Chance to Shine are looking for a Finance and Office Assistant to join our small team based at the Oval Cricket Ground. Despite the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic, we are proud of how we have managed to adapt our delivery to ensure we are able to continue to help young people to play, learn and develop through cricket. The role would suit a well organised individual, with strong attention to detail, looking to further their career in finance. As a small team, this role will have the opportunity to support a wide range of administrative tasks within the Finance & Resources department. You don’t need to be familiar with cricket but being supportive of our aims and sympathetic to our values are vital

Job Title – Finance and Office Assistant

Salary - £21,000 - £23,000 per annum depending on experience

Contract Type – Permanent (Full time), 37.5 hour/week

Benefits - 8% non-contributary pension, private medical healthcare, life insurance, 25 days annual leave (with additional non-contractual time at Christmas when the office is closed), season ticket loan scheme

Location – London Office, The Kia Oval, London SE11 5SW

Reporting to – Management Accountant

Closing Date – 12th February 2021

Background

Chance to Shine has been at the forefront in the delivery of sport for good for over 15 years, with a far-reaching national programme that spreads the power of cricket to schools, hospitals and communities across the country. Our ambition of ensuring that every child has the opportunity to play and learn and develop through cricket has seen us reach more than five million children in over 16,000 states schools and 200 community projects. We are passionate about what we do, and pride ourselves on our inclusivity. At Chance to Shine we truly believe that cricket is a game for all, and have showcased this through the work on our Street programme, our support for Black History Month, and our dedicated Secondary School Girls programme. Chance to Shine is a leader in using technology to support our efforts, with live streamed sessions, online fundraising events, and an innovative digital portal providing free online coaching resources. Based at London’s historic Oval cricket ground, this is an exciting time to join the team as Chance to Shine continues to help change the lives of children and young people across the UK, developing the personal, social and physical skills of the 500,000 children that we work with every year and having fun whilst doing it.

Purpose of the Role

The core purpose of Finance and Office Assistant’s role is to support the Finance and Resources team at Chance to Shine. The Finance and Resources team provide day to day support to all departments in the charity and trading subsidiary, Chance to Shine Enterprises Ltd, around finance, office, HR and general administration.

Key Responsibilities

The Finance and Office Assistant’s responsibilities include:

Finance

• Recording and analysing income and expenditure and posting transactions onto SAGE 50 Accounts
• Banking cash and cheques received
• Raising invoices and monitoring debtors
• Administering invoice approval and payment processes
• Operating expense claim procedures and payments
• Support delivery partner expenditure review process
• Support Finance & Resources department as required with ad hoc administrative support

Office Administration:

• Oversee and monitor the Office and Administration budget.
• To ensure that the general office space is always fully operational including collecting and distributing incoming post and keeping postage, printing and stationery supplies readily available.
• To liaise with the Kia Oval, regarding the general office space, car-parking, meeting rooms and staff accreditation. 
• Help manage storage space at Kia Oval and offsite.
• To oversee day-to-day compliance with health & safety obligations at the Chance to Shine Kia Oval office. To include duties such as: fire and general office risk assessments and maintenance of incident log.

General support

• To provide administrative support for HR processes, including drafting letters and maintaining employee records.
• To manage the process of inducting new employees to CTS, including managing office and IT requirements.
• To help monitor the charity inbox and respond to general enquiries.
• To take minutes at Chance to Shine Board and Committee meetings.
• To provide diary support to the Chief Executive.
• To help out, as required at Chance to Shine events, such as fundraisers, media events and regional Chance to Compete finals.
• To support all departments as required with ad hoc administrative support.

