Skills Advisor Jobs in Islington, Greater London

ShareAction is an independent charity and an expert on responsible investment. We work to build a world where the financial system serves our planet and its people. We set ambitious standards for how financial institutions, through their investment decisions, can protect our planet and its people and campaign for this approach to become the norm. We convene shareholders to collectively push companies to tackle the climate crisis, protect nature, improve workers’ rights and shape healthier societies. In the UK and EU, we advocate for financial regulation that has society’s best interests at its core.

Position

Reporting into the Head of Communications, this is a strategic and hands-on management role responsible for driving ShareAction’s media function and acting as a key business partner for colleagues across the organisation. Using your experience of developing media strategies, you will advise teams on how to enhance ShareAction’s position as a thought leader on responsible investment, support organisational goals to influence decision-makers and engage target audiences and help manage ShareAction’s reputation by advising on risk and mitigation. You will line manage a Media Manager and Senior Media Officer in the UK and provide guidance to a Media Advisor in Brussels to design and deliver high-quality media relations activity and ensure the effective operation of ShareAction’s press office and internal processes, including media monitoring and reporting.

You'll play a key role in the development of campaigns to hold global companies to account for their impact on people and planet and promote research and recommendations to support our vision of a world where responsible investment is the norm. With excellent interpersonal skills, you’ll be able to work collaboratively, supporting colleagues to engage effectively with the media.

If this sounds of interest, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll bring to the team

We want to hear from you if you have substantial experience working in a press office or as a journalist, with recent experience at a senior level, and a strong track record of securing positive coverage to achieve brand, engagement and influencing goals. This role would suit someone who is skilled in developing and delivering media strategy to support organisational objectives – including thought leadership activity for specialist audiences – and has the interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively with colleagues at all levels across the organisation and win support for your recommendations. You’ll be a highly regarded people manager who has a proven track record of developing junior team members and putting in place the structures and support for them to succeed. You’ll be passionate about using the power of communications to help drive a better future for people and planet.

This role would suit someone who has outstanding verbal and written communication skills, with a flair for breaking down complex issues and the ability to use framing and messaging techniques to produce high-quality content that can resonate with target audiences and inspire action. You’ll enjoy working in a fast-paced, changing campaigning environment and have excellent organisational skills to be able to manage multiple projects at once. You might have previous experience developing media activity within a campaigning or advocacy organisation or on social, environmental or financial issues.

While we hope we’ll find someone with the majority of these skills and experience, we’re keen to hear from you even if you don’t have them all. We appreciate lots of skills are transferable, and we welcome opportunities to explore different ways of achieving our goals.

We are currently formalising our hybrid working policy; however, as this role involves a lot of close collaboration with London-based colleagues, there is an expectation that you will be able to come into the office once a week. The whole Communications team meets together in person at least once a month.

What we will do for you

We are a fast-paced organisation that has grown substantially over the past few years. We recognise that our people work hard to advocate for responsible investment and drive meaningful engagement with those who have the power to create a brighter future. Every day, they bring their expertise, passion and persistence to build a world where the financial system serves our people and planet. We want to ensure we provide the right environment for our colleagues to thrive, and we are committed to improving our employee offer where possible.

Currently, we are pleased to offer:

• A commitment to flexible working: over 60% of our employees have some sort of flexible working arrangement in place.
• Hybrid working: we are committed to supporting our staff to work in a way that suits their lifestyle and meets the requirements of their role.
• Internal promotion and development opportunities: we offer a range of ways to improve your skills and focus on what you love, including promotion, secondment, or sideways development opportunities. For some levels of roles, we also offer direct progression.
• The opportunity to help make a difference: we tackle some of the world’s biggest social and environmental challenges. We offer opportunities for you to develop your skills and experience in a friendly, flexible and supportive working environment.
• A unionised work environment: our staff have the opportunity to join the union and are supported by our recognised union, Unite. We regularly consult and negotiate with our employees on workplace matters ranging from working conditions to pay.
• Regular in-person meetings, including all-staff away days, retreats and directorate strategy days to create connected teams.
• 8% non-contributory pension: invested with NEST and their green funds.
• A healthcare cash plan with Westfield that gives you money back on your healthcare costs.
• An employee assistance programme: advice and support, lifestyle discounts and short-term counselling.
• 25 days’ annual leave (increasing with length of service) plus office closure at the end of the year, ensuring everyone gets time to switch off together.
• Enhanced family leave pay: up to 18 weeks paid at 90% for either parent.
• Enhanced sick pay starting at 5 weeks’ full pay from day 1.
• Season ticket loan and cycle-to-work scheme.

