Volunteering & Participation Consultant

At National Trust our mission is to look after historic and beautiful places for ever, for everyone. We aim to raise awareness of our core purposes and relevance to all of society becoming relevant and accessible to all: from the experience we provide and the stories we tell to the opportunities to get involved in what we do, as an employee, volunteer or partner.

Through involvement of volunteers and local communities,we know that we can achieve so much more to support special places. Their support is vital in helping inspire our many visitors and members, as well as working closely to deliver change in the way we work in the natural environment. It’s at the heart of the National Trust: we were founded by volunteers and they have always been part of our organisational DNA and we pride ourselves as being one of the largest and most innovative volunteer-involving organisations in the country.

What it's like to work here

This exciting role will be the strategic lead for volunteering, participation and inclusion for Northern Ireland, working with our senior leaders and key stakeholders to deliver our ambitions as part of the national strategy.Crucially this person will lead on the development and implementation of a volunteering, participation and inclusion strategy for Northern Ireland. 

As the Volunteering & Participation Consultant you will also hold a portfolio of project and core  work within the region, working with our property teams directly to deliver excellent service to our volunteers, local communities and underrepresented audiences.

Whilst you'll be based from our Regional Office at Rowallane Garden, Saintfield, you'll spend most of your time in this role travelling out to work with the amazing teams at our places, as well as engaging with key stakeholders and partners.

What you'll be doing

You’ll have extensive experience of working in community engagement, volunteering and ideally with diversity and inclusion projects and have the ability to deliver work in this area to an excellent standard. You will champion, lead for and inspire others to support a more open,collaborative and participative way of working to connect people with the work we do.

You’ll have bags of passion and enthusiasm for your specialism and the ability to lead strategically for this area of work,bringing people with you at all levels of the organisation. You’ll be confident in coaching and supporting colleagues about volunteering, community participation and inclusion and comfortable in developing the relationships needed to position yourself as a trusted advisor.

You’ll be self-motivated, resilient and capable of developing and delivering a plan for this work, engaging colleagues, building partnerships and if required, working closely with a Fundraising Consultant to identify funding opportunities to take this work forward.

You’ll be confident to challenge the status quo, using your skills of persuasion and negotiation to find approaches which are sustainable and truly inclusive.

Who we're looking for

To be successful in this role you willhave:

• Considerable experience of volunteering, community engagement and/or diversity and inclusion

• Experience of leading for this area of work, influencing and working collaboratively with internal stakeholders right across the organisation, including at a senior level Excellent relationship building skills

• A good understanding of how to work collaboratively with community partners (e.g. with local authorities, community organisations and volunteer groups)

• Experience of working with fundraising teams/directly sourcing funding for volunteering,participation and inclusion projects

• Experience of managing and motivating teams

• Experience of delivering projects through others

• An understanding of the National Trust’s vision and strategy

PLEASE APPLY ON OUR JOBSITE https://careers.nationaltrust.org.uk/OA_HTML/a/?_ga=2.65598054.995866002.1546428529-278957390.1436446167#/vacancy-detail/73445