Charity Foodbank Development Coordinator (including support such as Digital Inclusion / Literacy)

Hope Nottingham has been distributing c10,000 emergency food parcels per year, supporting local people in crisis. In partnership with Trussell, we are working to end the need for foodbanks and are now looking for a special person to enhance the development of our foodbank offer.

This is a fixed-term contract for 2 years. £27,835 pa pro rata (£14,845 actual) for 20 hrs per week. You will need to work flexibility to meet the opening times of our network. Having a driving licence and access to a car is essential

Key responsibilities of the role will include:

• Identifying barriers faced by our guests
• Reviewing and analysing our current foodbank offer and usage in conjunction with other key foodbank staff and our volunteer teams
• Researching and mapping local services
• Exploring potential development areas to enhance services to foodbank guests
• Supporting the development and implementation of our ‘community café’ model across our foodbanks
• Developing and leading on projects such as Digital Inclusion, Money Coaching and more
• Supporting the skills development and training of our foodbank volunteer teams
• Helping us develop our approach to campaigning to end the need for foodbanks, contributing to social media and marketing

About you

• You must meet the essential criteria stated for the role in the job description/person spec shown below this advert
• Proven experience in a community and / or development / partnerships-based role, poverty, skills development or social isolation
• Most of our foodbanks are hosted by local churches so experience working in a Christian / Church-based setting would be desirable
• Demonstrable service / project delivery with ability to lead teams and achieve targets
• Multi-site or multi-project management experience
• Used to acting as an ambassador / representative
• Track record of working under pressure, with a varied and demanding workload
• Rigorous analytical skills and attention to detail
• Can develop and deliver training
• Strong verbal skills to relate to a diverse range of stakeholders
• Willing and able to support and uphold our Christian Vision, Mission and Values and communicate them across different audiences
• Experience working in one of our specialist areas - volunteering, food insecurity, poverty, skills development or social isolation
• The position is a new one, which will develop alongside the right person, but will have the full support of a line manager and the CEO
• A DBS check will be required for this role
• We strongly encourage candidates to visit one of our hubs before applying for this role.

Employee benefits

• We are a friendly and welcoming team of 11 staff with approximately 370 volunteers across all sites (including our 2 hubs and 12 satellite foodbanks)
• Opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of local individuals and communities
• Generous 28 days holiday per year + bank holidays (pro rata) including Christmas closure
• Access to our in-house Chaplain and a free telephone counselling helpline
• Team well being / retreat days
• Monthly supervision and ongoing support from your line manager

Planned Closing date: Sun 13th April 2025 but we may close applications early depending on level of interest.

Please be aware that the screening questions enable us to select for formal (written) application stage, so any applications that do not fully answer these questions will automatically not be considered. If successful with screening you will receive an applicant pack and be required to complete a Hope Nottingham written application form. The full job description is shown below this advert. Please ensure you read it before applying.

Interviews: Thursday 24th April 2025 in Beeston

Hope Nottingham began as a small drop in café with a dozen volunteers in 2010 and has now grown to encompass 14 foodbanks supporting communities across the Nottingham area, with main hubs in Beeston and Carlton, seeking to offer holistic and life changing support for hundreds of people. Hope Nottingham holds the East and West Nottingham Trussell Trust Franchise and partners with various churches and organisations including Citizen’s Advice Bureau. For more information, see https://hope-nottingham.org.uk/

Full Job Description and Person Specification for Foodbank Development Coordinator

There are broad responsibilities for this role which we will prioritise as needed.

AIMS OF PROJECT / DEPARTMENT:

The aim of a Hope Community is to provide a supportive Christian community following the G.R.A.C.E. model, that is enabling Giving (volunteering, food, funds) to provide Relief (of social and material poverty) and Advice (welfare, benefits and signposting) to build Community (reducing isolation) and Empower people to thrive individually (both financially and socially) and as a community. Hope House in Beeston and Carlton are our flagship Hope owned Community Hubs, which we continue to develop, but we also aim to inspire and assist in the development of the holistic support/community hub model in the satellite foodbanks hosted by our partner foodbanks, in partnership with Trussell.

PURPOSE OF ROLE:

To tailor our services, enabling us to better support local people accessing our foodbanks. This is a development focussed role, intended to identify, research and help implement appropriate activities to further support guests in poverty, particularly those accessing our network of foodbanks, ultimately reducing their need for emergency food. This will include consideration of foodbank statistics as well as seeking qualitative feedback in a number of key locations to assist in their development of the ‘community hub’ / ‘holistic support’ model.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Identifying barriers and areas of concern impacting our foodbank guests

• Work with the Senior Leadership and collaboratively across the team to design and implement tools to engage directly with our foodbank guests, to improve and shape our services.

