The Network Volunteer Engagement Manager will play a central and inspirational role as we support food banks to engage, develop and mobilise their volunteers for transformational local change. This role will help food banks to design, shape and enhance food bank volunteering programmes and projects in line with the Together for Change strategy, including developing tools and resources for the food bank network in partnership with the wider Volunteering team and Network Resources team.

This role will be responsible for supporting food banks in their region with the recruitment, training and development of key strategic volunteer roles. With volunteer leadership experience and strong communication skills, they will bring together trustees and volunteer managers across their area for regular training and upskilling in order to empower the volunteers they lead to play their role in ending the need for food banks in their local community.

Role responsibilities

·       Support food banks to recruit volunteers into key roles that align with the Together for Change strategy; including leading recruitment campaigns, training and development.

·       Bring together food bank trustees and volunteer leaders in order to train and upskill them in how to communicate and engage volunteers in the Together for Change strategy; including developing online webinars, facilitating train the trainer initiatives and hosting shared learning opportunities, in collaboration with the L&D team.

·       Provide specialist volunteering expertise to help food banks develop and implement new or enhanced volunteering programmes and projects in line with the Together for Change strategy, and best practice in volunteering and EDI.

·       Work collaboratively with the Network Operations and Safeguarding & Quality teams to invest in the development of food bank trustee boards in order to equip them for good governance and strategic leadership of their volunteers. 

·       Champion the Trussell Trust’s volunteer strategy, systems and resources across food bank volunteer leaders to improve their effectiveness, and to enable them to use volunteer data to communicate their story for funding and impact opportunities.

·       Develop regular, engaging communications that amplify the voice and impact of volunteers, shared across the charity’s internal and external communication platforms.

Person Specification

·       Technical skills and minimum knowledge:

·       Experience recruiting, developing and managing volunteers, as well as volunteering projects and programmes in line with volunteering and EDI best practice

·       Able to manage multiple projects, identifying conflicting demands and establishing clear priorities in order to meet agreed objectives.

·       Excellent communication skills with the ability to inspire others through verbal and written communication, and the ability to distil key information.

·       Able to work as part of both linear and matrix teams, both internally and across organisations.

·       Good working knowledge of CRM and/or VMS systems. Able to interrogate database and reporting systems to produce and analyse statistics and reports on volunteer activity.

Behaviours and competencies:

·       An effective communicator, verbally and in writing, able to share complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences.

·       Demonstrates strong interpersonal skills when working through challenges or conflict, doing so in a positive and solutions-focused way

·       Demonstrates a strong willingness to learn, especially in areas of volunteering best practice, GDPR and safeguarding

·       Demonstrate a commitment to the values of the Trussell Trust.

·       Demonstrates empathy for people from disadvantaged, marginalised or socially- excluded backgrounds.

Key Stakeholders

·       Food bank network volunteer leaders (Trustees, Project Managers, volunteer leads)

·       Food bank volunteers

·       Corporate volunteers

·       Volunteering team

Our Values

The Trussell Trust is a charity that works to end the need for food banks. It is founded on and shaped by Christian principles.

Our values of dignity, justice, compassion and community, are central to all that we do and therefore supports our aim to be an organisation where the diversity of all employees is valued.  We welcome people of all faiths and those that are committed to these values.

We recognise that we have under-represented groups within our workforce. As part of our commitment to diversity and equality of opportunity we are actively encouraging applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions and those with a lived experience of poverty as well as any other under-represented group in our workforce. We are committed ensuring the safety and protection of our employees from all forms of harm.