ShareAction values and respects all differences in people (seen and unseen) and welcomes applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries. We are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities, and we are working hard to provide an environment where all can bring their authentic selves to work. We know that some people won’t apply for a role unless they meet all the requirements listed in the job description. If this is the case for you, but you think you would excel in this role, we want to hear from you!

For further information and to apply, please visit our website via the Apply button.

Closing date: 9.00 am on Monday 25th November 2024.
First-round interviews: Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December 2024.
Second-round interviews: Thursday 12th and Monday 16th December 2024.

To be considered for this post, you must be legally eligible to work in the UK; unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Please be aware that when shortlisting, we are really keen to get a sense of your unique voice and individual experience, especially if you are using generative AI tools as part of your drafting process.

Senior Programme Manager

Location: Hybrid, Old Street, London
Salary: £58,371 per annum
Hours: 34.5 hours per week
Department: Humanitarian
Job Type: Full-time
Contract Type: Permanent

Plan International UK is a global children’s charity striving for an equal world. One where every child can reach their full potential and every girl can choose her own future.   

We bring people together to protect children’s rights and keep girls safe, in school and in control of their bodies – even when disaster strikes. And we won’t stop until we are all equal. 

Are you ready to take a leading role in growing Plan International UK’s support to humanitarian crises globally? Are you driven to achieve results and work collaboratively with colleagues to do so? This is an exciting time to join as scaling up of humanitarian impacts sits centrally to our 2024-2027 strategy and we are committed to be a leading humanitarian partner for children, especially girls in crises.

We are looking for a Senior Programme Manager with exceptional management and leadership skills to oversee the development and supervision of Plan International UK’s humanitarian portfolio Asia and the Pacific, and East and Southern Africa as part of the Humanitarian Unit. In this role, you will lead a multi-disciplinary team (Programmes Specialists and Technical Advisers) to successfully develop innovative humanitarian proposals and implement our institutional funded projects in compliance with donors’ requirements, ensuring our projects are gender sensitive or transformative.  This role is offered on a permanent basis with an intended start date of December 2024.

You will have extensive project and budget management experience in the humanitarian sector, with responsibility to raise and manage major donor grants working closely with your team and our partners. We would also like you to lead on strategic and innovative initiatives and workstreams within the wider team to further advance the rights of children especially girls within a humanitarian context.  Strong experience of working with FCDO is highly desirable.

You will be a successful manager and leader of multi-lingual teams and portfolios, setting a strong role model example with proven ability to create cohesive professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders. You will be skilled at using your formal and informal networks to raise our profile, to get things done and influence others.

For further detail of this role, pleas see the job profile. Please note that this is a UK based role and we are unable to offer international contracts. 

Please click on the button below to apply.

The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 3 November 2024
Interviews will take place on Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 November 2024

We are committed to the safeguarding and protection of children, young people and adults in our work.  We, therefore, apply rigorous recruitment and selection processes to ensure that only those who are suitable are recruited to work for us.  Accordingly, appointment to all our roles is subject to a range of vetting checks and for this role this will include a Basic Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check. A criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working for us; this will depend on the circumstances of any offences

Plan International UK is committed to being an inclusive employer and we welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds.

REF-217574

The Head of Finance is a pivotal role for the Trust, providing leadership in financial management and planning. You’ll also play a leading role in strategy and policy setting as part of the Senior Management Team and will lead a small team of staff and volunteers. You will work closely with our Honorary Treasurer, leading the Trust’s Finance & Resources Committee for the executive team. Ideally you will have experience in charity financial management.

You will be responsible for delivering the accounting and controls and the budgeting, forecasting, planning and analysis for the business. This role will have significant interaction with non-finance staff providing support and guidance.

We are looking for a qualified accountant with 5+ years PQE, who will lead the Finance Team. You will combine this with a positive and innovative attitude, constantly looking to improve performance and support our teams across the Trust. This a perfect role for someone who is excited by an opportunity to have the autonomy and breadth of role and to work with a team of staff and volunteers committed to nature’s recovery.

We are looking for a leader with a high technical knowledge and who is solutions-focussed and who has the desire and ability to inspire and guide colleagues across the Trust.

This role is for someone who wants to have a positive impact on the natural world and help drive the Trust forward.  If you feel you have the knowledge and experience we need and would like to be part of a team of staff and volunteers who care passionately about the future of wildlife, please do apply.

