Green Finance Officer
Salary: £35,000 - £40,000
Location: Home-based, Office facilities available, some UK travel will be required
Full Time: 35 hours per week
Fixed-Term: 18 months
Closing date for applications: 16th June 2024
First interview: 28th June 2024
Second interview: 9th July 2024
About our client
This project is funded by the Nature Networks Programme. The Heritage Fund is delivering it on behalf of the Welsh Government.
Do you want to be part of a team leading the field in the development of private investment into nature’s recovery?
In the past 18 months, The Trusts have been developing new approaches to funding nature’s recovery from the private sector, utilising novel revenue approaches such as nutrient neutrality credits and the voluntary carbon market amongst others. They have developed finance mechanisms to sit alongside these revenue streams such as a philanthropic loan system. They now want to scale up this work to help The Trusts and others to scale nature’s recovery across Wales. They need to turn policy into strong principles that allows us to develop guidelines and templates to help the Trusts across Wales access green finance.
Our client need dedicated expertise and capacity to work with the Trusts to bring this work into a coherent strategy, develop models and plans that build revenues for nature’s recovery allowing much greater investment. This post is designed to provide that expertise and capacity to work alongside those Trust staff that are already committed to developing these programmes.
Our client is the central charity which supports the federation of 46 independent Trusts working for nature’s recovery across the UK, Alderney and the Isle of Man. The Trusts’ vision is of a thriving natural world, with abundant wildlife and healthy natural habitats playing a valued role in addressing the climate and ecological emergencies, and everyone inspired to take action for nature’s recovery.
Collectively, The Trusts have more than 900,000 members, employ 3,500 staff, look after over 2,300 nature reserves, operate 123 visitor and education centres and own 29 working farms. The role of the trust is to ensure a strong voice for wildlife at a UK level and to provide strategic leadership, support and development for The Trusts. They provide shared expertise in areas such as climate change, digital fundraising, nature-based solutions, policy and safeguarding. They facilitate UK-wide communities of practice to share learning and replicate successful approaches so that together they are more than the sum of their parts. They support the individual Trusts to be a strong force for nature in their local areas and to work together to achieve even greater impact as a collective.
The Trusts are on a mission to bring about a people-powered nature and climate recovery by empowering people to take meaningful action for nature, and to create an inclusive society where nature matters to everyone, everywhere. They are ambitious in their desire not just to slow, but to reverse the declines in nature. Together they have developed a bold, new collective strategy which outlines their vision and the actions they will take to restore nature over the next eight years.
Central to their strategy are their three goals which set out what they are striving to achieve by 2030 in pursuit of their vision of a thriving natural world. Goal 1 is to put nature into recovery with abundant, diverse wildlife and natural processes creating wilder land and seascapes where people and nature thrive. Goal 2 is to inspire people to take action for nature and climate, resulting in better decision-making for the environment at both local level and across the four UK nations. And Goal 3 is to enable nature to play a central and valued role in helping to address local and global problems, such as by helping tackle climate change and supporting wellbeing and education.
Achieving these ambitious objectives means that they must develop new ways of working which increase the scale and impact of their work. Therefore, they have embarked on a programme of strategic transformations that are essential to achieving their goals, and which will result in a stronger and more effective Trust movement for the long term. They are leading the transformation programme across The Trusts including in community organising, equality, diversity and inclusion, and funding nature’s recovery. The Trusts have existed for over 100 years thanks to a strong membership base and traditional fundraising activities.
Now, to achieve the level of funding needed to reverse nature’s decline, they need to diversify and increase their income by exploring new ways of funding such as innovative finance.
About You
You will be from a commercial background within private, public or charitable sector. You will have an entrepreneurial approach grounded by great commercial experience. They would expect an understanding of the green finance marketplace and that you are comfortable with legal and contract management. You will be a great communicator, with a personable style who can work with many different people across the wonderful variety of geography, business development, and activities of the Trusts.
