Contract: Two years (with possibility of extension) 

Salary: £25,021 pro rata 

Location: London / Birmingham / Leeds (or York) / Bristol (or Bath); working from home for foreseeable future

Hours: Near full time but flexible: either 4, 4.5 or 5 days per week depending on preference. Exact working hours negotiable around e.g. caring responsibilities.

Deadline: 9am, Tuesday 1st September

Interviews: 7th-18th September

About the role: Car Free City Campaigners will be working with local people and organisations to develop and promote a private car-free vision for your city, as well as helping design and deliver bottom up, street level changes to reduce traffic in the short term.  Your day to day will involve forging alliances within your city and local communities, building support for creative initiatives and practical projects to improve the public realm to help tackle climate change, air pollution, congestion and road danger. 

Possible is committed to providing equal opportunities for all applicants regardless of their background. We value diversity whilst also acknowledging that people from certain backgrounds are underrepresented in our organisation. We are keen to correct this, so particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic people; people who identify as disabled; people from LGBTQIA+ communities; people who have mental health problems and people who identify as working class (or have done in the past). If you’re not sure about applying, please do get in touch with us for a chat – we’d love to talk to you!

US: Hi, we’re Possible – we bring people together to create bold, beautiful solutions in response to the climate crisis. Whether that’s connecting the world’s first solar railway, mining renewable heat from underneath parks, leading calls for a televised election climate debate or launching a ground-breaking employer scheme to incentivise clean holiday travel - we’re always thinking of new ways to cut carbon that involve and benefit the public. 

YOU: Are you someone with a passion for tackling local injustice and environmental problems in a way that gets everyone involved? Are you an active member of your community with a drive to make your city a fairer, safer, healthier and greener place to live? Are you excited by the chance to create local solutions to global challenges like climate change? Are you ready to bring people together behind positive change, even if it means challenging received wisdom about how things should be done? If so, we should talk.

Possible have secured funding for a major new campaign to reduce private car dominance in cities, showing how achieving the big reductions in motor traffic needed to meet climate change targets will also dramatically improve health outcomes and quality of life for people living in cities, particularly in the most polluted areas. The ‘new normal’ post-covid cannot be one where people shun public transport for private cars, or our climate goals will be impossible to meet - and gridlock and toxic air will continue to blight life in Britain’s towns and cities.

Now we are putting together a crack team to make change happen from the bottom up in Birmingham, Leeds & York, Bristol & Bath, and London. Working with local community changemakers as well as city authorities, councillors and other civil society groups, our Car Free Cities campaigners will play a key role in co-producing plans for traffic reduction and urban greening schemes - and in puzzling out how we get to a future where nobody in cities has to depend on owning a car to get around. We will particularly focus on neighbourhoods where few people own cars, yet congestion and pollution levels are sky high. Come and join us - let’s do amazing things together! 

+ About the role

You’ll be a member of an exciting new Car Free Cities team, based across London, Bristol & Bath, Leeds & York, and Birmingham - working alongside the three other local car free cities campaigners, and our new Head of Car Free Cities. The role will be based in London / Bristol or Bath / Leeds or York / Birmingham, and will be a work from home position in the city you live in (office space available in London and Bristol). The car free cities project will run for a minimum of two years from October 2020, and all four community campaigner roles come with a complementary folding Brompton bicycle for those who can and want to cycle for work.

With the support of the Head of Car Free Cities, and your peer campaigners, you’ll be responsible for designing a campaign plan for your city/cities and building the strong local relationships and networks needed to make it happen. You’ll reach out to local communities in areas of low car ownership and high air pollution levels to undertake citizen science projects - supported by academics at the Universities of West England and Westminster - to map traffic flows through their streets. You’ll support communities to develop compelling local visions for low traffic neighbourhoods and urban greening - working closely with our in house transport planner, graphic designer and architectural visualiser - before facilitating the local organising needed to transform those visions into realities.

You won’t stop there - you’ll leverage these pioneering examples of local action to humanise streets, and the grassroots action networks you’ve helped forge to increase city-wide ambition and measures for reducing car dominance, in turn providing inspiration to communities in other towns and cities across the UK which are ready to improve quality of life and tackle climate change.

