Volunteering opportunities jobs in oxford, oxfordshire

Location: Shaw House, 27 West Way, Oxford, OX2 0QH
Department: Fundraising
Salary: £34,000 (depending on experience)
Hours: 35
Contract Type: Permanent

RABI is the farmers charity.

RABI supports farming people across England, Wales and NI with expert, one-to-one practical, financial and emotional help, all year round. From confidential advice and mental health support to direct financial assistance, their tailored services respond to the unique challenges of farming life.

At the heart of RABI’s mission is a commitment to strengthening resilience; helping farming people feel valued, supported and better equipped to navigate uncertainty and change. RABI is working to close the farming wellbeing gap and build a future where farming people can thrive.

Over the past 25 years alone, RABI has delivered almost £250 Million in direct financial support to the farming community, whilst the charity’s professional counselling service has provided 11,500 free sessions to farming people since 2022. RABI’s wrap-around support services continue to evolve, reaching more people year on year.

RABI is on a journey to help shape a future farmers deserve.

Summary and key purpose

This new role will be primarily responsible for developing, marketing and managing our individual giving together with working across other fundraising disciplines. You will be a key member of our fundraising team, producing compelling fundraising communications, stewarding individual donors, including regular donors and gifts in memory. You will ensure that our donors receive excellent care.

Our Individual Giving programme will incorporate one-off donations, regular giving, digital fundraising, appeals and in-memory giving. You will do this, with the support of our recently appointed fundraising agency, who you will manage our relationship with week by week.

A critical element of the role will be how we market ourselves to potential new donors, taking them on an emotional engagement journey in order to solicit regular gifts.

Your expertise and skills:

To excel in this role, you will need prior experience of working in a fundraising setting, with an understanding of good stewardship practices. You should be a self-starter who thrives in a dynamic environment, working across teams and meeting multiple deadlines. Your excellent relationship management skills will enable you to effectively communicate with a diverse range of stakeholders and gather information on new projects. You must have a thorough understanding of individual giving, developing donor journeys and experience of work with agencies.

Key responsibilities:

• Day-to-day management of the regular giving programme, project managing appeals and overseeing the thanking process for individual donors.
• Create, plan, deliver and evaluate multi-channel, compliant, insight-led, supporter-centric campaigns to engage and drive action from new and existing supporters.
• Manage our newly appointed fundraising agency, and in doing so, help deliver an ambitious appeal programme and income target.
• Review and develop operational plans for individual giving (including regular giving, in memory, digital fundraising and appeals) working to achieve agreed targets.
• Communicate and document key performance indicators across individual giving appeals. Ensuring you provide commentary to accompany results reporting, drawing on insights and the wider picture to add context and make recommendations from your learnings.
• Work with the fundraising agency and RABI communications team to produce and edit appropriate collateral.
• Devise and deliver supporter communications, including stewardship activity, welcome journey content and appeal communications.
• Help ensure that we comply with legal and compliance requirements including industry best practice, GDPR/PECR regulations and the CIOF code of Fundraising Practice.
• Develop and maintain good working relationships and liaison with other members of RABI staff.
• Take part and contribute to team meetings.
• Cooperate with RABI on health and safety matters, taking reasonable care of own and other people’s health and safety within the workplace. Follow and H&S training received and alert RABI to any serious risks.
• Actively participate in the staff appraisal scheme and be committed to training and development in line with RABI’s aims and objectives.
• Liaise with volunteers, clients, contractors and other stakeholders as necessary.
• Promote the Charity’s work, assisting with demonstrations and in fundraising and awareness events as appropriate.
• Perform any other reasonable task as required by the Charity.

Person Specification:

Essential

• Marketing or direct marketing or marketing qualification.
• Experience of using direct marketing methods to recruit, retain and develop supporters (e.g. telemarketing).
• Previous direct marketing or transferrable experience. This should include project managing or assisting a project manager to plan and deliver activity and evaluate results
• Planning, delivering and managing individual giving programmes.
• Delivering donor recruitment and retention projects from initiation to completion.
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding targets from unrestricted donations.
• Presenting confidently to a variety of audiences.
• Building relationships and maximising engagement with donors and supporters
• Able to create and tailor engaging and emotive copy for a range of different channels.
• Empathy with the goals and objectives of RABI.
• A positive and creative approach to work, with the ability to multitask.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including good telephone manner and empathy towards in-memory donors.
• Ability to record accurate data and work with a CRM system
• Self-motivated and confident in working, both independently and in teams
• Good communicator, including face-to-face, phone, in writing and via remote communications.
• Good written and numeracy skills.
• Ability to manage time effectively, prioritise workload and plan-ahead.
• Good IT skills (MS Office including Excel and Word).
• Understanding of Data Protection and fundraising regulations, compliance and best practice.
• Proficiency in using Microsoft Office