You can find a lot more information about the role in the Recruitment Pack, including details of our benefits package, and information on how to apply.

The deadline for applications is 9am on Friday 8 November.

Purpose of the job

 The Evaluation & Learning Manager will work closely with the Assistant Director of Research & Impact and internal/external colleagues. You will help the organisation make good decisions and influence others – informed by the best available evidence, analysis of the charity’s impact, learning from organisations, youth practitioners and young people.

 You will be responsible for the day-to-day management and delivery of a portfolio of evaluation and learning projects. This will involve conducting research in-house, as well as managing external research partners. You can also expect to have line management responsibility for a direct report and should work closely with other members of the Impact Function to improve our ways of working and meet the organisation’s system change ambitions.

 The Impact Function will not evaluate programmes in isolation but rather help to build a cumulative knowledge base that proves and improves the impact of UK Youth’s activities and youth work more generally. Learning and knowledge management is a major component of this role and you will ensure that insights are easily understood and applied to have real world impact.

Experience we're after

• Significant experience of using quantitative and/or qualitative and/or mixed research methods to conduct evaluations of interventions in community settings

• Significant experience of managing projects and coordinating effectively with internal and external stakeholders

• Experience of working with large datasets and conducting descriptive and inferential data analysis

• Experience of using qualitative research methods with young people

• Experience of working with external research and/or evaluation partners

• Experience of supporting others to use data and evidence to inform their decision making through creative and persuasive comms, engagement and dissemination.

  Who we are

  UK Youth is a leading charity that exists to ensure all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. We work with others to ensure that the youth sector is strengthened, supported, and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed and delivers high-quality outcomes.

  UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing; the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to mass inequality of access to youth services for young people. To find more about us and how we make an impact, please visit UK Youth Website.

  Why work at UK Youth? 

  UK Youth is a leading charity that exists to ensure all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. We work with others to ensure that theyouth sector is strengthened, supported, and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed and delivers high-quality outcomes. UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing; the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross-sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to massinequality of access to youth services for young people.

  What we can offer you

  We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance, excellent learning and development opportunities and vibrant organisational culture:

  • Flexible/Agile Working

  • 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time employees)

  • Funded training provided in; Safeguarding, GDPR, Information and Cyber Security & Equality & Diversity

  • Other training available in support of your personal and professional development

  • Pension scheme (currently UK Youth match employee contributions up to 5%)

  • Membership of our life insurance scheme which would pay-out up to 4 times your salary

  • Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

  • 20% discount off bookings at Avon Tyrrell, our New Forest Outdoor Centre, including camping, lodges and outdoor activities.

  • IT equipment provided for the duration of contract

  • CycleScheme and TechScheme

  How to apply

  If you would like to be considered for this fantastic opportunity, please complete an application via our completely anonymised recruitment system provided by Applied which looks to create a fair and unbiased application process for all. Scroll to the top of the page and start your application.

  Closing date: Friday 1st November 2024 at 11:59pm (Midnight)

  Interview date(s) proposed: W/c 11th November 2024

  **Please note that this opportunity is a 12 Month Fixed Term Contract and not a permanent role at present.

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.

Our prior Program Manager has moved up to the role of Chief Programs Officer on our executive team. As such, we are looking for a deeply impact-motivated Program Manager to run our flagship Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program. In this role, you will train, advise, and pair exceptional potential founders through a twice-annual, two-month training program. This culminates in supporting the founders through a seed fundraising round and the launch of new charities delivering exceptionally cost-effective programs at scale across global development.

Our program has incubated more than 40 new charities over the past five years, with many receiving recognition from charity evaluators such as GiveWell and Animal Charity Evaluators as field-leading organisations.

IMPORTANT: This is a summarised version of the job advert for CharityJob's purposes. Clicking 'Apply' will take you to the complete and detailed version on our website, where you'll also be able to apply.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program is a twice-a-year intensive training program enabling cohorts of 8-16 exceptionally talented international entrepreneurs and nonprofit professionals to launch outstandingly cost-effective, evidence-based new nonprofits in the space of two months. 

The program chiefly consists of a twice-annual sequence.

• Preparing the upcoming cohort and running the initial book club where participants deep dive into our handbook and the recommended idea reports

• The two-month program itself, which includes a 2+ week in-person section and consists of training and coaching participants to select co-founders and ideas

• Post-program support to the new founders, providing ongoing guidance and facilitating connections with our networks of mentors and alumni.