No mean feat, but across your work you’ll collaborate with and be supported by the campaigns, fundraising and comms teams to develop the most effective mobilisations techniques, tell inspiring stories to leverage change, and build resources to take further action.

At a time when everything is in flux, there is more energy and opportunity than ever to transform our towns and cities into places that put people first, return life to our streets and improve public and planetary health. Of course, there will be challenges too - and together with your teammates and the local networks you build it will be your job to turn this rapidly changing context to up our advantage and the pace of real change. 

As a member of the Possible team you’ll be part of a small, passionate, nimble, unique and positive organisation that cares about its people, its projects and, ultimately, the planet.

The Day to Day 

Indicative responsibilities could include:

• Weekly Zoom meetings with the Car Free Cities project team, and the wider Possible team

• Establishing and maintaining good working relationships with local stakeholders such as community and residents’ groups and leaders, civil society actors and academics, employers and business leaders, schools, councillors and council officers

• Setting up and hosting public meetings in priority communities

• Speaking at other public events about the need to cut traffic and pollution

• Researching statistics and other information sources on local travel patterns, pollution and accident hot spots, problem rat runs etc

• Researching and summarising status of local political action to address these issues, including key barriers to greater ambition

• Writing campaign content that is accessible and meaningful for local communities

• Carrying out local public opinion surveys

• Writing to local newspapers in support of traffic reduction schemes

• Coordinating community responses to official consultations

• Training volunteers to use monitors to carry out citizen science traffic surveys, and communicating findings to local stakeholders

• Liaising with the team’s transport planner to develop local community-led traffic reduction proposals

• Liaising with the team’s creatives to produce compelling visuals setting out problems and proposed solutions

• Advocating for these community-led visions in local and city-wide political fora

• Organising neighbourhood tours on bike and foot for local politicians

• Running competitions with schools to find the best ideas to re-purpose soon-to-be-obsolete petrol stations to meet the needs of local people

• Supporting residents to apply to convert on-street parking spaces to pocket parks, or to organise play streets etc

• Organising local competitions to name new protected cycle lanes

• Contributing to the national Car Free Cities campaign strategy and delivery as needed

• Coming up with your own ideas for creative local interventions to cut traffic

+ Person specification

Competencies can be demonstrated by both paid and voluntary experience.

Must haves

• Strong personal connection to the relevant city/cities

• Track record of being active in your community (or more widely) on social and/or environmental issues

• Strong people skills and experience of working with volunteers, colleagues and project partners

• Good standard of written and spoken communication skills

• Ability to take initiative and work independently, as well as part of a team

• Excellent organisational and time management skills

• Adaptability, enthusiasm, appetite for learning 

• Passion for working with the public to take action, and for helping increase the capacity of people to act and activate others around them

• Commitment to Possible’s positive approach to climate campaigning and passionate about achieving climate justice

Nice to haves

• Working knowledge of local and national climate and transport context and policy

• Experience of public meeting facilitation

• Experience of working with mainstream media and social media

• Event management experience

• Community organising experience

• Contacts in local government, community groups and residents associations, and existing networks of transport / environmental activists and NGOs active in your city

• Basic research skills

• Additional language skills relevant to local communities in your location

+ About Possible

Here at Possible, we have a vision for a low carbon Britain that has been built by and belongs to everybody.

To get there, we dream up projects, build tools and spread success stories to make sure everyone has the help and inspiration they need to play a role in tackling climate change. Our work cuts carbon, but because we work on cultural as well as technical levels, we get people talking about climate change action too. We want our projects to be infectious, so it is always about more than just a solar panel here, or an LED there - it’s about groups of people working together to change the world.

+ Our Values

Inclusivity  Trust and respect   Creativity   Shared ambition

Positivity  Caring and kindness  Integrity  Openness

Not just buzzwords to make us feel warm and fuzzy, these are the values we are guided by in our actions and our organisational culture. Away days help to keep these values alive and we work together to keep our team as supported, empowered and cared for as possible. We’re run by a team of directors rather than one single CEO, and we’re committed to reducing hierarchy wherever possible.

