges and issues that parents and families face in Scotland, and an understanding of “The Promise”
• An understanding of how to assess the needs of an individual, using a person-centered approach
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent people skills, able to build professional, long-term relationships with various stakeholders, to influence and motivate others
• Excellent time management and organisational skills with the ability to manage a busy workload and prioritise effectively
• Excellent IT skills including the use of Office 365, Microsoft Teams, and other software (training provided)
• A good problem solver, able to work independently and use own initiative

Experience Required

• Experience working directly with families, particularly those who face life challenges
• Experience in all aspects of effective Volunteer Management (recruitment, training, support)
• Experience developing strong working relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders
• Experience of project management, achieving goals, managing a busy workload, and working to deadlines
• Experience of measuring the impact of mentoring/volunteering, and understanding the results
• Understanding of, and full commitment, to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Role Reports To: Project Manager for Edinburgh

Qualifications

We are not looking for any specific qualifications, for this role. Relevant experience and skills are more important, along with a commitment to our organisational values.

Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG)

This role requires membership of the PVG scheme. Having a conviction is not necessarily a barrier to employment. If you are not currently a member of the PVG scheme, we can support you with the application process (fees will be reimbursed by Volunteering Matters).

Change Mental Health is looking for someone who can lead and develop our trust, foundations and tender work across Scotland. We will provide you with a great organisation, a vitally important cause, connections and opportunities for development across the UK and a committed and passionate group of colleagues.

We are looking for someone who is a great bid writer, who has the skills and knowledge to develop a pipeline of opportunities and who can work excellently with colleagues across the organisation to collaborate on bids and tenders.

You will be organised, diligent and, of course, passionate about the cause! You should also be open to personal and professional growth and development. We want someone who is hungry to learn and grow with our quickly growing organisation. You will also be comfortable meeting with a range of funders and representing the organisation and the work we do and building meaningful relationships.

We are committed to exploring flexible working opportunities which benefit the individual and the charity and are a “Happy to Talk Flexible” employer.

If you are passionate about enabling Change Mental Health to deliver a valuable service to the Scottish community and feel your profile matches this role’s criteria, then we want to hear from you!

Benefits

• Professional development including funded opportunities.
• A generous 37 days’ holiday.
• A 35-hour working week, enhanced sick pay & season ticket loan.
• A great work life balance with flexible and blended working environment.
• 24/7 access to an award-winning Employee Assistance Programme providing free legal, financial and medical advice as well as support with life’s challenges.
• Enhanced sick pay and leave entitlements
• Paid Mental Wellbeing Days
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Blue Light discount card

The Young Women’s Movement is Scotland's national organisation for young women and girls' leadership and rights.

Young women are at the heart of everything we do and we work collectively to equip with them the resources, networks and platforms to lead meaningful change and create a more equal society.

We exist because we want young women and girls’ needs and rights to be met. We believe in a society where everyone has the opportunity to live their lives to their fullest and we will continue to strive until that society is secured.

To help us achieve this, the Learning & Engagement Worker role has been created to:

• Extend our reach to even more young women and girls through a range of engaging youth work programmes that build skills and create change
• Support the delivery of our programmes and training for both young women participants and our volunteers
• Create safe spaces for young women to engage and learn, encouraging supportive and meaningful relationships to develop

Everyone who works at Young Women’s Movement:

• Has equality at the heart of everything they do
• Takes a participatory approach to our work. We are for young women and by young women
• Builds communities of friendship and support networks, finding joy in our collective actions and connections
• Understands the impact of challenging inequality on those most affected by it. We lead with kindness and empathy, putting collective wellbeing at the core of our organisation
• Delivers our work with integrity and are proud of the work we do
• Are bold and brave. We do not shy away from challenging the status quo and taking radical steps to make gender equality a reality in Scotland

How you'll help to create a fairer Scotland for young women and girls:

• Deliver our Learning and Engagement programmes e.g. Empowering Pathways using a youth work approach to reach more young women and girls and support their participation in the movement
• Support the development, session planning and delivery of new youth work initiatives and activities that support young women & girls
• Support the Learning & Engagement Coordinator to reach and engage young women and girls in our spaces and services
• Work with young women and girls on our programmes and signpost them to opportunities for their continued engagement both within our movement and in communities/wider society
• Assist the Learning & Engagement Coordinator with support to our volunteers
• Undertake administrative tasks to support the planning, onboarding, preparation, delivery and evaluation of our Learning & Engagement programmes
• Gather Learning & Engagement content to share with our Comms Team e.g. photographs, stories, videos etc.
• Create safe, sustainable spaces with and for young women
• Commit to an intersectional feminist approach and break down the barriers to young women’s participation, ensuring our spaces and programmes are accessible and inclusive to all
• Comply with the YWM’s procedures and practice including Health and Safety, Safeguarding and Data Protection
• Work collaboratively across the organisation, and where appropriate support colleagues in other teams
• Undertake any other duties that may arise

Let’s talk about you - you will already have or be working towards:

Essential

• Experience working with young people
• Knowledge and commitment to an intersectional feminist way of working
• Commitment to delivering high quality and meaningful experiences for young women on our programmes and our volunteers
• Passionate about enabling change for young women and girls through a range of learning interventions and programmes
• Strong time management and organisational skills
• An engaging and warm facilitation approach to build confidence and opportunities for young women that have the potential to create positive change, locally and nationally
• Willingness to work flexibly and travel across Scotland when necessary - our delivery is often in the evenings or weekends. Currently most of our programmes are delivered in Glasgow and the surrounding areas
• Commitment to own continuing professional development
• A flexible and adaptable approach

Desirable

• Experience and knowledge of youth work principles and approaches
• Experience of youth participation / delivering programmes that are co-designed with and for young women
• Ability to evaluate projects meaningfully and effectively for maximum impact.
• IT skills and experience of using Microsoft Teams, Word, PowerPoint & Excel, and Canva
• Experience of using social media platforms for awareness raising and system-changing campaigns
• A full, clean driving license and access to a vehicle

Why you should want to work with us!

• We operate a 4-day working week, which means full-time is 28 hours
• We offer flexible working options and patterns, including the option to work hybrid from anywhere in Scotland (our co-working space is in Edinburgh)
• Our annual leave entitlement is 28 days a year, including public holidays
• We provide 1 additional day of annual leave for your birthday (or to take another time that you would like to celebrate)
• All staff members are enrolled in our Employer Life Assurance Scheme
• You can access a range of benefits and discounts through our life assurance app
• We are committed to supporting staff development through training and coaching opportunities
• Wellbeing and mental health support are a priority, all of our staff can access counselling through our EAP provider.
• We have a number of feminist policies to support our staff
• You’ll be joining an intergenerational team that will embrace your ideas and support and encourage you to bring your whole self to work

Due to the nature of our work with children and young people, successful applicants will be required to undergo a disclosure check through the PVG Scheme.

Don't meet every single requirement?

Studies show that women and Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic people are less likely to apply for a job unless they meet every qualification. So, if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we'd love you to apply anyway. You might just be the perfect person for this role, or another role within The Young Women’s Movement family.

Reporting to: Learning & Engagement Lead

Location: Hybrid – Our co-working space is in Edinburgh with delivery taking place across Scotland, specifically Glasgow and the surrounding areas.