• Evaluation and improvement work for the program itself,  and the post-program support and evaluation plus improvements period. In between, the team 

The Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program team chiefly consists of ~two FTE preparing and running the program and  interacting regularly with the recruitment team (for finding and selecting the ideal program candidates), the research team (for selecting and adapting the ideal charity ideas for the program participants), and the operations team (for supporting the incubated projects immediately upon launch through the program). This role reports to Samantha, our Chief Programs Officer, and works closely together with Steve, the second Program Manager who focuses mostly on participant training and coaching.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

The exact %s of these will depend on what will be most impactful and the interests and skill areas of the successful candidate, but will likely look something like this:

Direct Program Management - 40%

• During the preparation phase:

  • Clearly and proactively managing timelines and communications with internal staff, external partners, and program participants

  • Improving systems such that running the program becomes more efficient and effective round over round

• During the program phase for 8 weeks twice a year (February to March and August to September):

  • Facilitating training sessions  - discussions, presentations, workshops - with participantsbased on best practices

  • Providing key feedback on participant project work on short timelines, including on materials such as cost-effectiveness analyses, geographic assessments, theories of change, budgets, pilot plans etc.

  • Mentoring participants directly in 1:1 calls and chats

  • Guiding participants through two intense in-person weeks in our London office, including in their co-founder and charity idea testing and decisions

• Towards the end and immediately following the program:

  • Helping participants develop our raw researched top nonprofit ideas into organisations ready to implement a first pilot within mere months of graduating

  • Advising participants on key decisions regarding their charity and providing encouragement and support to get their project proposals across the finish line in time for the seed network funding circle to award seed grants

  • Connecting graduates with suitable mentors from our network and identifying, engaging, and onboarding new mentors

Alumni/Community Management & Development - 40%

• Identifying, championing, and, where suitable, delegating post-program support initiatives that would improve charity outcomes (e.g., speed, likelihood, and size of impact)

• Creating opportunities for connection, collaboration, and cross-learning of our growing alumni and extended community

• Managing a growing extended community of mentors, advisors, and service providers that could support our charities at different stages of their development (e.g., seed, pilot, scale-up, external evaluation)

• Managing shared digital knowledge and communication bases like our resource hub and 300+ member slack community

• Evaluating opportunities and focusing on the most impactful ones

Program Improvement / M&E - 20%

• Carrying out and improving our internal program monitoring & evaluation:

  • Collecting and assessing feedback from participants and alumni

  • Prioritising areas for improvement

  • Brainstorming and deciding on solutions

  • Implementing or delegating improvements

• Identifying priority gaps in program curriculum and structure based on M&E, proactive research, and later charity outcomes

• Designing or adapting existing content, including applied projects, workshops, or written material, to support program goals

FUTURE GROWTH TRAJECTORIES

This is a senior role within AIM, but future growth and expertise development trajectories for excelling hires could look like:

• Focusing on charity strategy development and advising: a hire with more experience and expertise in launching, piloting, and scaling could play a more active hand in revamping our content and mentoring charities on their strategies from the outset; i.e. advising closely on plans, giving more feedback on early project plans, mentoring directly post-program, etc.

• Leaning into building out a thriving alumni ecosystem: optimising our post-program coordination, expanding our partnership work, spending more work on post-program content and community, coordinating our networks of alumni and mentors, creating digital/in-person events, and other strategies to help our charities and their staff reach & expand their potential

• Becoming an expert in M&E: playing a heavier role in the impact assessment & optimisation of Charity Entrepreneurship as the key impact arm of AIM. This would involve more collaboration with our research and recruitment teams to improve our systems and feedback loops, and/or our M&E specialist working to create early internal evaluations of our charities and later external evaluations

• (At some point) going through our Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program themselves as a participant, bringing all the built skills and expertise to bear in their own nonprofit

ABOUT YOU

The role is most suitable for a mid-level professional (3-5+ years of experience) with a background in running programs or nonprofit organisations. An ideal candidate may bring experience in launching and implementing new or early-stage programs or in conducting earlier stage intervention research or monitoring & evaluation work, particularly in LMIC contexts. The applied experience will be invaluable in training, pairing, and advising the next generations of incubatees who are aiming to launch some of the most impactful nonprofits in the world.