You relish challenging the status quo and problem solving. This is a new and ambitious role which will evolve following your appointment so you should be excited by the flexibility and opportunities to take an innovative approach.
The Trusts value passion, respect, trust, integrity, pragmatic activism and strength in diversity. Whilst they are passionate in promoting their aims, they are not judgemental and are inclusive. They particularly encourage applications from people who are underrepresented within their sector, including people from minority backgrounds and people with disabilities. They are committed to creating a movement that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.
Our client take our Safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Please refer to the documents section to read the commitment statement
As a Disability Confident employer, they are committed to offering an interview to anyone with a disability that meets all the essential criteria for the post. Please let them know if you require any adjustments to make their recruitment process more accessible.
This role maybe subject to a DBS check.
Salary: £24,102 per annum plus £1,500 budget for personal and professional development
Contract: Fixed term for 15 months
Location: Homeworking (within UK), with the option to work from any of our Shelter Hubs across the UK
Hours: 37.5 per week (pro-rata if part time is preferred)
Closing date: 16th June 11.30pm
We’re looking for passionate individuals with personal experience of homelessness, bad housing, which may include other related disadvantages such as substance misuse and mental ill-health; to come and join us and make a difference to the way we do things. If you believe that people should have a say in their own support and that they should be at the front of making meaningful change then this could be the traineeship for you.
About Shelter
A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination and the threat of eviction. So, we are striving for change, with individuals, in communities, across society, and leading the way to a safe home. We need ambitious, best-in-class individuals who are passionate about our cause to join us at this exciting time. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
At Shelter we are united by our purpose to defend the right to a safe home. Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. We believe that to win that fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement for change. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, fair, equitable and transparent. We have committed to combat racism both within and outside Shelter and welcome you on our journey to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.
About the role
This is a great opportunity to work within the Stories team at Shelter, recruiting people from within relevant services and outside the organisation to share their experiences to support Shelter’s fundraising, media, services, campaigning, research and brand work. As well as making contact with people willing to share their stories, you’ll be able to listen to someone’s experience and write a summary of their story. The traineeship lasts 15 months and you will receive personalised training and support to help remove some of the barriers that may have prevented you from getting meaningful employment. Once your traineeship is complete, we will support you in securing further employment in the future.
About you
We are looking for people who have lived experience of homelessness/bad housing and overcoming personal challenges and who are passionate about using their own life experiences to help make positive change for others. Good communication skills and the ability to make people feel heard will also be essential. Basic computer skills, e.g. word processing, the internet and email would be useful, but support can be provided. Above all, we need people with a real desire to develop personally and learn new skills.
How to apply
To apply you need to submit a copy of your CV and a completed copy of the application form. This can be submitted by email.
If you need support to create a CV please contact Sally Duckworth (GROW Officer) either via email.
We will be holding support sessions on Zoom to give people practical support and advice on how to complete an application. These sessions will also give you the chance to find out more about the role as well as other opportunities at Shelter. This will take place on:
Monday 10th June 2024, 1-3pm, online: https://shelter-org-uk.zoom.us/j/84646460768?pwd=fLwF87MbVm67wInVZhQx833mXi7oK3.1 Meeting ID: 846 4646 0768 Passcode: 74994782
We encourage all applicants to attend a session before submitting an application, if you are interested in coming along then please let Sally know beforehand.
When applying, we appreciate it may feel unusual to be talking about your lived experience to a prospective employer. Please be assured that we ask for this only to assess your suitability for a role that’s designed to help people to use their experiences to develop a career.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme. Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We’re here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.
When applying, we appreciate it may feel unusual to be talking about your lived experience to a prospective employer. Please be assured that we ask for this only to assess your suitability for a role that’s designed to help people to use their experiences to develop a career. If you feel you have the necessary lived experience, please apply and draw this out as much as you can in the application to increase your chances of being invited to interview.
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies. Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.