• Use these tools as a feedback loop to improve our services and reporting, ensuring that we are effectively meeting the need of our guests

• Where appropriate engage with our church hosts to understand local need and their wider activities and how these may fit with foodbank development holistically

• Analyse available foodbank data, identifying any key trends or areas of concern

• Identify any current gaps or barriers in access to food bank provision in our network e.g. timings, locations

Researching and mapping local services to inform strategic direction

• Conduct SWOT analysis on each foodbank location

• Research any potential development areas / areas of concern e.g. digital literacy, budgeting/CAP Money Coaching, improved listening to and signposting of guests, digital literacy/exclusion and fuel poverty.

• In conjunction with the Area Ops Manager, visit other non-Hope projects including those recommended by the Trussell Area Manager, or via local networking

• With support and input from Senior Leadership, draft quality proposals for potential new activities, to ensure any development projects are fully thought through and to determine if we should lead or partner to deliver

• Maintain and nourish existing external relationships – and develop new ones – to support and enable achievement of Hope’s strategic objective of ‘inspiring and growing communities of Hope’.

Recruitment and Skills development of our satellite foodbank volunteer teams

• Support the development of befriending/listening skills (the ‘cup of tea and chat’ / Community Café approach across our foodbanks via role modelling, one to one coaching and team training sessions

• Assist in the delivery / coordination of training to improve volunteer awareness and signposting skills e.g. Carers Awareness, Domestic Abuse

• Lead on volunteer safer recruitment for any new activities, including advertising, informal interview, vetting and induction

• Ensure projects are well resourced and supported, limiting key person dependency on staff and empowering volunteers

Development, implementation and ongoing coordination of Hope Activities to help end the need for foodbank

• Ensure the participation of people with lived experience in shaping services

• Lead on the set up of new projects which are focussed on supporting foodbank guests and ending their need for emergency food, in line with our GRACE model

• Work with foodbank leaders and host churches, ensuring a ‘develop with’ rather than ‘do to’ approach

• Lead on the opening of new foodbank sites (for e.g. to reduce travel times or focus on high demand areas) or sessions as appropriate to ensure easily accessible services across the week.

• Support the strategic development of Hope’s approach to campaigning and influencing to end the need for food banks at a local and national level, contributing to Hope’s social media and marketing activity.

Other tasks

• Any other duties as deemed appropriate to the role.

• Support and contribution to communications and activities to promote Hope’s Vision, Mission and Values and achievements and the fundraising for them.

• Other tasks related to supporting and assisting the wider team.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Training and Education

• Be responsible for personal (and volunteer team where applicable) completion of mandatory training, development programmes, training courses as deemed necessary to the role

• Take personal responsibility for identifying gaps in personal and team knowledge / skills and taking action to rectify this

Working relationships

• In addition to Hope’s Code of Conduct and policies on professional and personal relationship boundaries, foster positive relationships with guests, staff, visitors, volunteers and donors.

• To act in all times in a professional manner, respecting the need of colleagues and co-operating to maintain a harmonious team working environment

Flexibility

• Days and times may vary according to operational need. You may be required to work flexibly to cover for the absences of colleagues and for other operational reasons.

• To attend and travel to meetings / trainings / other sites as required.

Policies and Procedures

• Take responsibility for reminding self of and adhering to Hope Nottingham’s policies and procedures including Health & Safety

• Due to the nature of our community work, all staff are expected to be familiar with our Safeguarding policies to support our work with children, young people and vulnerable adults.

General

• Hope Nottingham aims to continually improve its service which may mean modification of structures and therefore job descriptions will prove necessary

• You will be expected to co-operate with changes which we may need to introduce, however you will be fully consulted about any proposals that prove fundamental to your role.

This job description is not intended to be exhaustive but outlines key tasks to be undertaken. It will be reviewed as part of our staff annual review policy as a minimum and will be adapted to meet the changing needs of Hope Nottingham. All job descriptions are non-contractual.

Person Specification

PERSON SPECIFICATION: Development Coordinator

Criteria **

Education

Essential : Specialised knowledge of a function, trade or craft acquired through advanced formal training. BTEC National Certificate/ONC level or 'A' Levels or Scottish Highers in job-related discipline may be included. Training to City & Guilds level 3. (NVQ-3).