We expect excellent candidates will meet many (but not all) of the criteria below. We encourage you to apply even if you do not meet all of the listed characteristics. In the past, we've offered positions to applicants who demonstrated strong overall potential, providing training to address skill gaps. We prioritise high general ability, a strong work ethic, and alignment with our values, methods, and approach to maximising global impact over specific prior work experience or backgrounds. We sketch a picture of potential ideal candidates to give a more concrete sense of what particularly strong candidates might look like, not to discourage interested readers from applying.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

• Personality traits:

  • Conscientious and organised

  • Has a bias toward action

  • High emotional intelligence

  • Calm under pressure when others around them may feel stressed out (i.e. program participants making important decisions)

  • High standards and a constant desire to improve

  • Excited to ruthlessly focus on only the most effective tasks

  • Highly collaborative, low personal ego

  • Keen to give and receive feedback

  • Quick and self-driven learner

  • Excited to advise and learn across a range of cause areas and interventions (global health & development, animal welfare, policy…)

• Competencies / abilities:

  • Highly organised and autonomous, able to run projects with many moving and constantly changing parts from start to finish and call in external input or support where needed

  • Generalist, with a good balance of “people” and “project” skills

  • Can sensitively deliver critical feedback and nudge participants into more impactful directions while leaving them feeling optimistic and motivated

  • High cultural sensitivity (our participants are from all over the world) and ability to flexibly communicate with a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., potential candidates, mentors, funders)

  • Able to analyse and synthesise information from a range of quantitative and qualitative sources (e.g., putting together ideal co-founder pairings on the basis of numerical information from surveys and program project performance ratings plus qualitative information from 1 on 1s)

• Experience / technical skills:

  • Interest in and knowledge about the charity sector and a sense of key factors that make organisations successful

  • Deeply results-focused and impact-minded

  • Some prior experience with interventions and sectors from our key cause areas of global health & development, animal welfare, and policy, or occasional exploratory cause areas (e.g., biosecurity and meta charities)

  • Has some basic familiarity with a range of sources of (especially empirical, quantitative) evidence and can (learn to) both teach and advise on them

Desirable Skills and Experience Include:

• Experience delivering programs in nonprofit or government settings, ideally in LMICs

• Experience in founding or working at early-stage organisations

• Foundational (empirical, nonprofit) research literacy

• Basic quantitative and spreadsheet skills

• Knowledge of Global Health & Development and/or Animal Welfare and/or the EA space and an existing network in one or more of these

WHAT WE OFFER

• A job with a large, tangible impact on the world - your work will attract and select the founders of new field-leading charities and for-profit companies, as well as high-impact researchers and AIM staff

• High levels of intellectual challenge, autonomy, variety, and learning on the job

• An informal, fun, warm, and supportive work environment with high talent density. Our office in East London houses about 50% of our staff, dozens of charity founders and staff, and hosts a range of co-working opportunities and social events for the wider impactful entrepreneurship London community

• Become a part of our international network of ambitious, driven entrepreneurs and highly talented philanthropic professionals

• A true start-up culture, including low bureaucracy, a quick and collaborative work spirit, and high levels of talent density

• Significant opportunities to attend events and conferences to represent AIM, including international travel

BENEFITS

• A flexible working schedule, 30 paid days off per year, and unlimited sick leave

• UK visa sponsorship, if needed, as well as support with moving costs if relocating to London

• An annual costs-covered retreat to bring our whole team together to celebrate our achievements

• A workspace in our vibrant central London office, which is a hub for our program alumni and high-impact organisations/professionals 

• Parental, dependents, and compassionate leave schemes

• A range of other benefits, including a payroll giving scheme, staff tenure donation scheme, contributions towards professional development and IT costs, and a workplace pension

• We are open to discussing specific personalised perks or benefits that may enhance your work experience

APPLICATION PROCESS

Our application processes aim to be highly predictive, time-effective, and informative for you. Our process consists only of stages that our best evidence suggests are predictive of success on the job (such as test tasks) rather than more common but less predictive stages (such as cover letters). We only invite candidates to the next stage if we think they have a good chance of passing it, and take care to choose tasks and interview questions that will also give you a good sense of the role and our culture.

Applicants will be asked to complete the following stages:

1. Submitting our general application form (30 minutes to 1 hour),

2. A general test task (2-3 hours) with the top 10 to 30 candidates,

3. An initial interview (15 minutes) with the top 10-20 candidates,

4. A test task simulating the work you would do in your role (2-3 hours) with the top 5-15 candidates,

5. A final, more in-depth interview (~60 minutes) with the final 2-5 candidates.

We will also conduct a reference check before making an offer. Each stage typically takes 1-2 weeks from the end of the application deadline, and we hope to make an offer within ~8 weeks of the application deadline. Ideally, the candidate will begin onboarding as soon as possible after an offer is made. We strongly prefer candidates to join the team by January 2025, but we would consider a different date for an ideal candidate.

