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About Advantage Mentoring
We are specialists in partnering The NHS with the charitable arms of professional football clubs: known as Club Community Organisations (CCO).
We harness the power of professional football club’s community organisations to deliver mental health mentoring programmes which provide solutions to key community challenges.
Our vision is to create a transformative network where anchor institutions and CCOs collaborate seamlessly to deliver sustainable, impactful mental health and well-being support to local communities.
We aim to fill the gaps in existing healthcare and wellbeing services by harnessing the unique position that CCOs have in local communities and providing effective programmes that meet people at their point and place of need.
Our goals are to continue tackling and reducing health inequalities, increase equal access to mental health support and provide better experiences and outcomes for our participants.
About the role and its purpose
· You will be responsible for Advantage’s income and business development activity
· You will lead a broad range of income generating activities and manage relationships with stakeholders
· You will be responsible for growing income from a variety of sources, income streams and relationships
· You will have a clear priority focus on converting pilot and seed-funded contracts to longer-term sustainable contracts and developing donations and project funding
Key tasks & responsibilities
Income generation
· Use your skills, creativity and experience to develop our income generation strategy
· Develop ideas for creative sponsorship and funding opportunities, putting together and submitting proposal and tender documents; identifying suitable partners; presenting proposals and closing deals
· Converting pilot and seed-funded contracts to longer-term sustainable contracts e.g. current Postcode Lottery agreement in the North-East converting to a long-term contract with North-East and North Cumbria ICB (more information to this can be given at interview stage)
· Support drawing up and negotiating contracts and ensuring delivery
· Work with stakeholders and our internal team to scope and develop exciting new opportunities
· Develop and steward fundraising and donor relationships in order to increase income
· Deliver on agreed income targets
Partnerships and Networks
· Build and maintain a network of strategic key external contacts that can support Advantage Mentoring’s work. Stakeholders will be from private, public and third sector groups. Take an active role in representing Advantage Mentoring to appropriate Trusts and Foundations
· Develop a work plan for private sector and philanthropic engagement to achieve a joined up and coherent approach to engaging with commercial organisations across multiple outcomes (financial, brand awareness, influencing policy and support-in-kind)
Communication, marketing and external relations
· Work with Communications colleagues to create materials that will attract new strategic partners, for example highly targeted work aimed at specific sectors being clear about the value of partnering with Advantage Mentoring
· Represent Advantage Mentoring with external audiences (in the media, at events, in meetings with senior stakeholders)
Strategic Leadership
· Develop and implement Advantage’s income generation strategy and policies, as a part of the Leadership Team
· Ensure that partner organisations understand and commit to our values
Management
· Oversee the business development pipeline and ensure that enough proposals are being submitted to make the achievement of income targets probable
· Provide income generation information to the Managing Director and participate in Executive Team meetings and Board meetings
· Report to the Board on income generation as required.
· Maintain a thorough understanding of financial targets and progress
· Work alongside the Head of Operations & Projects to make sure projects are properly initiated and well managed to ensure all contractual obligations are achieved
· Work closely with the PR/Comms Manager to support the awareness of the organisation’s work on a national and local level
Reporting
· Utilise the project bids pipeline spreadsheet and capacity spreadsheet to inform planning and resourcing
· Maintain an effective database of Grants, Trust and Foundation contacts
· Monitor digital income streams to ensure they are effective and opportunities are secured
· Work in collaboration with the communications team to build brand awareness, and promote income generation and impact developing content for key messaging, PR, and branding materials to support effective marketing of the organisation
· Design and develop key income generation materials to enhance our external visibility including extending our profile via submissions for awards and recognition programmes
· Plan and support events for awareness raising and dissemination of our work
· Ensure systems and processes for managing data comply with the organisation’s data protection obligations, charity law and GDPR
· Develop robust systems for the effective stewardship and reporting to supporters of our work
Essential Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Personal Qualities
Experience
· Substantial experience of income generation and development activity, including
• Handling key clients
• Preparing, costing, pitching and closing proposals
• Completing tender documents for submission
• Ensuring delivery of initiatives on time and within budget to the satisfaction of all parties
· Experience of working with corporate partners, establishing and delivering impactful, strategic partnerships with the commercial sector
· Experience in developing and stewarding fundraising and donor relationships
· Experience of building and sustaining relationships and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders
· Understanding of impact measurement frameworks
Knowledge & Skills
· Skilled in working with a wide range of organisations and stakeholders
· Excellent communication and influencing skills
· Good knowledge of the public, private and third sector
· Excellent organisational and planning skills
· Ability to set and meet deadlines
· Excellent written communications skills, including ability to write persuasive and engaging content
· IT skills (able to use Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and databases)
· Ability to work in a pressured environment and work to deadlines.