Desirable: Specialised knowledge of any of: Community, Charity, Development, Poverty, Welfare & Benefits Advice, Digital literacy or volunteering acquired through experience or formal training

Proven ability - experience

Essential:

• Proven experience in a community and/or development / partnerships-based role
• Demonstrable experience of service/project delivery and management
• Successful budget and resources management experience
• Experience working in at least one of our specialist areas (with volunteers, food insecurity or poverty, or social isolation)
• Track record of achieving targets
• Proven experience of leading multiple activities/projects

Desirable:

• Lived experience of poverty or using a foodbank
• Experience working in a Christian setting
• Experience securing funds / fundraising for new initiatives
• Experience working or volunteering in related areas such as financial insecurity, food poverty, skills development and/or social isolation
• Experience overseeing teams of volunteers
• Experience measuring and monitoring impact

Proven ability – skills and attributes

Essential:

• Meaningful contribution to development of new activities
• Can research and present sound business case for any new initiatives
• Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Full computer literacy (including Microsoft office, PowerPoint and excel)
• Proven organisational skills
• Strong verbal skills, able to relate well to stakeholders at all levels, including in a Church and or faith-based context

Desirable:

• Marketing and communications skills (social media, marketing resources, speaking to the media)
• Experience supporting the creation of training resources and delivering training
• Risk assessment skills
• Advanced excel skills to enable easy understanding / presentation of sometimes complex data reports

Managerial and Supervisory Responsibility

Essential:

• Ability to take oversight of multiple projects in remote locations
• Can assist to support satellite relationships or coach on their development as required
• Can line manage and oversee small teams of volunteers
• Proven record of leading teams to deliver high quality results
• Able to address underperformance and/or misconduct decisively as required

Desirable:

• Practical experience supporting volunteers

Accountability

Essential

• Able to take responsibility for completion of own projects on time
• Can act as face of organisation as required and can build Hope’s positive reputation in the local area
• Commitment to working collaboratively and accountably
• Deals proactively, decisively and professionally with any concerns/issues
• Knowledge to comply with GDPR
• Can take responsibility for small projects and budgets

Independence of action

Essential

• Can manage own varied workload with regular supervision support
• Able to act without guidance in terms of approach to research and project development and management
• Refers to Senior Leadership team for direction

Complexity

Essential:

• Ability to manage varied and demanding but generally straightforward workload for multiple activities, following clear operating guidelines
• Can use initiative to consider multiple and detailed factors when researching
• Can and does address challenges
• Basic awareness of safeguarding

Desirable:

• Good understanding of staff and volunteer management

Relationships

Essential:

• Confident in liaising with external partners and agencies, much of which requires influencing and negotiating skills
• Can build approachable and supportive relationships CEO, Ops Manager, Support Manager, Admin & Facilities Coordinator, Bookkeeper, Area Foodbank Coordinator, Foodbank leaders)
• Takes a self-assured, friendly, and professional approach to working with volunteers and guests

Desirable:

• Experience working with local councils and other agencies
• Experience building and maintaining relationships with local churches / faith based groups

Direction **

Essential:

• Able to work both reactively and proactively with at least monthly supervision
• Comfortable reporting to Senior Leadership based on progress against objectives with guidance on policy and procedures provided

Pressure of work

Essential:

• Copes with pressure of multiple focus areas, demonstrating attention to detail/timings
• Maintains a high level of quality service and work to high standards
• Can successfully manage short term peaks of pressure e.g. volunteer recruitment, project launches

Working environment

• Able to work in an open plan office (with access to private space as required)
• Comfortable working in public spaces such as foodbanks, cafés, community spaces and external events

Values **

Essential:

• Can maintain the highest levels of personal integrity
• Personally committed to Hope Nottingham’s vision & mission
• Comfortable working in a Christian environment and willing to uphold and communicate our Christian Vision, Mission and Values

Other **

Essential:

• Able to attend pre planned staff meetings or retreat days
• Requires clean DBS check at Enhanced Level
• Can be flexible in hours to meet the needs of the business including evenings or occasional weekends as required
• Must be owner/driver to ensure efficient use of time travelling between sites •

Desirable:

Can work overtime if required

Job Types: Part-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 24 months

Pay: £14.27 per hour

Expected hours: 20 per week

Benefits:

• Casual dress

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Night shift
• Weekend availability

Application question(s):

• Please tell us about your suitability, willingness and ability to uphold our Christian Vision, Mission and Values and communicate them to varying audiences.
• Tell us about a project or service that you have set up and developed and the impact that it had on its users
• Do you have a driving license and access to a car to travel across Nottingham as required? With regret we cannot consider applicants who can only use public transport due to the multiple locations of our foodbanks.
• Tell us which of (and more about) the professional training and /or experience you have that meets the essential person specification for this role (namely community, development, partnerships, service-delivery, volunteers, food insecurity, poverty, social isolation - note you are not expected to have experience in all, but do need to demonstrate past experience in some of these areas)
• Are you able to work flexibly across the week, including weekends and evenings to meet our individual foodbanks' needs?
• Please tell us how you would add value to the development of our foodbank network (e.g. for the organisation, the partner churches who host our foodbanks, our service users and our volunteers).

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 13/04/2025