We have been lucky enough to secure funding from the National Lottery Communities Fund and Swire Charitable Trust to deliver of a three year Wilder Watford programme of community organising and support with the aim to create more space for nature in Watford.

About the role

The Wilder Communities Officer will inspire and support community-led action for wildlife in Watford, and empower local people to create more wildlife rich spaces on their doorstep.  Working with colleagues across the Trust, the Officer will help to build a wilder future through local community action for nature.

For a further details and our person specification please see our recuitment pack.

How do we support you?

We offer an excellent benefits package, ranging from office perks, generous leave entitlements and financial benefits. You can find out more on our website. 

About the Trust

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is a local nature conservation charity.

We believe that wildlife should have space to thrive alongside our everyday lives and that everyone benefits from having access to nature.

Our staff team is enthusiastic, friendly and committed to making a difference.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the recruitment early. Closing date 18th November 2024 at 9am.

Are you a visionary financial leader passionate about making a real impact? UK Youth is looking for an experienced Finance Director to lead the financial strategy and operations that support our mission to empower young people across the UK. 

Purpose of the job

As Finance Director, you will oversee all financial aspects of the charity and lead long-term financial sustainability while advancing UK Youth’s mission. You will work closely with the Executive Team, Finance Committee, and Board of Trustees to deliver strategic financial leadership and ensure robust financial planning, forecasting, and reporting. 

This role offers the unique opportunity to influence high-level decision-making and provide strategic insights that shape our organisation’s future. You’ll champion the finance team’s development, drive operational efficiency, and explore innovative financial solutions to ensure our financial health. 

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the formulation and execution of UK Youth’s financial strategy aligned with our goals 

• Oversee budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes 

• Provide strategic financial analysis and insights for social investment, grants, and commercial financing 

• Manage financial risks, compliance with regulations, and relationships with auditors and stakeholders 

• Drive technological innovation in financial reporting and operations 

• Mentor and develop the finance team to foster a high-performance culture 

About You: 

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA, or equivalent) 

• Significant experience in a senior financial leadership role 

• Proven track record in providing financial leadership at Board and Executive levels 

• Strong knowledge of charity finance regulations (including Charity SORP) and tax compliance 

• Experience working within the voluntary sector is highly desirable 

• Skilled communicator able to convey complex financial information to diverse stakeholders 

Who we are

UK Youth is a leading charity that exists to ensure all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. We work with others to ensure that the youth sector is strengthened, supported, and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed and delivers high-quality outcomes.

UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing; the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to mass inequality of access to youth services for young people. To find more about us and how we make an impact, please visit UK Youth Website.

Why work at UK Youth? 

UK Youth is a leading charity that exists to ensure all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. We work with others to ensure that theyouth sector is strengthened, supported, and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed and delivers high-quality outcomes. UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing; the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross-sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to massinequality of access to youth services for young people.

What we can offer you

We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance, excellent learning and development opportunities and vibrant organisational culture:

• Flexible/Agile Working

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time employees)

• Funded training provided in; Safeguarding, GDPR, Information and Cyber Security & Equality & Diversity

• Other training available in support of your personal and professional development

• Pension scheme (currently UK Youth match employee contributions up to 5%)

• Membership of our life insurance scheme which would pay-out up to 4 times your salary

• Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

• 20% discount off bookings at Avon Tyrrell, our New Forest Outdoor Centre, including camping, lodges and outdoor activities.

• IT equipment provided for the duration of contract

• CycleScheme and TechScheme

How to apply

If you would like to be considered for this fantastic opportunity, please complete an application via our completely anonymised recruitment system provided by Applied which looks to create a fair and unbiased application process for all. Scroll to the top of the page and start your application.

Closing date: Friday 8th November 2024 at 08:00 (8am)

Round 1 (Teams) Interview date(s) proposed: w/c 18th November 2024

Round 2 (In Person) Interview date(s) proposed: w/c 9th December 2024

To run the next rounds of our 2½-years old Grantmaking Training program, we are looking for a Philanthropic Programs Director to continue finding, training, and advising funders in setting up their grantmaking for maximum impact. In addition, you will provide strategic oversight and guidance to the funders in our five funding circles, collectively distributing $5-10 million annually.

