JOB SUMMARY

The Volunteer & Engagement Coordinator is initially a three year National Lottery funded role which will support our Psychological and Social Support Programme for those diagnosed with dementia and their families. RICE is looking to grow volunteer numbers across all areas of our work, supporting research, fundraising, delivery of peer support and ambassadorial roles. This role will act as an internal consultant for the RICE team supporting identification and creation of volunteer roles and delivering a Volunteer Strategy for RICE, ensuring that RICE provides an outstanding experience, positive environment and inspiring offer to all volunteers and ambassadors. The post-holder will manage the volunteering programme from recruitment through overseeing engagement processes to measuring impact, evaluation and reporting.

RICE

The Research Institute for the Care of Older People leads and collaborates on essential research and service delivery to improve the health and find effective treatment for those impacted by dementia and other neuro degenerative conditions. RICE is an internationally renowned research and treatment centre located in Bath. We are an independent charity focused on essential research and providing support for people with dementia and other conditions of older age, their families and carers; dedicated to improving the quality of life of everyone involved.

RICE provides the NHS Memory Clinic Service to residents in BaNES, alongside working on both clinical trials and academic research in our purpose built RICE centre located on the Royal United Hospital site.

 

THE ROLE

This is an exciting new role for RICE. It is a varied and proactive role which would suit someone with great organisational and people skills who enjoys supporting individuals and groups and working on a variety of activities. The role will work with the RICE team to identify and document volunteering opportunities, create recruitment channels, implement stewardship processes for volunteers and ambassadors and evaluate RICE’s volunteer programme. The work is varied and interesting and the successful candidate will need to be organised and proactive. You will need to demonstrate a track record of strong interpersonal skills combined with attention to detail and the ability to create processes which measure impact as well as reporting to a range of stakeholders.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Oversee recruitment of RICE’s volunteers through building relationships and establishing productive recruitment materials and channels.

2. Work closely with the RICE staff team to identify opportunities for volunteer roles to support and add value to the business. Working collaboratively to create role descriptions and person specifications for volunteer roles.

3. Identify barriers to engagement particularly from harder to reach communities and under represented groups and develop accessible new opportunities to engage potential audiences.

4. Support the Head of Fundraising & Communications and the Psychological & Social Support Project Manager to identify opportunities for RICE’s beneficiaries to support our social support activity programme through volunteering, including community outreach activity to connect and inspire those affected by dementia.

5. Create and maintain accurate Risk Assessments for all Volunteer roles and activities.

6. Ensure all volunteers receive an excellent onboarding experience including induction and training.

7. Where appropriate, support RICE staff to effectively manage and support their volunteers.

8. Ensure that RICE’s volunteers deliver a good quality experience while adhering to the objectives of their role in line with good practice and any health and safety guidelines. Ensure that they are well supported and supervised and that any training needs are identified and addressed in a timely manner.

9. Produce and regularly refresh volunteer support materials including handbook and welcome pack.

10. Work with the Communications & Fundraising Officer to keep the website up to date with volunteering opportunities and stories and through creating engaging content for social media.

11. Where appropriate, deliver regular supervision to RICE volunteers.

12. Maintain all volunteer and enquirer data ensuring compliance with GDPR and agreed data retention protocols at all times.

13. Build a positive friendly relationship with volunteers creating an atmosphere of support and openness and where volunteers feel valued.

14. Monitor volunteering and community outreach activity through regularly collecting quantitative and qualitative insight and produce quarterly and/or post-event reports as requested by the managing staff member, Project Manager or Head of Fundraising & Communications.

15. In collaboration with Head of Fundraising, design and deliver a stewardship programme for volunteers to ensure consistency of approach and continual improvement and to build a sense of inclusion and value for volunteers and ambassadors.

16. Maintain a thorough understanding of Health & Safety issues around working with volunteers, beneficiaries and ambassadors and ensure that all feedback, accidents or incidences are recorded and fed back in evaluation, used to adjust activities accordingly.

17. Support the Psychological & Social Support Project Manager and Head of Fundraising & Communications to review and update processes and procedures to ensure high standards of management are applied consistently to volunteering and community outreach.

18. Work with the Psychological & Social Support Project Manager and Administrator to manage supporter and beneficiary enquiries, feedback and complaints related to volunteering in a timely and courteous manner.

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and experience

Essential

· Proven experience of managing volunteers in a customer facing environment

· Ability to demonstrate multiple stakeholder management and strong relationship building

· Knowledge of volunteering good practice, legislation and resources

· Excellent administration and organisation skills

· Experience of using Microsoft Office including word, powerpoint, excel and outlook

· Knowledge and ability to use a database/CRM system

 

Desirable

· Experience of working in a charity or not-for-profit setting

· Knowledge of GDPR and experience of applying the protocols

Competencies, skills and experience

Essential

· Polite and professional manner and ability and empathy to deal with people who may be confused or have difficulty communicating.

· Good time manager, with the ability to work on own initiative and to prioritise a busy and diverse workload

· Willingness to work occasional weekends and evenings

· Ability to plan and manage varied workload

· Excellent verbal and written communications skills

· Self-directed, confident and proactive

· Good team player with a friendly can-do attitude

· Organised, calm under pressure, able to prioritise effectively and work to deadlines

Desirable

· Current driving licence

 

Application Process

To see the full job descirption and person specification and to apply please visit our website: https://www.rice.org.uk/about-us/work-for-rice/

 

Closing Date and Interviews

Closing date for applications: 2nd May 2023

Interview date: 9th - 11th May 2023

Please note applicants will only be contacted if they have been shortlisted for an interview.