Workplace benefits include:

• 25 days paid holiday (+ bank holidays and three days at Christmas)

• Flexible working

• Paid volunteer leave

• Bike to work scheme

• Complementary Brompton bicycle (these roles only)

• Paid journey days for low carbon holiday travel 

• Childcare vouchers

• Good maternity and paternity leave

• Employer pension contribution

• Access to complementary Headspace account (mindfulness and meditation app)

Overview

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) is a community benefit society and cooperative working to develop healthy, happy communities living active and connected lives.

Our vision is for a society where people have the autonomy, capacity, resources and skills to become the architects of their own destiny; where our individual wellbeing is recognised as being bound up in our collective responsibility to and dependency on each other; and where all of us feel empowered as agents of social change to make a difference – whether at an individual level or more widely.

By working collaboratively with communities we aim to bring about sustainable change on an social, environmental and economic level; to do the social knitting required to create stronger and more resilient communities and to support communities to identify, mitigate and remove the barriers that prevent them from living active and connected lives.

This role will support the Director of Knowledge and Insight (DKI) to make business-critical decisions and manage and develop staff to ensure that the day-to-day business in this directorate runs effectively. The person in this role will utilise their strong leadership qualities and organisational skills  to represent the DKI and TAWS at senior levels and develop and implement strategic plans and processes. They will also identify and realise income-generating opportunities in this directorate and wider. This role will also directly lead the Marketing Team and Research, Performance and Insight Teams and must have proven extensive track record of successfully managing similar functions as well as a strong data, research and analysis skills and knowledge of marketing and communications.

Main responsibilities:

• Work with the Director of Knowledge and Insight to lead and develop the functions in this directorate and identify and implement opportunities to expand the team. This includes recruitment and training activities.

•Lead the marketing, research, performance and insight functions, developing first-class skills and capacity that provides evidence and insight to inform strategy and delivery.

•Prioritise and manage resources and budget effectively, in line with finance policies and processes.

•Provide subject-matter expert knowledge across a wide breadth of research, performance and insight matters for the organisation and external stakeholders and partners.

•Lead on the development of robust marketing, research and insight strategy and policies in accordance to our vision and values.

•Lead on the development and implementation of performance measurement frameworks to monitor and report on progress across our projects and contracts, and inform decisions and planning of services.

•Manage collaborative partnerships that expand the geographic footprint and influence in which TAWS delivers. Work to ensure established relationships with current funders and partners are consolidated and maintained.

•Identify, develop and successfully realise business and consultancy opportunities, supporting the directorate to generate income as well as build a reputation for TAWS as market-leader in marketing, data, research and insight services.

•Work closely with the function leads in the directorate to ensure the effective management and co-ordination of processes and projects and provide effective support across the organisation.

•As part of the Leadership Team work to embed the organisational culture required to implement the mission, aim and values of the society and provide leadership and direction for TAWS.

•Line manage staff, following staff policies and procedures, conducting1:1s and appraisals, monitoring absence and attendance, and assigning tasks. Ensure staff are managed effectively.

Strategic Scope:

•Leads on formulation and application of strategy.

•Has extensive experience of delivering strategy for an entire function and operating at a senior managerial level (but below board level) in an organisation.

•Leads the function in following the organisation's strategic plan.

•Makes decisions critical to the organisation's success.

Business Skills:

•Heads a major function within the organisation.

•Accountable for financial performance in several specified areas

•Has a broad and deep knowledge of their technical or professional specialty and is able to apply that knowledge and its implications to the wider business.

Complexity:

•Represents the company and/or their industry at high levels (ie nationally or internationally).

•Understands, explains and presents complex technical ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences at all levels in a persuasive and convincing manner.

Autonomy:

•Establishes organisational objectives and delegates responsibilities.

•Accountable for actions and decisions made not only by themselves, but by subordinates.

Benefits:

· Bring your own device - £20 towards your phone bill monthly.

