Group head of fundraising jobs

Location: Hybrid role working in North East England (primarily home-based with significant regional travel)

Base region: Tees Valley and Tyne & Wear

Coverage: This is a home-based role that requires regular weekly travel to schools and colleges across the North East. You will be expected to work extensively throughout Tees Valley and Tyne & Wear, with specific current activity hubs in Cramlington, Walkergate, Hartlepool, Stanley and Redcar. Regional location throughout the North East will change according to programme demand.

Applicants must hold a full, clean driving licence and have the ability and willingness to travel regularly across the region.

Reporting to: National Programmes Manager

Application Deadline: Wednesday 8th July at 9AM. We encourage early applications as we may close the vacancy sooner if we receive a high volume of applications.

1st Stage Interviews: Week commencing 13th July (online)

2nd Stage Interviews: Wednesday 22nd July (in-person)

About The Girls’ Network:

The Girls' Network is a national charity with a mission to inspire and empower girls from the least advantaged communities by connecting them with a network of professional women role models and volunteer mentors. We believe no girl should have her future limited by her gender, ethnicity, background, or parental income. Our vision is a future where all girls are supported to realise their ambitions, discover their self-worth, and shape their own futures.

We partner with secondary schools and colleges across multiple regions in England, including London, Merseyside, Portsmouth, Southampton, Sussex, Tees Valley, Tyne & Wear and the West Midlands. We match girls aged 14–19 with trained volunteer mentors for one-to-one support. In addition to this core mentoring, workshops, and access to an Ambassador Community that provides continued opportunities for development, career support, and connection.

Role Summary

The Regional Programme Lead is responsible for delivering The Girls’ Network’s suite of programmes in schools and colleges, including facilitating engaging and impactful workshops for girls aged 14–19 from disadvantaged backgrounds. The post-holder also leads on the recruitment, induction, training, matching, supervision and support of volunteers and will appropriately match mentors with young people. You will steer local partnerships and oversee programme administration to ensure the smooth and effective delivery of our mission.

This role combines hands-on programme delivery with operational coordination, ensuring that The Girls’ Network’s regional programmes achieve their intended outcomes and contribute to national KPI achievement.

Person Specification:

Essential:

• Applicants must hold a full, clean driving licence and have the ability and willingness to travel regularly across the region.

• Understanding of equal opportunities and inclusion in youth work. A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, with an understanding of its application in youth work in the charity and/or education sector. We welcome applications from outreach youth workers and/or teachers/teaching assistants or equivalent roles.

• A genuine understanding and passion for addressing the challenges faced by girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Experience and/or willingness to learn delivering high quality workshops or training sessions to groups of young people, aged 14-19.

• Proven ability to build and independently manage multiple relationships with key stakeholders, including young people, volunteers, education providers and local partner organisations.

• Excellent organisational, prioritisation and time-management skills, with a proven ability to meet deadlines in a target-driven environment.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences.

• Experience of developing resources for programmatic delivery, including volunteer training and workshops for young people.

• Project or programme coordination experience, with the ability to manage conflicting priorities effectively.

• Target-oriented, with experience of achieving KPIs and contributing to performance monitoring.

• Practical knowledge and experience of safeguarding and child protection working practices.

• Competence in using digital tools, including Salesforce or other CRM platforms, with attention to accuracy and the ability to maintain high-quality records for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage deadlines, adapt to change, and work effectively both independently and as part of a geographically dispersed team.

• Commitment to The Girls’ Network mission and keeping young people at the centre of all work.

• Ability to travel and work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends.

Desirable:

• Experience working in a charity, youth, or education setting.

• Experience of working with young people from diverse backgrounds.

• Experience of safer recruitment in volunteering.

• A mentoring or coaching qualification, or equivalent experience.

• Experience working remotely, demonstrating initiative and the ability to work proactively with minimal supervision.

• Flexible and adaptable approach, with an understanding of the time and resource limitations typical in small organisations.

• Specific knowledge of mentoring programmes and/or youth/education services.

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. If you believe you have relevant experience and the potential to thrive in this role, we encourage you to apply, even if you do not meet every single criterion listed.

How to apply

Please apply as soon as possible. You will be asked to complete your application by submitting your CV and answering a few application questions.

Appointees are subject to a DBS check. You must have the right to work in the UK to apply.

The deadline to submit your application is Wednesday 8th July at 9AM. Please note that we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. We therefore encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible.

Diversity at our core

The Girls' Network is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating discrimination. In line with the Equality Act 2010, if you require any reasonable adjustments to support you with any stage of this recruitment process, please contact the Recruitment Team.

Our Benefits

• 27 holiday days per year, plus public holidays (pro-rata for part-time staff)

• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days of annual leave every year

• Gifted birthday leave

• 3 days volunteering leave per year

• Extended and comprehensive sick pay policy

• Enhanced Family Leave pay policy

• Pension scheme

• Annual professional development fund to help you grow

• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme for wellbeing support

• Benefit from flexible, remote working options with home office equipment.

• A dedicated Girls’ Network buddy, available beyond the induction period for ongoing support

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Volunteer Recruitment & Onboarding

• Lead end-to-end recruitment and onboarding of volunteers across all Hospice roles, including clinical, wellbeing, family support, retail, fundraising, finance, facilities and administrative roles.
• Deliver a high-quality, seamless onboarding experience for volunteer applicants.
• Co-deliver monthly Introduction to Volunteering sessions, including follow-up engagement.
• Maintain effective recruitment pipelines to meet service needs.
• Support with recruitment campaigns for high priority volunteering roles.