Key relationships

The job holder will liaise with:

• Chief Executive and the CTS senior management team
• External contractors, landlords, volunteers and suppliers
• Operations, Fundraising, PR & Communications and Impact & Evaluation teams
• ECB People, IT and Finance teams

Skills, knowledge & personal competencies

The job holder should be able to demonstrate the following:

• Excellent IT skills: knowledge and experience of using MS Office Excel, Word and Outlook
• Strong administrative skills and attention to detail
• Experience working in an organisation with a customer service culture
• Able to plan and prioritise and work under pressure
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Able to work on own initiative-confident/self-starter/finisher
• An effective and enthusiastic team player
• Willingness to learn with a can do attitude
• Enthusiasm to embrace Chance to Shine values: Inspiring, ambitious, passionate, inclusive and fun

Experience & qualifications

Essential

• Office experience in a similar sized organisation

• Experience of SAGE 50 Accounts or similar accounting system or a willingness and aptitude to learn
• AAT or similar level accounting qualification (or studying towards) or a strong desire to study accounting as a vocation

Desirable

• Experience in a finance support role
• Experience in taking meeting minutes
• Familiarity with CRM contact databases (Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce or similar)

To apply:

Chance to Shine is committed to ensuring that the diversity of our staff team reflects the full diversity of the young people that we serve. Therefore, we welcome applications from all communities.

Please submit your CV and a covering letter explaining what makes you the ideal candidate for the role and what attracts you to Chance to Shine to [email protected] .org by 5pm on Friday 12th February 2021. We advise submitting your application as early as possible as we may have to close the advert sooner if oversubscribed. Interviews provisionally week commencing 22nd February. Due to Covid-19 restrictions interviews will be conducted via video conference.

• Do you have a proven track record in fundraising, development, and communications, and would you like to join an innovative, place-based partnership?
• Do you thrive on rolling your sleeves up and personally getting stuck in, as well as working collaboratively with partners, teams, and boards?
• Are you passionate, as we are, about addressing issues around poverty and inequality?
• If so, then you might be just the person we are looking for to lead our ambitious development and communications strategies for Islington Giving and Cripplegate Foundation.

About you

The new Director of Development and Communications, in addition to having a strong track record in fundraising from a range of donors and sources, will need to be consultative, with strong listening skills and respect for the opinions of others. They will need the confidence and expertise to advise and guide their small team, board, and governors. They will need to be able to relate to the big picture and vision, whilst also being able to consider the detail. We would be delighted to hear from you, especially if you:

• Have a strong track record in fundraising and development.
• Enjoy rolling your sleeves up and leading and implementing fundraising and development plans yourself, as well as guiding others.
• Are flexible, collaborative, and work very well as part of a committed team within a small organisation.
• Have experience of leading and managing.
• Are a strong communicator and relationship builder.
• Have a commitment to ensuring that Islington Giving and Cripplegate Foundation continue to flourish.

We value diversity, equality, and inclusivity. Applications are especially welcomed from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, disability, and religion. Please let us know if you would like any additional support with this application, or the role.

Find more information in application pack or on Islington Giving webpage

Are you looking to apply your skills to a passionate network committed to positive change? Are you interested in helping groups to develop and learn? Can you pull information together, work as part of a team and support volunteers? Are you comfortable working online as part of a distributed team? Are you willing to start small and help to grow the network, and the role? Are you looking for a flexible working pattern in an organisation committed to good People Care? If so, read on!

Who are we?

The Permaculture Association works to empower individuals and communities to design their homes, gardens, farms, businesses and whole lives in order to collectively generate a sustainable future. By putting ethics first and using natural systems as a model, there are simple and innovative ways to live fairly and sustainably now and in the future.

Our work is wide-ranging and varied, supporting permaculture education, research, networking and action. We are a growing charity, with 1700(+) members, and partnerships with organisations in the UK and internationally.

The Projects Network Development Officer role in a nutshell

We are seeking a projects network development officer to join our small and dedicated team. We work online using G-Suite, CiviCRM, Slack, & Zoom and other tools to enable us to collaborate and stay connected. Duties of the post will include:

• Projects network support, including hosting monthly Zoom socials for members of the Association's LAND network and wider projects
• Strategy and fundraising, including working with the network and CEO to identify and develop funding opportunities to further support this work
• Farming engagement support, including supporting members contributions to the Northern Real Farming Conference & Oxford Real Farming Conference
• Finance, admin, monitoring and evaluation, using our online co-working tools
• Communications & Events, including supporting and attending events, and providing news and updates to the Communications team and the website

Who we are looking for

As an inclusive employer and membership organisation, we want our staff team to better reflect the communities in which we live and work. Therefore we welcome applications from all sections of the community. We are committed to creating an organisation that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.

