Public Affairs And Campaigns Officer Jobs in Greater London

By providing finance and support, at SIB we enable charities and social enterprises to exist, grow and thrive. We have disbursed nearly £0.5bn to thousands of organisations since 2002. Our team believes in the power of the social economy, champions the charities and social enterprises we support - and we are all working together to build a more equal society. 

It is a hugely exciting time to join the organisation. We are growing, investing in our expert team, and building on the successes of the last few years. 

To find out more about what we do here, our values and our generous benefits please visit our website.

Our values are: People First, Curious, Bold, Collaborative, Accountable

About this role:

Reporting to the Deputy CEO, the Communications and Policy Manager will support SIB’s track record of sector, government and media engagement, notably the high standard of publication set through its media partnerships with Tortoise and the Financial Times, its contributions to the policy landscape in the social sector, and its in-house data analysis and insight generation. This new post will contribute to SIB’s ongoing communications and policy work and its reach and influence.

Key responsibilities

1. Support the delivery of a comprehensive plan for our communications and policy activity, combining ongoing promotional communications, specific activities for funds and programmes, and proactively generated content and opportunities to influence

2. Co-ordinating with SIB partners in developing and delivering communication work, on major projects such as the Youth Investment Fund, the Recovery Loan Fund and the Enterprise Development Programme; ensuring that it is powered by data and customer insight of the highest quality

3. Keeping track of policy developments in areas of strategic importance to SIB, notably in social investment, youth, community energy and infrastructure investment. Writing briefings on key policy developments related to SIB’s strategic priorities, proactively identifying opportunities to further our policy agenda; also researching and preparing responses for relevant external consultations, using SIB data and evidence

4. Identifying, cultivating and maintaining relationships and partnerships with key policy, research and communications stakeholders

5. Attending and providing oversight to the Social Investment Forum, as part of SIB’s secretariat and hosting

6. Writing, editing and producing engaging and relevant content at pace for web, social media and e-newsletters, as well as earned and paid channels

7. Management of any external suppliers of communications and policy activities, including agencies, designers, consultants and think tanks

8. Working with the Marketing Manager, Marketing and Events Coordinator, Business Development Manager and wider team to deliver successful external events with customers, stakeholders and partners including attendance at Party Conferences.

9. To work in line with the organisation's values, principles and processes to achieve operational excellence.

10. To adopt our continuous improvement and learning ethos

11. To support and embed equality, diversity and inclusion into day-to-day behaviours and activities within your role as well as contributing more widely across SIB’s commitment to E, D & I

12. To support and contribute to the implementation and delivery of SIB’s strategy

13. In agreement with manager to undertake other tasks and work on cross team projects that support the objectives of SIB as required

Core competencies

• Significant experience at a managerial level in a PR, marketing, external affairs or communications role
• Excellent writing skills
• Good research skills, with an ability to absorb large amounts of information at pace, including in unfamiliar policy areas and produce cogent syntheses
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively teams across functions in an integrated way
• Good established networks through experience in a similar role, and a commitment to expanding those networks to support SIB’s strategic aims
• Experience of building effective media partnerships
• Good working knowledge of data-driven storytelling in a variety of outlets from organisation websites to mainstream media and confidence in interpreting data and understanding the key points to be drawn from it to gain traction in media and campaigning environments
• Experience of developing and delivering effective communications campaigns, including through a range of digital channels
• Strong planning skills and an ability to multi-task, work well under pressure and meet deadlines
• Strong understanding of UK political context, especially as it concerns the social economy, and parliamentary process
• An understanding of how to promote research, policy papers, data analysis and other activities of a think tank and consultancy
• Excellent IT skills and the ability to learn new programmes quickly

Desirable competencies

• Data visualisation skills
• Data storytelling
• A good aesthetic eye and ability to shape images, visuals and formatting, and to liaise confidently with designers
• Understanding of the UK charity and social enterprise sectors

About Impetus

Impetus transforms the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by ensuring they get the right support to succeed in school, in work and in life.

We find, fund and build the most promising charities working with these young people, providing core funding and working shoulder-to-shoulder with their leaders over the long term to help them become stronger organisations.

At Impetus we focus on the critical factors that influence the education and employment outcomes for disadvantaged young people in the UK, working with charities that have the potential for impact at scale, helping their leaders to deliver lifechanging, benchmark-beating, sustained outcomes.

We provide these charities with the funding and the tools to grow and deliver on their promises to the young people they serve. We also seek to influence government and the wider sector to back effective support for young people and invest with other like-minded organisations to tackle the most difficult and under-supported challenges. We are resolutely focused on outcomes and impact, driven by quality evidence.

Impetus is a registered charity and our charity number is 1152262.

About the Investment Team

The Investment Team is responsible for selecting charity partners, managing our charity investments and supporting our charity partners to improve and scale their impact.

The Investment Team also leads the Impetus Leadership Academy, a leadership development programme to support talent from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK youth sector to progress into senior leadership roles.

The team is made up of 18 people, including former teachers, charity chief executives, charity impact leads, management consultants, social investment portfolio managers and impact consultants.

The team is led by a Portfolio Director who sits on the Senior Management Team. The Portfolio Director has 5 direct reports: a Deputy Portfolio Director, three Sector Leads (who lead our work in School engagement, School attainment and Employment Sectors) and an Impact Lead. Sector Leads line manage 6 Investment Directors. Investment Directors line manage Investment Managers (currently 5). Investment Directors and Investment Managers tend to primarily focus on a sector but might have mixed portfolios, depending on need, experience and interest.

The Investment Team has a good track record of role progression. All four Leads and a number of our Investment Directors were promoted from within the team.