· Health Shield – discounted health benefit against eye examinations/prescriptions.

· +Plus EAP (counseling and DRs on call 24hrs a day)

· Death in Service – 4 times your salary paid to beneficiary.

· Nest Pension – 8% paid by TAWS 3 % paid by employee.

· Annual Leave – 25-29 days AL plus 5 wellbeing days

· Flexible working.

Overview

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) is a community benefit society and cooperative working to develop healthy, happy communities living active and connected lives.

Our vision is for a society where people have the autonomy, capacity, resources and skills to become the architects of their own destiny; where our individual wellbeing is recognised as being bound up in our collective responsibility to and dependency on each other; and where all of us feel empowered as agents of social change to make a difference – whether at an individual level or more widely.

By working collaboratively with communities we aim to bring about sustainable change on an social, environmental and economic level; to do the social knitting required to create stronger and more resilient communities and to support communities to identify, mitigate and remove the barriers that prevent them from living active and connected lives.

This role oversees the management and development of the community food work. The role ensures good quality, effective delivery of the existing offer, ensuring that the work is delivered in line with the organisations values and requirements. This role is also responsible for supporting the development of new business, in conjunction with the Chief Executive and other directors as required.  

Main responsibilities:

· Manage and develop the work of the existing Big Feed Project within the organisation.

· Further develop the work of the community kitchens across the city, linking them to initiatives like the share shacks and other similar opportunities.

· Oversee and develop the food justice network in Birmingham and more widely.

· Manage and develop budgets and business planning around the work with community food.

· Work collaboratively with the funding manager to bring in additional funding for new areas of work in relation to food justice.

· Manage relationships across the city and the region regarding the wider work on food justice, as well as developing key partnerships for the delivery of additional initiatives with communities around food.

· Oversee the work of the community and coops manager, linking their work with the wider work of the organisation as well as with the work around community food.

· Develop the strategy for the organisation regarding community food in conjunction with the Chief Executive.

· Develop further sharing projects for the organisation that link to community food and ‘commensality’ (communal eating as a community development activity)

· Ensure the performance of the community food against required targets, together with overseeing a directorate plan with the Chief Executive

· Ensure the networks are developed and relationships are in place to support the flow of food within the community networks in the city

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Strategic Scope of the role:

· Leads on formulation and application of strategy in practice.

· Has extensive experience of delivering strategy for an entire function and operating at a senior managerial level (but below board level) in an organisation.

· Leads the function in following the organisation's strategic plan.

· Makes decisions critical to the organisation's success.

· Heads a major function within the organisation

· Accountable for financial performance in several specified areas.

·  

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Business Skills and experience required:

· Has a broad and deep knowledge of their technical or professional specialty and is able to apply that knowledge and its implications to the wider business.

· Has demonstrable experience of working within/ establishing cooperatives and applying cooperative principles in their practice

· Has demonstrable experience of the wider sharing economy and establishing collaborative interventions in this area

· Has budget management skills and demonstrable experience of budget setting and monitoring

· Has demonstrable experience of working with/setting up social enterprises

· Can clearly show a background in areas of community food work including: cooking/ menu planning/ food supply/ growing food/ nutrition/ food justice

· Can demonstrate excellent people management skills and clear communication skills including understanding of resourcing new projects and managing staff as a key asset within organisations

· Is able to demonstrate success in raising funding and developing new projects and collaborations

· Has experience of community work and supporting and developing networks of shared interest and purpose

Complexity:

· Represents the company and/or their industry at high levels (ie. nationally or internationally).

· Understands, explains and presents complex technical ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences at all levels in a persuasive and convincing manner.

Autonomy:

· Establishes organisational objectives and delegates responsibilities.

· Accountable for actions and decisions made not only by themselves, but by those that they manage.

Benefits:

· Bring your own device - £20 towards your phone bill monthly.

· Health Shield – discounted health benefit against eye examinations/prescriptions.

· +Plus EAP (counseling and DRs on call 24hrs a day)

· Death in Service – 4 times your salary paid to beneficiary.

· Nest Pension – 8% paid by TAWS 3 % paid by employee.