IMPORTANT: This is a summarised version of the job advert for CharityJob's purposes. Clicking 'Apply' will take you to the complete and detailed version on our website, where you'll also be able to apply.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As Philanthropic Programs Director, you will lead and keep developing AIM's Impactful Grantmaking training program and oversee our five funding circles. Your primary responsibility will be outreach, program facilitation, and hands-on philanthropic advising for the twice-annual 9-week cohorts of funders giving over $1M annually.

This is a fairly senior position with high stakes, a lot of potential for development, and outstandingly high potential for impact, and thus best suited to an individual with at a minimum 3-5 years of experience and some deep prior expertise in the philanthropic sector.

You will work closely with the Philanthropic Programs Manager in a two-person program team. You will decide collaboratively at the start of your tenure how to divide and/or share responsibilities in the categories below, as well as how to take care of operations and ad hoc tasks and projects.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Facilitation (~40%)

• Deliver program content in an engaging and accessible manner

• Develop weekly lesson plans and discussion topics for a 9-week program Zoom calls

• Conduct thought-provoking and productive 1:1 coaching sessions with participants for 30 minutes weekly throughout the program.

• Prepare for and run the weekly group calls going through topics covered in our foundation handbook

Outreach and Public-Facing Work (~30%)

• Conduct regular calls with philanthropists, advisors, and other philanthropic professionals to maintain a strong presence in the sector

• Serve as the initial point of contact for new funders interested in or referred to the program, effectively communicating its value without being overly sales-oriented

• Scope and test the best ways to find new prospective participants who would benefit from our program and cause a large amount of impact

• Ensure each cohort has a minimum of 5 participants contributing an average of $1M+ each annually

• Maintain visibility of the program in philanthropic circles through activities such as article writing and regular engagement on philanthropy listservs

• Represent the AIM Grantmaking program at a minimum of two conferences annually and at local philanthropic events in your area

Community Engagement (~15%)

• Foster relationships with our community of 30+ alumni and extended network of funders

• Provide strategic oversight and guidance to funding circle co-chairs, serving as a valuable resource and goal-setter

• Organise regular alumni catch-up calls for the entire community

• Collaborate on planning the grantmaker meetup component of annual AIM network in-person gatherings

Grantmaking (~0-10%)

• For the right candidate, there could be an opportunity to be personally responsible for regranting a sizable amount of money via our five funding circles across some of their five cause areas (global health & development, meta charity, mental health, animal welfare, and AIM seed network)

Program Operations Support (~10%)

• Contribute to iterative improvement of program content, adapting based on feedback, evaluation, and tailoring for the upcoming cohort composition

• Collaborate on revising the program handbook to better serve future cohorts and benefit the broader philanthropic sector

• Ensure the Philanthropic Programs Manager receives adequate management, support, and oversight to maintain program momentum

FUTURE GROWTH TRAJECTORIES

This is a senior role within AIM, but future growth and expertise development trajectories for excelling hires could look like:

• Becoming an expert in understanding the philanthropic landscapes in different cause areas, from central funding bodies, key stakeholders and actors, to core methodologies and strategic issues in the space and its related communities

• Becoming adept at small group and individual-focused (U)HNWI teaching, coaching, and advising, acquiring experience working with a wide range of individuals with different backgrounds, interests, approaches, and cause areas

• Focusing on building out a strong philanthropic network to find program participants, being able to bridge and connect a wide range of individuals and organisations across interest areas and geographies and enabling them to strategically increase their impact

ABOUT YOU

We're seeking a versatile professional capable of delivering high-quality work across a diverse range of tasks in high-stakes contexts. The ideal candidate will bring existing expertise in some areas while demonstrating a willingness to learn and excel in less familiar domains. You should consider yourself a philanthropy generalist to some extent, with the ability to quickly adapt and improve in new areas of responsibility.

The ideal candidate is a people-oriented mid-level to senior-stage professional (3-5+ years of experience) with extensive knowledge of philanthropy and a deep alignment with AIM's vision for a thriving, collaborative, effectiveness-focused philanthropic sector.

Strong and even ideal candidates will meet many (but not necessarily all) of the criteria below. We encourage you to apply even if you do not meet all of the listed characteristics. In the past, we've offered positions to applicants who demonstrated strong overall potential, providing training to address skill gaps. We prioritise high general ability, a strong work ethic, and alignment with our values, methods, and approach to maximising global impact over specific prior work experience or backgrounds. We sketch a picture of potential ideal candidates to give a more concrete sense of what particularly strong candidates might look like, not to discourage interested applicants.

