Volunteer Manager

About FareShare

FareShare now operates 21 Regional Centres around the UK. The majority of these are run by local charitable organisations we call our Delivery Partners. This enables us to be a UK-wide organisation yet also think and behave with local concerns at the heart of our actions. We support 9,653 local charities and groups – our Community Food Members. Over the past year 16,992 tonnes of food were redistributed by FareShare Regional Centres nationwide, feeding 772,000 people every week. We operate across 1,500 towns, cities and villages and we save UK charities and community groups more than £28 million each year.

Hunger is a growing issue in the UK and while there is surplus food that is otherwise going to waste, we believe that this food should be used to feed people first. Demand far outstrips supply.

FareShare's nationwide network of regional centres

We aspire to grow our number of volunteers to help us deliver our mission and that of our member charities and community groups, whilst helping to ensure the ongoing sustainability of FareShare's 21 Regional Centres across the UK. Volunteers are the life blood of FareShare, without them food which is received from the UK's food industry, would not make its way to the nearly 7,000 charities and community groups we support.

The majority of people who currently volunteer with FareShare do so in the warehouses of the 21 Regional Centres. They help to sort, allocate and deliver the food to our member charities and community groups. We also have other invaluable volunteers who liaise with our members to plan food deliveries and work in the community to support our outreach programmes, which work to raise awareness of FareShare and its services.

Our aim is to grow our volunteer base in these roles, while we also diversify the types of volunteering opportunities available within FareShare Regional Centres, which support the wider operations, whether this is in Fundraising, Communications, Management or Logistics. This could be a small as recruiting Last Mile volunteers to delivering food to a charity or community group, or as big recruiting volunteers to set up a Local Food Collection Point within their community. 

Main purpose of this role

We are looking for someone dynamic and engaging, with excellent communication and volunteer management skills, as well as a commitment to delivering a high quality service in line with our mission and core values. In addition, to working with the team in the FareShare Regional Centre you will also work closely with the FareShare National Volunteering Team. You will work together to provide a consistent volunteer experience across the FareShare network, which is enjoyable, rewarding and safe for our volunteers. 

You should be self-motivated, with experience of working within volunteer management and able to manage ad-hoc corporate groups, short term volunteering schemes as well as long-term and regular volunteers. Additionally, you should be able to deliver end to end volunteer recruitment activities and provide on-going supervision and support to volunteers, ensuring that their training needs are met. You should also be able to develop and deliver a range of local volunteer engagement activities. Furthermore you should have experience promoting and championing the role of volunteers, so that they are respected and valued for their contribution to the organisation.

Job responsibilities

1. Volunteer recruitment
   • Develop and implement a regional volunteer recruitment strategy that will deliver an extensive pool of diverse and engaged volunteers to ensure the operational needs of your FareShare Regional Centre are met in a timely manner.
   • Recruit, build and maintain relationships with a wide range of regional volunteer sources, ensuring regular engagement leading to long term partnerships.
   • Regular liaison with the FareShare National Volunteering Team to capitalise on national initiatives.
2. Volunteer engagement and communication strategies

• Develop and deliver a regional engagement programme that ensures all volunteers have a rewarding experience, whilst effectively contributing to FareShare's overall development
• Promote volunteering, internally and externally in collaboration with the FareShare national and ensure that the impact of volunteers is celebrated.
• Deliver the FareShare National volunteer induction programme to maximise the engagement and contribution of each volunteer.
• Develop and deliver volunteer training, which ensures all volunteers are able to meet their potential and complete their volunteer roles effectively.

• Implement volunteer management policies and procedures in line with guidance from the FareShare National Volunteering Team.
• Develop new volunteering policies and procedures in collaboration with the FareShare National Volunteering Team.

• Enhance the experience of volunteering at your FareShare Regional Centre by delivering robust policies, together with effective engagement and communication programmes, so that volunteers enjoy what they do and can feel proud of their contribution and become ambassadors.
• Liaise with FareShare Nationals Marketing & Volunteering Teams to promote and publicise case studies and examples of volunteer success stories.
• To engage with other FareShare Regional Centres and the FareShare National Volunteering Team on a quarterly basis to deliver UK wide volunteering activity and share good practice.
• Work alongside the FareShare National Volunteering Team to evaluate volunteer experience and establish annual benchmarks for the FareShare Network, including volunteer satisfaction, conversion, retention, training, etc. This will be used for development of recruitment and engagement strategies.

Person Specification

Experience

• Developing and delivering successful volunteer recruitment, training and engagement programmes.
• Building relationships with external organisations and associations to create and promote volunteering programmes.
• Managing projects and associated budgets.
• Monitoring and evaluation of volunteer programmes.
• Reporting on volunteer programme metrics
• Experience of working with volunteers / adults with additional support needs (Desirable).
• Experience of delivering effective marketing and communications campaigns (Desirable).
• Experience of using volunteer management systems (Desirable)

Skills and abilities

• Knowledge of the needs and experiences of volunteers from a diverse range of backgrounds.
• Knowledge of volunteer management good practice
• Able to establish and maintain appropriate systems for the management and accurate recording of volunteer programmes.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to deal with people at all levels
• Proven ability to build successful, productive business relationships, both internal and external
• Enthusiastic and self-motivated with excellent team-working skills.
• Ability to use own initiative, working independently.
• Strong presentation skills to promote FareShare as a destination for volunteering.
• Good time management with ability to manage workloads, set priorities and meet deadlines.
• IT literacy, in particular of using Microsoft applications (Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint).

Values and behaviours

• A commitment to equal opportunities and safeguarding.
• An understanding of, and enthusiasm for, FareShare's mission and strategy.
• A commitment to continuous professional development.
• An empathy with volunteers and an understanding of their needs.
• Flexible and non-judgemental approach to people and work.
• Willingness and ability to travel in the UK.

Application process

If you would like to apply for this role please send a copy of your CV and a supporting statement showing how you meet the essential experience outlined in the person specification via our website. 

Closing date for receipt of applications is Friday 10th May 2019 with interviews the week commencing the 13/05/2019.