The team is passionate, rigorous, determined, creative and warm. We come from a range of backgrounds and bring a broad mix of perspectives.  We care deeply for our colleagues, our charity partners and the young people we serve.

Job description – Investment Director

The Investment Director (ID) is a key member of the Investment Team, playing a leading role in identifying, assessing, and supporting portfolio partner charities and other non-profit organisations to deepen their impact and scale their outcomes. This role works closely with other Investment Directors and Investment Managers to deliver external facing support to portfolio partners as well as internal projects to support the development of the investment model and portfolio strategy.

Investment Directors use strategic thinking, analytical rigour, and senior relationship skills to support a portfolio of amazing organisations that, together, will help shift the life chances and outcomes of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK.

Key responsibilities

Finding high potential charities and non-profit partners for our portfolio

• Identifying potential charitable organisations for investment.
• Leading in-depth due diligence process to assess and build partnership foundations with potential partners – covering leadership and governance, and their impact, scale, and partnership potential.
• Modelling from first contact of origination, our approach to engaged and trust-based investment management support.
• Developing and championing high quality investment propositions to our Investment Committee.

Managing partnerships with portfolio partners

• Managing relationships with partner Chairs and CEOs 
• Agreeing Service Funding Agreements, including appropriate annual investment milestones to allow for a clear assessment of re-investment potential at end of phase 
• Regularly monitoring and assessing partner progress / risks against milestones and making recommendations for progression or exit
• Escalating key risks on performance, leadership and safeguarding
• Conducting annual partnership review with Sector Leads and partner CEOs
• Working with Impetus Finance colleagues to ensure timely distribution of grant payments, in line with Service Funding Agreements.

Supporting portfolio partners

• Providing direct support to CEOs and senior colleagues on key strategic topics, using a mix of at least monthly one-to-one meetings and group facilitation to:
  • clarify theory of change
  • define long term ambition
  • develop growth strategy
  • achieve a step change in the delivery and performance management of outcomes
  • strengthen leadership (individual and collective) and governance capabilities
  • develop path to scale
  • build financial resilience
• Scoping and project managing pro bono capacity-building projects (in addition to providing direct management support). Ensure projects are delivered to a high standard and contribute to charity progression
• Identifying engagement opportunities for our donors and supporters with charity partners that are aligned with the charity’s activities and do not distract or undermine their core work
• Collaborating with Impetus philanthropy team to develop new funding streams (additional to direct Impetus grant funding) that support our partners’ ability to deliver impact at scale
• Effectively leveraging the support of investment managers to advance the objectives developed for each charity partner that is managed by an Investment Director
• Identifying engagement opportunities for our donors and supporters with charity partners that are aligned with the charity’s activities and do not distract or undermine their core work
• Collaborating with Impetus Philanthropy team to develop new funding streams (additional to direct Impetus grant funding) that support our partners’ ability to deliver impact at scale
• Effectively leveraging the support of investment managers to advance the objectives developed for each charity partner that is managed by an Investment Director. 

Support to Impetus

• Developing expertise about “what works” in the sector through cultivation and use of expert input and engagement as well as investigation into key research and evaluative literature
• Working closely with team colleagues to use learnings from our work and domain expertise to inform our strategy, our model and delivery over time
• Leading on and contributing to internal topics, such as team strategy development, digital transformation, or equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Contribute towards Impetus’ public affairs and philanthropy objectives through input into case studies, research and policy campaigns, donor reports and fundraising events
• Sharing the learning from our work across the team, across the organisation and externally working within Impetus strategy, policies and procedures
• Engaging in Impetus pro bono, communications, and advocacy events, and engage charity partners appropriately in these events
• Where appropriate, line-managing and supporting Investment Managers on the team to grow and develop, and achieve their project, role and team objectives.

Person specification

The successful candidate will need to show evidence that they meet many of the following skills, capabilities and experience.

Essential

• A commitment to Impetus’ mission
• Senior level responsibility and a strong track record of building trust-based relationships with senior stakeholders, advising them on key strategic decisions, and challenging them in a respectful and collaborative manner
• A talent for strategic thinking around complex issues
• Strong financial acumen and analytical skills
• Understanding of impact measurement and evaluation fundamentals
• Tenacity and initiative
• Ability to flex personal style to needs of charity and leadership
• Growth mind-set to seek out and act on feedback
• Proven ability to work independently, and to exercise good judgment
• Strong planning and time management skills
• Interest in partnering closely with charities that are doing what it takes to get better
• A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

If you don't tick all these boxes, but still feel that you fit the profile, please apply anyway.

Desirable

• Experience in the non-profit (charity or social enterprise) sector, through work, as a pro-bono volunteer or Trustee capacity 
• Experience in consulting, investment management, senior charity management, or other in-depth grant making and advisory work
• Knowledge and expertise in UK education or youth employability sectors
• Board experience in private, public or third sector
• Understanding of or experience with commissioning impact evaluations.

How to apply

• Complete the online form (including the equal opportunities monitoring form)
• Upload a comprehensive CV and supporting statement

The supporting statement should be no more than two sides of A4 and should address the criteria in the person specification.

You should also include the contact details of two referees, one of whom must be your current or most recent employer. Referees will only be approached with your express permission.

As part of our commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at interview stage.

The deadline for applications is 11.59pm Sunday 10 November 2024.

Interviews

First round interviews and an assessment task will take place on 18 and 19 November 2024.

Second round interviews will take place on 27 November 2024.

You will also be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK.

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

We believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more open, creative and gets better results.

We want our team at Impetus to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our team to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

We want to reach a diverse pool of candidates. We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need in order to be successful.

Impetus is an equal opportunity employer and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, race, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation or marital status. We value diversity and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.

Personal Data

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.