A strong candidate is:

• A natural people person: Thrives on interpersonal interactions, both in-person and via digital platforms like Zoom. Naturally engages and excites conversation partners and knows when to speak and when to listen.

  • Ideal - prior experience in people-facing roles like advising, consulting, or management

• A passionate philanthropic change-maker: Prior experience with the philanthropic sector, dedicated to improving its impact, and finding fulfilment in helping funders achieve their desired goals. Keen to learn the specific features of multiple cause areas of grantmaking.

  • Ideal - prior experience in a relevant profession, such as (U)HNW advising, grantmaking, or research; prior experience with grantmaking in the evidence-based philanthropic landscape, such as in international development, the farmed animal welfare movement, and/or in the effective altruism community.

• A quick and flexible multi-context thinker: Capable of quick, agile thinking when faced with challenging questions, responding confidently and persuasively to inspire participant action. Able to consider multiple perspectives and navigate different worldviews. 

  • Ideal - prior experience interacting with key decision-makers in high-stakes contexts, either as a peer or in an advisory capacity. For example, this could be in a consulting, fundraising, or grantmaking capacity with HNWIs or C-level executives

• A skilled facilitator: Able to create and communicate content in engaging and effective ways. Notices when a participant is less engaged and bring them into the conversation, while able to smoothly direct conversations towards topics that are the most productive for the group and is confident interrupting people when needed.

  • Ideal - someone with experience in teaching, facilitation, or educating, particularly in semi-formal settings

• An altruistic team player: Enjoys collaborative project work and is adept at both giving and receiving constructive feedback. AIM and our programs and funding circles are all cooperative environments that place impartial impact above individual success.

  • Ideal - proven motivation to work in philanthropic, non-profit, or social domains, i.e., prior work or engagement with spaces aimed at improving the world

• Willingness to work in person from London (visa sponsorship and moving costs support provided)

WHAT WE OFFER

• A job with a large, tangible impact on the world - your work will attract and select the founders of new field-leading charities and for-profit companies, as well as high-impact researchers and AIM staff

• High levels of intellectual challenge, autonomy, variety, and learning on the job

• An informal, fun, warm, and supportive work environment with high talent density. Our office in East London houses about 50% of our staff, dozens of charity founders and staff, and hosts a range of co-working opportunities and social events for the wider impactful entrepreneurship London community

• Become a part of our international network of ambitious, driven entrepreneurs and highly talented philanthropic professionals

• A true start-up culture, including low bureaucracy, a quick and collaborative work spirit, and high levels of talent density

• Significant opportunities to attend events and conferences to represent AIM, including international travel

BENEFITS

• A flexible working schedule, 30 paid days off per year, and unlimited sick leave

• UK visa sponsorship, if needed, as well as support with moving costs if relocating to London

• An annual costs-covered retreat to bring our whole team together to celebrate our achievements

• A workspace in our vibrant central London office, which is a hub for our program alumni and high-impact organisations/professionals 

• Parental, dependents, and compassionate leave schemes

• A range of other benefits, including a payroll giving scheme, staff tenure donation scheme, contributions towards professional development and IT costs, and a workplace pension

• We are open to discussing specific personalised perks or benefits that may enhance your work experience

APPLICATION PROCESS

Our application processes aim to be highly predictive, time-effective, and informative for you. Our process consists only of stages that our best evidence suggests are predictive of success on the job (such as test tasks) rather than more common but less predictive stages (such as cover letters). We only invite candidates to the next stage if we think they have a good chance of passing it, and take care to choose tasks and interview questions that will also give you a good sense of the role and our culture.

Applicants will be asked to complete the following stages:

1. Submitting our general application form (30 minutes to 1 hour),

2. A general test task (2-3 hours) with the top 10 to 30 candidates,

3. An initial interview (15 minutes) with the top 10-20 candidates,

4. A test task simulating the work you would do in your role (2-3 hours) with the top 5-15 candidates,

5. A final, more in-depth interview (~60 minutes) with the final 2-5 candidates.

We will also conduct a reference check before making an offer. Each stage typically takes 1-2 weeks from the end of the application deadline, and we hope to make an offer within ~8 weeks of the application deadline. Ideally, the candidate will begin onboarding as soon as possible after an offer is made. We strongly prefer candidates to join the team by January 2025, but we would consider a different date for an ideal candidate.