· Annual Leave – 25-29 days AL plus 5 wellbeing days

· Flexible working.

Summary of Role

This is a fantastic opportunity to bring your finance skills to this vibrant and growing heritage charity. The Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust is a separate entity to the SVR Holdings Company who operate and run this much loved attraction.  The Trust’s focus is to help secure the future of the Severn Valley Railway through donations, grants and sponsorship.  The position of Finance Manager will be an integral part of the team and responsible for the efficient co-ordination and maintenance of the charity's accounts, ensuring the smooth operation and financial compliance of the Trust.

You will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the finance function of the organisation and will work closely with the Trust’s Director of Development and Fundraising Co-ordinator.  There is a part-time finance administrator to support with processing.
 

You will be solely responsible for maintaining the Trust’s financial records including: processing transactions; preparing and maintaining the Trust’s nominal accounts; monitoring bank accounts; contributing to funding applications and financial reporting.

 
The charity is VAT registered, so an understanding of VAT as well as Gift Aid issues, or a willingness to learn, will be essential.  You will have excellent attention to detail and be able to communicate well both within the organisation and externally. You will be an integral part of the team and will need to be able to clearly explain financial requirements to colleagues without a financial background. You will ideally have experience of Xero accounting system and Access CRM packages.

Main Responsibilities

• To lead the finance activity within the Trust, managing all accounting and finance activities, and ensuring ongoing financial viability.
• Assist in preparing annual budgets.
• Provide monthly financial information to the Director of Development and Trustees.
• Production of monthly management accounts and end-of-year reports.
• Prepare and monitor monthly cash flows for the Trust and projects managed by the Trust.
• Working with an external chartered accountant to ensure the timely production of statutory accounts.
• Management of bank balances and credit card facilities.
• Monitoring Charity Commission, Companies House and HMRC records and submissions.
• Prepare and submit quarterly VAT returns.
• Ensuring financial compliance of the Trust including operating within VAT limits.
• Maintain the fixed assets register, including recording acquisitions and disposals, and process annual depreciation charges.
• Monitor monthly processes including AR & AP (accounts receivable & payable) and payroll.
• Produce ad-hoc reports as required.
• Providing financial information for grant and other funding applications.
• Contributing to the financial reporting and claiming to external funding agencies.

• Create and maintain financial procedures manual.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade and responsibilities of this post.

Person specification

Experience

• You will be a qualified accountant or working to qualifications, with a mixture of financial and management accounting experience at a senior level, with significant experience in the main duties as outlined above.
• Good understanding of the charity SORP, VAT, taxation and company legislation.

Skills and abilities

• Strong organisation and time management skills. Able to plan / prioritise own work and meet agreed deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail and methodical approach to tasks.
• Competent use of MS Outlook, Excel, Word and the Internet.
• Strong numerical / budgeting skills.
• Strong data processing skills.

Attitude and Personal Qualities

• Motivated, reliable and professional.
• Flexible, able and willing to respond to changing priorities.
• Strong team player with collaborative working style, who enjoys individual and team working.
• Willing to participate in all activities relevant to the role.
• Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends.
• Commitment to the principles of Equality and Diversity.

This role is 3 days per week and the salary is £20,000 to £23,000 pro-rata.

Working with the project delivery manager you will have:-

 The ability to talk to a range of people, including presenting to groups.  Exceptionally strong administration skills including reporting and monitoring finances.  A passion for working with volunteers and sharing stories across communities, using an array of communication platforms, including social media.  Strong writing skills to create web, social media and internal content.  Experience of planning, organising and evaluating local events, ideally within the heritage sector or the local community. We are seeking an enthusiastic and dynamic individual who is proactive and results driven, who will learn quickly and become a key team player in the delivery of the project.

This is your chance to join an amazing local charity that is committed to safeguarding the Severn Valley Railway for future generations whilst further developing your skills. 