We are a small team and we want someone who is conscientious and well organised, able to be flexible, responsive and positive, and passionate about support our practical permaculture projects network to develop and thrive.

What next?

Please read the full Job Description and Person Specification carefully, and get in touch if you have any questions or would like an informal discussion. The application form and all supporting information can be found via our website or attached here. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sanctuary Hosting is a charity working across the Thames Valley to match people who are homeless and in the asylum process, as well as people fleeing domestic abuse and human trafficking / modern day slavery by placing them in a rent-free spare room for an agreed period of time. 

Sanctuary Hosting is a registered UK charity managed by a board of trustees (the Management Committee). It was founded in 2015 by Oxford City of Sanctuary to provide one solution to the problem of homeless sanctuary seekers on our streets. The project matches destitute asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants with open-hearted volunteer hosts in the community. The service operates across the Thames Valley, mainly in Oxford, Milton Keynes, Marlow and Reading.

Sanctuary Hosting attaches great importance to ensuring volunteer support workers, volunteer hosts (henceforth referred to collectively as volunteers) and guests are properly assessed and supported and that everything is done to ensure that placements are safe and have the best possible chance of succeeding. All volunteers are interviewed and both DBS and reference checks are undertaken. Similarly, guests are interviewed and references are taken.

In the past five years we have helped 116 people from 27 countries who were homeless to find accommodation and provided over 22,000 nights of accommodation. The vast majority of the people assisted have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and are destitute. To enable the delivery of the hosting service, Sanctuary Hosting has engaged 80 households to host and worked with over 50 support worker volunteers.

Overall Purpose of the Post

The Director has overall responsibility for the safe and effective delivery of the service. Reporting to the Management Committee they ensure that the work is carried out to meet the requirements of funders and within budget. They manage the Service Co-ordinator (Oxford & Milton Keynes area) and Project Worker (Reading & Marlow area) to ensure the effective recruitment, training, support and supervision of all Sanctuary Hosting’s volunteers. They oversee the staff and volunteer team in their processing, assessment and response to guest referrals as well as the coordination, facilitation and support of hosting placements.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Management of the charity

Work with the Management Committee to develop and implement operational plans, policies and procedures to ensure the scheme functions effectively and safely.

Work with the Fundraising Committee to identify funding opportunities and work with the Committee to make appropriate funding applications, respond to fundraising opportunities and build relationships with individual donors.

Ensure all monitoring and evaluation reports are delivered on time, according to the requirements of the funder.

Work with the Management Committee to extend coverage of the hosting scheme to other parts of the Thames Valley where there is unmet need.

Develop mechanisms for collecting feedback from guests and volunteers and ensure this feedback is used to develop and improve the Sanctuary Hosting scheme.

Collate and analyse information on the work of Sanctuary Hosting, producing statistical and narrative reports about the scheme’s performance for funders, regulating bodies and the Management Committee as required.

Ensure service standards, volunteer competencies and health and safety procedures are implemented and maintained across all areas of activity.

Develop volunteer recruitment policies, systems and procedures, working with the Sanctuary Hosting Management Committee.

Keep abreast of immigration and asylum policy with a view to working with the Management Committee to respond and adapt to the needs of people who are homeless with no recourse to public funds in the Thames Valley.

Management of staff and volunteers

Carry out line management of the Service Coordinator and the Project Worker, ensuring they are effectively supported, supervised and trained.

Oversee the recruitment of volunteers according to the scheme’s procedures, ensuring that they are assessed and inducted.

Oversee the recruitment, training, support and supervision of volunteers to support guests and hosts, ensuring that all volunteers have a clear understanding of their role and remit and receive appropriate support and supervision.

Oversee the group peer support for the Sanctuary Hosting community (guests, hosts staff and support workers) providing opportunities for all to share their experiences and learning.

Develop guidance, tools and training resources and deliver training to enable volunteers to carry out their roles safely and competently.

Ensure that volunteers are fully aware of and trained in appropriate health and safety procedures and risk assessments.

Develop signposting and referral resources to ensure guests with additional needs can be supported appropriately.