Desirable

• Knowledge of targeting, segmentation and response analysis.
• Knowledge of testing, validation and taking campaign learnings forward.
• Knowledge of print and online production processes.
• Understanding of the Gift Aid process.
• Voluntary sector experience.
• A full UK driving license.
• Experience of database use
• Experience of fundraising platforms such as Just Giving.

This role profile is not exhaustive and is subject to review in conjunction with the post holder according to future developments at RABI.

Early applications are encouraged for this position as shortlisting and interviews will take place on a rolling basis. We reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a suitable application prior to the deadline.

BENEFITS

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays (based on full time working).
• Enrolment to Nest on commencement of employment and then opportunity to join RABI’s group pension scheme with Standard Life where RABI make contributions equivalent to 10% of your basic salary, provided you make a personal contribution of 5%.
• Life assurance from day one.
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme.
• On site parking.

RABI is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and aims to ensure that all employment practices secure equality of opportunity and that no prospective or current employee receives less than favourable treatment at RABI as a result of their sex, sexual orientation, age, race, religion, belief, ethnic origin, disability, marital, or for any other reason which cannot be shown to be justifiable. Our recruitment process strives to ensure that individuals are selected only based on their relevant skills, experience, quali?cations and abilities.

REF-225 388

Summary

EduSpots is an innovative, dynamic, and community-orientated UK and Ghanaian registered charity which connects, trains, and equips grassroots voluntary educators (named ‘Catalysts’) to drive community-led change through education spaces named ‘Spots’. Our vision is of a world in which communities unite to create the futures they want to see, through education.

Since 2016, through collaborating with over 400 local voluntary community educators and actors – named ‘Catalysts’ – who take a central leadership role in the development of the network, we have supported 50 communities in creating and running community-led and owned education spaces named ‘Spots’’. Together, we are developing a model for a community-led education space with accompanying network engagement that could have global relevance. 

Our Ghana-based team creates collaborative learning opportunities through three leadership programmes for Catalysts which are increasingly facilitated by the EduSpots app: the Ignite, Catalyse and Inspire Mentoring Programmes. These enable the Catalysts to lead EduKidz (early years education), DigLit (digital literacy), EcoSTEM (STEM and environmental education) and Ignite Equity (gender equity) clubs for learners typically aged 3-16, alongside locally designed education projects, reaching over 10,000 learners of all ages annually. 

We are in an exciting period of our development, having more than doubled our income, programme breadth and reach in the last two years, with a recent independent evaluation by Expectation State offering further evidence in support of our model’s outcomes. We have been recently selected for two accelerator programmes, who are supporting us as we consider the scaling potential of our model. In the period, we are aiming to double our network reach, bringing an additional 50 Spots into the network.

We won the Tes International Award in 2018 and the Big Give Supporters’ Choice Award in 2022, and we were recently selected as a finalist for the 2023 Their World Scale-Up Innovation Prize. In 2021, our Founder was a Finalist in the UNESCO-backed $1 million Global Teacher Prize.

We are excited by our future. 

About this role 

The Global Head of Operations is a new role being introduced in 2026 with the core purpose of strengthening systems, processes and strategic delivery across both EduSpots Global and EduSpots Ghana, offering hands-on support to the CEO and wider staff across a range of areas.

In this senior role, you will work closely alongside the CEO, offering her the advice and skills needed to move EduSpots successfully through a complex period of growth in a challenging fundraising context, enabling more learners and Catalysts to participate in a unique community-led model of education, whilst sharing our practice more widely.

We are looking for an organised and empathetic strategic leader, ideally with strong or developing skills across project management, finance, HR and MEL skills and an ability to work independently in a fast moving work environment.

This role has the potential to grow into a Director of Global Operations or Deputy CEO role in time for outstanding candidates, and carries significant organisation-wide responsibility.

Candidates should hold a genuine passion for educational equity, a strong belief in the power of community-led models to transform lives at scale and a high level of flexibility in a fast-changing yet friendly and playful work environment.