Job Purpose

To support the project delivery manager to deliver both the restoration and the educational elements of the Falling Sands Viaduct; a project, including this role, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Duties and Responsibilities  Assist in organising the ‘reopening’ events programme with the operation team at the SVR, including the events coordinator  Liaise and support volunteers.  Assist the project delivery manager in developing relationships with external partners and stakeholders to improve community engagement in the project and organise events.  Provide strong administration and co-ordination skills to monitor and report on activity.  Raise awareness of the project, writing strong and engaging copy to inform all stakeholders and using all communication platforms to share the news.  Keep donors updated on the progress on the project.  Undertake monitoring, reporting and administrative role maintaining good records of activity and interpretation progress against the agreed HLF action plan and budget

Key Accountabilities

 Report to the Falling Sands project delivery manager.  Provide timely information on progress, assisting in completing Heritage Fund progress reports.  Perform within targets and timescales.  Engage with staff to maximise the publicity and engagement of the project.  Ensure that the capturing of any data meets the requirement of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018).  Follow the Trusts safeguarding policy and report any concerns in accordance with the safeguarding procedures.  Actively participate in supervision and appraisal sessions, identifying your own learning and development needs and participating in learning activities relevant to the Trusts commitment to providing high quality services.  Work at all times with due regard to the policies and procedures of the Trust, including financial regulations.  Carry out other tasks as reasonably required by the Director of Development.

Qualifications, knowledge and experience required

 Exceptionally strong administration skills (essential)  Trained and experienced in the use of MS Office software (essential)  Experience in planning and organising events (desirable)  Experience of motivating and managing volunteers and/or working with a range of people  Understanding of using social media in a work capacity.  Experience in presenting to different audiences (desirable)  Experience of working or volunteering for a heritage organisation (desirable not essential)  Knowledge of GDPR regulations – or a willingness to learn to a high standard. 

We will offer  Free parking.  Subsidised meals.  Flexible working hours.

As a volunteering organisation, we ask staff to volunteer 5 days per year during our busy season.

Wolves SU exists to represent all of its 22,000 members - every Wolverhampton University student. This is a great opportunity to play a key role in developing a dynamic charity as we formulate a new strategic plan that better meets the students' needs. We have an income of over £1m and more than 20 core staff, students and volunteers working together to promote student interests, support their welfare and provide social, cultural, sporting and recreational activities.

There is something very special about our students. Many have overcome multiple systemic barriers simply to get to university. This often means that they require support and guidance to get the most from their time at university and achieve their potential when they leave. This has been compounded by the Coronavirus pandemic, so never has it been more important to provide effective support. We do this by providing our students with everything from access to foodbanks to high-quality AQS accredited advice services as well as providing representation functions to amplify their voice to the university and wider local and national communities. 

We are looking for a Head of Influence & Student Engagement to provide strategic leadership to our Influence and Student Engagement teams. We have not always effectively supported our students to have the genuine life-changing and inspirational experience they deserve. With this in mind, we had an external review and over the past 12 months, we have been on a programme of organisational change.

This is now an exciting chance to lead a new team where we will want you to innovate, help us develop new ways of engaging with students, and use their voice to influence others. The new department of influence and student engagement will be responsible for the core membership services at the heart of the Students’ Union to improve the overall student experience. These services and activities currently include, but are not limited to; representation, advocacy, community engagement and communications.

Our potential is huge and with the right leadership, we can now make a great difference to many people’s lives. We must appoint somebody motivated and driven by that aim. The future is about innovation. We have started to innovate with our sector-leading school rep system. But we know we can do so much more.

We are seeking an individual who can lead, influence, and add value to our senior leadership team. 

We are open-minded about if you have worked in an SU before or not but do expect that you have comparable experience lead at least one of the following functions: Representation, advocacy, community engagement, communications and/or strategic leadership.

We want you to build, lead and inspire a high performing team, any relevant experience of doing this would be highly advantageous.

We strongly encourage people who have experienced or addressed racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism or any other form of discrimination affects people’s lives to apply.

Whatever your background and identity, you must be prepared to make appropriate interventions that support more inclusivity and challenge such behaviours when you see them and be able to support others to do the same. Having some of your own experiences of overcoming barriers and/or supporting others to overcome them would be desirable.