Support staff and volunteers to resolve complex issues that might arise within the Sanctuary Hosting community.

Referral and caseload management

Oversee all referrals to the hosting scheme to ensure they are assessed and responded to in a timely and professional manner.

Work with the Welfare Committee to manage guest placements and financial support, ensuring that any difficulties are resolved in an appropriate and timely manner.

Promotion, communications and developing partnerships

Be responsible for the Sanctuary Hosting monthly newsletter and for regular activity to promote the service on social media, aiming to recruit more hosts, volunteers and donors.

Proactively promote and publicise the Sanctuary Hosting scheme through attending relevant forums, meetings and events and giving presentations about the scheme.

Work collaboratively with members of the Management Committee and actively seek opportunities for collaborative and joint working relationships externally, which will enable the scheme to better meet the needs of its service users

Work productively and appropriately with existing partners including Citizens Advice Reading and the British Red Cross.

Build and maintain relationships with statutory, voluntary, community and faith organisations working with refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants in the Thames Valley Area and nationally as necessary.

Administration

Develop appropriate GDPR compliant systems to record personal details, availability and whereabouts of the Sanctuary Hosting community and ensure these are maintained by the staff team.

Develop effective systems for tracking actions carried out on behalf of individuals referred to the scheme and ensure these are maintained by the staff team.

Oversee timely and professional processing and response to enquiries.

General

Implement and adhere to Sanctuary Hosting’s policies and procedures, including Health and Safety and Equal Opportunities.

Make known to the Management Committee any circumstances, errors or omissions that may have a detrimental effect on scheme and its stakeholders.

Work with the Sanctuary Hosting Chair and Treasurer to assist with developing, implementing and managing operating plans and budget.

Work flexibly in accordance with the needs of Sanctuary Hosting, including undertaking out of hours and weekend work as required.

Commit to on-going professional development by participating in regular clinical and management supervision, relevant external meetings, forums and available training.

Person specification

Job Title: Director

Experience

• Experience of developing and delivering high quality, confidential, user-centred services for vulnerable people** E
• Experience of providing support services to refugees, asylum seekers and/or vulnerable migrants** E
• Experience of recruiting, supporting, managing and supervising volunteers and staff** E
• Experience of fundraising and reporting on existing grants. **E
• Experience of developing and maintaining effective working relationships with external stakeholders**E
• Experience of developing, monitoring and evaluating services or projects in response to service user needs** D
• Experience of supervision of staff and volunteers in challenging, frontline services ** D
• Experience of delivering participatory training **D

​Knowledge/ Technical Skills

• Working knowledge of issues affecting refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants**E
• Working knowledge and understanding of legal provisions and good practice in relation to vulnerable people**E
• Knowledge of statutory and voluntary services that provide support to refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants**E
• Understanding of how to develop and implement operating plans, policies and procedures**D
• Knowledge of health and safety good practice in a service delivery environment**D
• Understanding of how to collate and interpret service delivery information including statistics and user feedback**E
• Competent user of email, Word, Excel, databases, internet and social media**E
• Understanding of how to manage and monitor budgets**E
• Excellent interpersonal skills including conflict resolution and consultation skills**E
• Ability to communicate with people of diverse cultures and empower people by identifying and working with their strengths**E

Competencies

• Ability to write clearly and accurately and give verbal presentations**E
• Ability to work flexibly as part of a team**E
• Ability to motivate, develop and supervise others**E
• Ability to manage own time and workload and prioritise a range of competing tasks within the working hours allocated **E
• Ability to monitor and improve service quality through active consultation** E​

Behaviours

• Able to ensure equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practices and promote diversity**E
• Able to recognise and value the contribution of others**E
• Able to take responsibility for own actions and to undertake reflective learning**E
• Able to uphold confidentiality in all aspects of the work with service users, volunteers and colleagues**E
• Able to maintain boundaries in a demanding, frontline context**E

Special Circumstances

• Able to work flexible hours, including some evenings and weekends as required**E
• Able and willing to travel in Oxford and the surrounding Thames Valley area on a regular basis as necessary**E
• Current driving licence valid for use in the UK and access to own vehicle**D

E = Essential criteria

D = Desirable criteria