Whilst this role is remote, and open to all global candidates, you will need to have understanding and experience of UK law, accounting and policy development, or a strong appetite to build experience in this area quickly.

Main duties and responsibilities 

Systems

• Work with the CEO and staff to proactively strengthen systems and processes across the organisation, including monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and operations. 
• Support the wider team with IT, including general skill development, leading the Google Space system. 
• Monitor compliance to organisational policies and lead the quarterly review of the organisational risk register, working with the Ghana Head of Operations. 

Finance 

• Work with the Finance and Admin Officer to produce monthly and quarterly global management accounts, cash flow analysis and to complete the annual audit. 
• Lead the financial planning of the organisation, working with the CEO and the Ghana Head of Operations to create the annual budget. 
• Work with the Ghana Head of Operations to strengthen financial systems, processes, and training across the organisation. 
• Work with the Ghana Head of Operations to prepare budgets for funding bids as needed.
• Work with the grants team to track grant spending and produce consolidated financial reports (including expenditure from the UK and Ghana) for donors. 
• Ensure EduSpots’ new accounting software (QuickBooks) is fully embedded and utilised.
• Oversee bank account management, including payments, checking bank statements, and reviewing bank reconciliations for UK and Ghana.
• Ensure staff payroll (likely to be outsourced) and payments to freelancers / consultants are done accurately and in a timely manner.

HR

• Work alongside the CEO, Head of Operations, Safeguarding and Inclusion Managers  and wider staff to develop strategies to sustain and strengthen a high performing and friendly work culture. 
• Work across the team to strengthen HR and performance management structures, informed by best practice and legal frameworks. 
• Lead the recruitment of staff, consultants and volunteers in the UK (advertising roles, drafting contracts, contacting referees and completing all filing and administration relating to recruitment).
• Onboard new staff, provide training on policies and procedures, and track key information (leave, appraisals, etc) for UK staff. 
• Regularly review and keep the Staff Handbook up to date.
• Depending on skill-set, work with the CEO to lead professional development for staff across the organisation, liaising with trustees and advisory group members.

Administration & Governance

• Manage and maintain databases and our Google Drive system. 
• Ensure compliance with GDPR and adherence to our child safeguarding and protection policy. 
• Maintain insurance renewals, tracking and filing.
• Review and keep up to date all organisational policies in line with current legislation, working with the Trustees and Directors. 
• Assist the CEO in the administration relating to EduSpots’ governance, including board meeting arrangements and minute taking.
• Support the CEO in all ad-hoc tasks that arise, working closely alongside her to ensure the smooth running of the organisation. 

Strategic insight 

• Work closely with the CEO and staff/Catalysts across the organisation to ensure all EduSpots’ decision-making is strategic and in the best interests of the Catalysts, Sparks and Communities we partner with. 

Other areas 

• Depending on experience, you may in time take on management responsibilities for some staff, but this role is principally a systems strengthening and quality improvement role, working closely with the CEO to offer advice and additional capacity. 
• Depending on experience, you may support with grants writing / management and/or community fundraising. Experience of fundraising would be of significant benefit to the organisation in this key leadership role. 

Personal Specification 

Essential 

• Minimum of 7 years’ experience of operations in a small/medium charity context. 
• Self-starter with the ability to hit the ground running and work with minimal supervision with high levels of flexibility.
• Self-motivated, with an ability to motivate and energise others.
• High level strategic understanding, critical thinking and the ability to strengthen systems in a fast-paced high performance environment.
• Excellent communication, both oral and written.
• The ability to thrive and adapt in a fast-paced, creative and impact-driven culture. 
• Strong administrative skills with a high level of attention to detail. 
• Experience in creating user-friendly tools and processes to support project and quality management.
• Experience using Google Suite, with strong Excel skills.
• Tech savvy – ability to learn new tech tools efficiently.
• Experience coordinating others. 
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with strong empathy and cultural sensitivity 
• Strong personal alignment with the mission, vision and values of EduSpots. 

Highly desirable 

• Experience supporting charity Boards, and working with external bodies including auditors, tax authorities, and other official bodies is highly desirable.
• Experience complying and strong familiarity with UK charity regulations and requirements.
• Experience preparing budgets and financial reports for donors/grants. 
• Experience of working in a cross-cultural team.
• Experience of working with an international charity would be advantageous. 

Please send a tailored covering letter and CV addressed to the CEO Miss Cat Davison by Wednesday 31st December with a hope to meet shortlisted candidates for a first-round interview in the week starting Monday 12th January.