Turn2us is a national charity tackling financial insecurity and its structural causes. We work with co-producers and partners to provide people in financial crisis with the means and agency to get back on their feet, build resilience, move forward with their lives and thrive.

Turn2us and its partners have secured £1.5 million from The National Lottery Community Fund to deliver an ambitious and innovative new programme that will support charities in England and Scotland to empower diverse and marginalised communities to respond to climate change and to get their voices heard in environmental policy and media debates.  It will focus on Disabled people, those facing financial insecurity and people from ethnic minority communities. These voices are often the least heard from in national and local debates on our environment. This new work aims to change that. 

As part of this programme, The National Lottery Community Fund have funded the creation of an Engagement Manager post at Turn2us to work with those facing financial insecurity. 

The Engagement Manager employed by Turn2us will deliver activity with smaller charities and grassroots organisations supporting those facing financial insecurity that: 

• Increases awareness of the impact of environmental change and related policy on different communities  

• Listens to people in these communities to find out what actions they want charities and local government to take 

• Develops shared local environmental policy priorities and empowers these organisations to advocate directly to local and national policy makers  

• Identifies actions that these organisations can take to support communities to respond to climate change, and helps organisations to implement them 

• Identifies people with lived experience to receive hands on training in order to act as diverse champions to media and policy makers 

They will work closely with Community Engagement Managers employed by Disability Rights UK, and Race Equality Foundation, focussed on reaching organisations supporting Disabled people and people from ethnic minority communities. 

We offer flexible working patterns, both in terms of hours and remote working. Please note that all employees are required to work from the office a minimum of 4 days a month on a weekly basis.

Some roles may be required to be in the office more often than others and this will be agreed with the hiring manager upon starting at Turn2us.

Please note that all job offers are subject to 2 – 3 satisfactory references and a disclosure satisfactory to Turn2us from the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS).

Please read the Engagement Manager Job Pack for more information.

Job Description

Job Title: Engagement Manager

Department: Inclusion Team - People, Culture & Governance Directorate

Reports to: Director of People & Culture

Location: Hybrid: Turn2us London Hub (Farringdon) & homeworking

Type of role: Part-time, 28 hours a week (3 year fixed term contract)

Purpose of the role:

To manage our relationships with smaller charities, grassroots organisations and people with lived experience in relation to the environmental crisis, working closely with other partners on the project to empower communities to respond to climate change and to get diverse voices heard in environmental debates. 

Main duties:

1. Partnership working: 

• Maintain effective and productive relationships and ‘ways of working’ with programme partners.

• Have regular contact with Programme Manager at NPC to ensure they are kept up-to-date and can input as appropriate.  

• Regularly communicate with wider programme partners and ensure that information, intelligence on programme delivery and best practice is shared.

2. Programme design:

• Facilitate the design of programme activity each year with input from programme partners, grassroots organisations and people with lived experience.

3. Programme delivery:

• Work across key directorates at Turn2us to ensure a joined-up approach to programme co-ordination and delivery (People, Culture & Governance; Programmes & Partnerships; Impact, Digital & Data; and Income & External Affairs). 

• Develop and deliver training and practical workshops to help community groups and charities support the people they serve to respond to environmental change.

• Develop and deliver deliberation groups with people with lived experience to understand their priorities for environmental action by charities, community groups and policy makers.

• Support joint advocacy activity, including through input on joint position statements, identifying key policy targets, and developing briefings that supports influencing by programme participants.

• Support environmental action, including through developing tools, research and resources.

• Identify and build relationships with people facing financial hardship to receive training and opportunities to act as a spokesperson on environmental change in the media and with policy makers.

4. Communications and sharing learning: 

• Act as a contact point for the communications team on the programme, providing content for articles, reports and other communications materials. 

• Facilitate shared learning between programme participants.

• Contribute to toolkits based on the learning from the programme. 

5. Budget, resourcing, risk and time management: 

• Monitor and manage the project budget and report any changes outside of tolerances to the Programme Manager.

• Identify risks associated with the project and flag to the Programme Manager.

• Ensure tasks and outputs are delivered to time and quality standards. 

• Support NPC to fulfil the conditions set out in the contract from the National Lottery Community Fund, including reporting, change management process, data protection, and intellectual property rights. 

These are the normal duties, which the Charity requires from the position. However, it is necessary for all staff to be flexible and all employees will be required from time to time to perform other duties as may be required by the Charity for the efficient running of the charity. This Job Description is non-contractual. It will be reviewed from time to time and may be subject to change.

At Turn2us, we are committed to protecting personnel, children, adults, and service users from any harm arising from each other, themselves, our activities, or organisational failings whilst in contact with us. The post holder will be required to follow the safeguarding policy and will be responsible for integrating safeguarding into all aspects of their work.

The post holder will be expected to ensure that their work complies with contractual terms and conditions, the Charity’s policies and procedures and key legislation, such as data protection and charity law. 

Key skills and competencies: 

1.    Proven ability to plan and execute projects to a high standard and with little supervision.

2.   A proven track record of developing strong relationships with, and developing productive ways of working with, a wide range of different partners, including grassroots organisations / small community groups.  

3.   Strong understanding of user involvement and participation in decision making, including an awareness of the needs of diverse communities and of inclusive and safe practices.

4.   Excellent communication skills: the ability to develop and deliver compelling content, to be robust and influential in discussions, and to write and speak in a clear and engaging manner to a range of audiences.

5.   Experience in facilitating workshops, training and capacity building support is desirable.

6. Knowledge and/or lived experience of climate change and how it affects different communities, particularly those facing financial insecurity is desirable. 

Turn2us is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusion in our sector. We want this to be reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us and we are interested in applications from people from varied backgrounds.

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