Compliance & Governance

• Oversee volunteer compliance, ensuring volunteers, where required:
  • Have satisfactory references
  • Are DBS-checked
  • Complete and refresh mandatory training, including face-to-face safeguarding and relevant onboarding training via departments
• Maintain accurate compliance records within CRM systems.
• Monitor and report on DBS and safeguarding renewals, liaising with volunteers, team leaders and the education team.
• Ensure adherence to Hospice policies, legal requirements and best practice

Volunteer Operations & Service Delivery

• Provide front line guidance and advice on volunteer involvement and best practice to volunteer involving teams.
• Work with education team to co-facilitate Hospice Connections training sessions where required.
• Build strong cross-departmental relationships to align volunteering with organisational priorities.
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the volunteer lifecycle and provide guidance and support to managers in planning volunteer requirements, recruitment, onboarding, induction, training, ongoing supervision, recognition, development, issue resolution, and volunteer exit processes.
• Part of the People Team office cover answering telephone, email and in person queries or directing the enquiry to the right place to be resolved. This includes monitoring the volunteering and volunteer reference and volunteer rota inboxes.
• Arrange regular meetings with Hospice volunteer managers to:
  • Review volunteer pipelines and activity
  • Analyse data and service needs
  • Identify opportunities for collaboration and service improvement
• Be a main point of contact for volunteers in key operational roles (e.g. IPU Kitchen, Meet & Greet), including recruitment, onboarding, supervision, and ongoing support

• Organise IPU volunteer rota planning and management (forward planning and weekly), ensuring adequate cover and resolving last-minute gaps, arranging shadow shifts and organising mentor allocation.
• Manage and organise tasks for admin volunteers within the Voluntary Services team.

Volunteer Engagement & Experience

• Support with the planning and delivery of an annual programme of volunteer engagement events (e.g. Sunday lunches, feedback forums, seasonal events): Coordinate event logistics including communications, RSVPs, venues, catering and health & safety.
• Actively gather, review and respond to volunteer feedback to continuously improve the volunteer experience.
• Coordinate and support volunteer communications across the organisation, including the production and distribution of the monthly volunteer bulletin and volunteer updates.
• Foster a positive, inclusive and motivating environment for volunteers.

Data, Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain high standards of data accuracy across volunteer systems and records.
• Use data insights to inform planning and improve service delivery.
• Identify and suggest improvements to volunteer processes, including onboarding and rota systems.

General Responsibilities

• Represent the Hospice and uphold its values and reputation at all times.
• Support organisational income generation activities where appropriate.
• Identify and engage in continuous professional development opportunities, sharing learning with colleagues.
• Contribute to ongoing service improvement across volunteering and wider Hospice operations.

Qualifications, Skills, Experience, Knowledge & Approach

Essential

• Demonstrable experience in volunteer coordination or management
• Experience overseeing compliance processes (e.g. DBS, safeguarding, governance)
• Experience managing rotas, logistics or service delivery functions
• Demonstrated experience coordinating volunteer recruitment and onboarding processes
• A strong understanding of volunteer management best practice, including relevant legislation, policies, compliance requirements, safeguarding, DBS processes, and governance.
• Awareness of developments within the voluntary sector and hospice volunteering to ensure organisational practices remain current, effective, and compliant.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and database management
• Strong analytical, planning, and organisational skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication, diplomacy, and problem-solving ability
• Ability to manage competing priorities and work independently in a fast-paced environment
• Proven stakeholder management and relationship-building skills
• Proven ability to meet recruitment targets across multiple service areas

Desirable

• Experience in healthcare, hospice or charity sector
• Experience facilitating training or group sessions
• Knowledge of EDI principles and inclusive volunteering practices

· Proven experience of working in diverse communities

Communication

· Excellent customer care skills – understands importance of good customer engagement & able to build strong working relationships 

• Good team player who is willing to support others/learn new skills 
• Able to communicate sensitively and understand boundaries of working with volunteers
• Excellent verbal, written, and digital communication skills
• Compassionate, emotionally intelligent, and able to communicate sensitively
• Confident and persuasive communicator, able to represent Voluntary Services in meetings and in conversations with Heads of Services
• Strong interpersonal skills to build collaborative relationships across teams

Decision Making

· Maintain confidentiality at all times 

· Proactive, solutions-focused, and accountable for outcomes

· Strong attention to detail and ability to drive multiple projects concurrently.

• Confident decision-maker with sound judgement

Mental & Physical Considerations, working conditions and environment

· Commitment to the aims, ethos and values of the Hospice

· Keen to develop self within role

· Ability to prioritise in the best interests of the organisation as a whole

· Willing and able to work as part of a team and independently using own initiative 

· Skilled in managing competing demands and expectations 

· Work with pace and accuracy 

· Ability to manage various tasks in a timely manner 

· Self-motivated and able to fulfil the job role with minimal supervision 

· Task driven – able to see processes through to competition 

· Ability to concentrate for sustained periods of time 

· Confident under pressure 

Health & Safety

· Understand and comply with all Health and Safety, Fire and Infection Control regulations

· Complete all mandatory training and ensure compliance of direct reports and contractors

Safeguarding

Act in a manner at all times to safeguard the interests of individual patients/clients and their  families and justify public trust and confidence in the Hospice of St Francis.