Community Development Project Manager

About ELBA

ELBA is a leading social regeneration charity in east London. Our mission is to develop employee volunteering and employment initiatives to decrease poverty, improve social mobility and increase equality for communities in east London and beyond. We facilitate corporate and other investments from over 60 organisations into our community, education and employment programmes.

With over 35 years of experience enabling successful partnerships between businesses and communities, ELBA engages over 15,000 corporate employees in volunteer programmes that support employment, education and community initiatives. In 2023 the Community Works programme supported 126 charities and social enterprises through engaging employee volunteers in practical and skills-based volunteering opportunities.

Purpose of the job

ELBA’s Connect Team (within the Community Team) deliver a range of employee volunteering initiatives which build the capacity of third sector organisations in east London by utilising the professional business skills of volunteers. The Connect Team has three key areas of activity: placing trustees through the BoardBuilders Programme, creating coaching relationships via Leaders in Partnership, and delivering a range of consultancy and capacity building work including facilitating workshops, training sessions and initiatives to benefit east London community organisations. Part of this work also involves providing support for the beneficiaries of community organisations through workshops focused on developing skills and confidence.

The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting ELBA’s Connect Team to deliver exciting, innovative projects across all areas of work, which meet both the needs of the east London community and the expectations of corporate partners.

Working for ELBA

ELBA has an excellent employees benefits package including generous annual leave entitlement that increases with length of service; life assurance; 5% employer pension contribution; BUPA health cash plan; enhanced maternity and paternity pay; an active well-being and equalities programmes led by staff; cycle purchase scheme, an Employee Assistance Helpline and a great learning and development programme, including access to free accredited courses up to degree and post-graduate level. 

Job Description

Main duties

• Identify and build relationships with a range of community stakeholders, including charities, community groups, social enterprises, education institutions, faith groups etc in east London.
• Assess organisational needs and develop creative corporate volunteering opportunities to meet the needs and build the capacity of community stakeholders.
• Develop relationships and effective partnerships with key stakeholders in the community including the local authority and community infrastructure support organisations to maximise the impact of ELBA’s work.
• Identify corporate volunteering opportunities that can facilitate large-scale participations and/or collaboration for ELBA corporate partners.
• Support the delivery of all Connect Team activity and the wider Community Works programme. In particular, lead on the BoardBuilders programme; matching and supporting charities place business volunteers as trustees on their board.
• Proactively market volunteering programmes to ELBA corporate partners.
• Source, place and manage cohorts of corporate volunteers in line with business plan and project targets.
• Develop effective working relationships with community affairs team with ELBA corporate partners, ensuring that these companies are supported to develop employee volunteering and other initiatives that meet their targets, priorities and strategies.
• Implement effective evaluation and impact measurement tools in line with ELBA corporate partner requirements, ensuring that evaluation informs best practise to ensure continuous improvement.
• Work on any projects with ELBA, as and when required.
• Develop new employee volunteering initiatives which meet both the needs of the east London community and the expectations of corporate partners.
• Work in collaboration with ELBA’s employment team to support corporate volunteering activities which help the beneficiaries of east London community organisations to develop employability skills.
• Work closely with Challenge ELBA team to source team challenge opportunities.

General

• Develop a broad knowledge of regeneration programmes and local authority priorities in east London.
• Use ELBA internal systems to maintain records and report progress, including due diligence and volunteer recording via Salesforce.
• All ELBA employees are required to use Salesforce as a record of activity. Training will be provided. Update Salesforce with all activity in line with agreed timescales, share updates with partners on activity.
• Ensure that effective project management systems for monitoring and evaluation are in place and keep detailed records.
• Complete monthly, quarterly and annual reports as required.
• Proactively generate case studies, news articles, photos and social media content to promote the work of ELBA in line with ELBA communication targets and protocols.
• Collaborate with other ELBA colleagues on projects where appropriate and contribute to the development of ELBA as an organisation overall.
• Adhere to and implement policies, including equal opportunities and health and safety.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties as requested by your line manager.

Person Specification

ELBA’s core competencies define the principles and ethos that are central to the way we seek to operate as an organisation and the way we treat those with whom we come into contact. They inform what we do and how we do it; we expect every member of staff to commit to creating value for our members and community partners. ELBA’s core competencies are:

• Accountability

• Leadership

• Commercial awareness

• Relationship management

• Adaptability

• Delivery

• Communication

• Creativity In addition, the ideal candidate will have:

Essential skills and experience

• Strong project management skills, managing projects from inception through to completion and evaluation.
• Highly organised with an ability to prioritise, work under pressure and deliver against set targets to agreed deadlines.
• Ability to manage and track multiple projects, often with competing deadlines.
• Effective time management skills and interpersonal skills including negotiation, persuasion, flexibility and problem solving.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to articulate messages clearly and concisely in an engaging style consistent with ELBA’s brand.
• Thoroughness, accuracy and attention to detail.
• Experience of developing sustainable and effective partnerships with multiple stakeholders.
• The ability to work across all levels of ELBA corporate partners, community partners and local stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively within ELBA to develop and share best practice.
• An understanding and passion of the principles of corporate community investment and employee volunteering.
• Experience of working with and facilitating employee volunteering activities.
• Experience of programme monitoring and evaluation.
• A high level of IT literacy.

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience of working with or within the corporate sector and good commercial awareness.
• Knowledge and experience of corporate community investment.
• Experience of working in or with the voluntary and community sector.
• Experience of event management.
• An understanding of evaluation and impact measurement techniques within corporate community investment.

ELBA wants to represent the diverse community we support and aims to be an inclusive employer in terms of ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation & background.  We are an equal opportunities employer and we welcome all applications. 

Please note this role is required to have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The successful candidate will be required to comply with ELBA's safeguarding policies and any appointment will be subject to satisfactory references as well as DBS.