Personal Qualities
· Gets things done, delivers to highest of standards and takes responsibility
· Entrepreneurial, innovative, personable, collaborative and good at working both in a team and under your own initiative
· Able to represent Advantage Mentoring, reflecting its values and priorities
· Able to encourage contributions and involvement from a broad and diverse range of staff by being visible and accessible
· Flexible and dynamic, with an ability to adapt and respond quickly to a fast-changing environment
· Ability to negotiate and influence others in a positive manner and confidence to deal with different priorities and differing views.
· Ability to manage expectations.
· Diplomacy and ability to deal with difficult situations.
· Strong delivery focus, with the ability to drive progress forward and a concern for results and achieving goals.
· Confident communicator
· Ability to quickly build credibility internally and externally
· Ability to work in partnership and with flexibility
· Excellent attention to detail
· Proactive, thinks ahead, generates innovative ideas
Other
· Ability to undertake travel around England if/as needed with possible overnight stays
Values & Behaviours
Collaborative
Advantage collaborates with anchor institutions and CCOs to deliver preventative, engaging, and accessible healthcare to those in the community who need it. Our programmes are co-designed and tailored to local needs whilst building sustainable local and national networks.
Inclusive
Advantage aims to give people the opportunity to access our programmes regardless of their race, gender, or socioeconomic class. We believe in creating equal opportunities and breaking down barriers to ensure everyone can benefit from our services.
Supportive
Our mental health programmes increase equal access to care, delivering better experiences and outcomes through evidence-based practices and continuous improvement. Advantage widens access to services closer to home, reduces unnecessary delays, and unburdens other anchor institutions by building capacity to support people.
Impactful
We specialise in creating sustainable partnerships between CCOs and anchor institutions harnessing each entity’s strengths to form a unified support network. Our tailored project and performance management packages ensure ongoing quality assurance, improvement, and responsive adaptations to meet the evolving needs of our partners and their communities.
Advantage Mentoring CIC positively encourages applications from suitable qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity.
The role is remote but there is an expectation you will be able to travel around the country and in to our Head Office in London Bridge when needed.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We’re recruiting an experienced, creative and hands-on communications specialist to work with Platform Places and Footwork over the next 10 months – to develop our bold narratives and inspiring content that help drive locally-led neighbourhood transformation.
- Target start date: 11th May 2026
- Time input: 3 days per week (0.6 full-time equivalent), with flexibility for up to 4 days per week in certain busy periods, by mutual agreement
- Remuneration: £55,000-£61,500 per year (pro rata) depending on experience
- Flexible working: Work hours can be flexible as long as role objectives are met
- Location: Hybrid, remote or in-person (option to work from our London office). Monthly in-person team days in London, plus occasional trips to partners in Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bristol and London and learning gatherings (expenses covered).
- Contract type: PAYE employment contract. 10 months fixed term.
- Eligibility: Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.
About us
In 2025, Platform Places integrated with Footwork Trust, becoming what we call ‘civic partners’. Together we facilitate locally-led neighbourhood transformation – so people have the power to live affordably, sustainably and together.
About Platform Places
Platform Places is a national cross-sector collaboration and not-for-profit social enterprise with a mission to unlock town centre buildings for amazing ideas that help us live affordably, sustainably and together. We convene councils, community leaders and asset owners around the country to build powerful partnerships, to unlock buildings for local benefit. We support these Partnerships with access to funding, technical expertise and networks.
Our deeper intention is to localise and democratise who owns, controls and transforms town centre and neighbourhood buildings, so that communities can:
- design spaces to meet local needs – whether affordable space for arts, music, healthcare, local food, housing, nature connection, reuse & repair, childcare etc
- retain and reinvest the wealth generated by these buildings.
We’re inspired by pioneers like Hastings Commons, Stour Trust, SAFE Regen, Civic Square, Nudge Community Builders, Makespace Oxford and other members of the Mycelial Network.
About Footwork Trust
Footwork (UK charity Footwork Trust) supports local people to transform their neighbourhoods for the better and builds alliances to make this possible.
Since 2022, Footwork’s ‘People and Place’ programme has supported over 50 community innovators to turn their bold ideas into lasting positive change, in response to a local social or environmental challenge. Often reviving land and buildings for community use, they are part of a growing force for fairer, locally-led regeneration, making the places they call home more resilient and equitable.
Through national and local events, Footwork creates spaces for peer support and shared learning, showcases inspiring examples, and convenes built environment practitioners to enable true collaboration with community partners.
Together, Footwork and Platform Places co-facilitate the Mycelial Network for Community Asset Developers.
About the Local Property Partnerships pilot, 2024-2027
Thanks to National Lottery players, Platform Places and partners have received almost £2.5 million over three years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The funding is being used to enable communities to come together and secure long-term spaces for the activities and services that they need the most.
This fund and programme resources local leaders in neighbourhoods in Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool City Region, Bristol and London – working towards shifting multiple buildings into long-term local ownership. We’re also supported by our national partner organisations Architectural Heritage Fund, Power to Change and Social Investment Business. Our intention is that this work will lay the groundwork for a larger follow-on funding programme, which catalyses England-wide adoption of this approach.
The role
We’re looking for an experienced, creative and hands-on communications specialist to join our small team and network of local and national partners.
The Communications Lead will focus on our key programmes, with the below time distribution. The challenge and opportunity is to hit the ground running and drive communications across our key channels – to help attract allies, funding and support, and inspire replication of these approaches in neighbourhoods around England.
2 days per week, ‘Local Property Partnerships’:
- You’ll lead on promoting, and sharing learnings from, Platform Places’ exciting pilot programme (funded by National Lottery Community Fund) – which is localising and democratising who owns, controls and transforms town centre buildings in five neighbourhoods across England.
0.75 days per week, ‘People and Place’:
- You’ll promote, and share learnings from, Footwork Trust’s ‘People and Place’ programme – which supports community innovators to turn their bold ideas into lasting positive change for their place.
0.25 days per week, Wider movement building:
- You’ll work on ad hoc broader communications opportunities that support our mission and the programmes – for example, creating a content piece with local or national partners from our wider network, or pitching a media story that cuts across all our programmes.
This involves the following areas of responsibility:
- Build on our working communications strategy
- Work with co-directors to develop our bold, inspiring core messaging, and update our boilerplate narratives
- Manage digital channels for Platform Places and Footwork: a) plan and create regular social media content; b) write newsletters (approx. quarterly); c) upload and edit website content, on Squarespace (drag-and-drop editor) and occasionally Wix (guidance available).
- Strategic media relations: build journalist relationships and pitch stories (local or national), op-eds and comments
- Work with local and national partners to share inspiring and compelling stories
- Develop practical how-tos and templates, together with partners (you'll have support initiating partner relationships)
- Provide comms guidance to local programme partners
- Support co-directors and partners with speaking engagements and event opportunities
You’ll start from a strong foundation of communications activities, along with our established tone, visual identity and branded templates – with lots of freedom for new ideas.
About you
- You’re as comfortable with creative storytelling as you are with practical resources
- You’re a campaigner for systems change – experienced in attracting allies and creating communications for diverse audiences
- You make it sing – you turn dense or complicated materials into clear and effective narratives to shift opinion and action
- You’re a collaborator – you can effectively hold relationships with local and national partners to plan and deliver coordinated communications
- You can ‘wear all the hats’: you get stuck in on strategy and roll up your sleeves on delivery; you know when to pitch to media and when the tactic is digital; you can knock up great copy or quick Canva graphics without aiming for perfection
- You’re efficient and resourceful, comfortable leading on comms in a small (and collaborative) team, and know how to make things happen on a small budget (and when to seek external specialists)
- You’re passionate about community-led places and social and environmental justice – and you’re knowledgeable about at least one of: high streets, property, retrofit, community business, heritage buildings, cultural venues, town planning, neighbourhood governance
We know you likely have a particular comms specialism, with more strengths and experience in some areas than others. We’d love to hear about this, and about your approach to getting stuck into the rest.
Our team & culture
You’ll be joining our small, agile team of six people across Platform Places and Footwork. We meet in-person on a monthly basis to have lunch together and plan ahead, and have weekly online huddles to check-in and discuss priorities.
We work flexibly around our needs, whether a caring responsibility or otherwise.
Our culture is driven by our values: generous sharing, diverse perspectives, active listening and curiosity, staying networked and joy.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.