Marketing and communications officer    

Job pack

 About the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF)

The Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) is the membership body for UK foundations and grant-making charities.

Founded in 1989, we have over 400 members who reflect the diversity of the foundation sector, including family trusts, corporate foundations, broadcasting appeals and livery companies, which fund a very wide range of charitable causes.

Our values guide our work

• We care

 • We are open

 • We are evidence based

• We are ambitious

Our strategic objectives

What is a foundation?

Foundations are charities with private, independent and sustainable income that usually fund or support individuals or other organisations.

About the role

This is a great time to join our new marketing and communications team focused on managing communications across ACF. We work closely with membership, external affairs and the events team to shout about the amazing work they produce for our trust and foundation members, prospective members and stakeholders.

The last 18 months have seen a lot of development for ACF. We have launched a new website and CRM system, introduced new email marketing software, and launched new events and initiatives. But there’s plenty more to come!

 We are looking for a marketing and communications officer to support the senior marketing and communications manager. The newly formed team will deliver communications and marketing activity and plans that build ACF’s brand and reputation and improve ACF’s communications reach and impact. This role is an integral part of the team and will enable us to innovate, create and test so that we can share more of our work with our audiences and further develop our communications activity.

 This is general marketing and communications role, giving exposure to a broad range of channels and marketing tactics. It is ideal for someone who wants to gain experience of marketing and communications while making a big impact in a small staff team.

 You will gain hands-on experience of a website content management system, email marketing, comms planning, design, social media, copywriting, proofreading and editing. You will develop close working relationships with all colleagues, be able to see the impact of the team’s work and learn new skills for your developing career in communications or marketing.

 This role is full-time with flexible working between home and our central London office.

What you’ll do

·         Assist the senior marketing and communications manager with website maintenance and improvements through the content management system

 ·         Assist in the effective operation of all ACF communications channels including blogs and articles, newsletters, infographics, photos, videos, adverts and guides

 ·         Support the preparation of regular and ad hoc email campaigns using email marketing software

 ·         Actively contribute to developing the ACF brand by championing the use of house style guides

 ·         Support the coordination of communications activities across the organisation by maintaining a comms planner and assisting colleagues with producing tailored comms and marketing plans for specific activities.

What you’ll bring

·         Strong communication skills

·         Developed written skills

·         Developed ability to time manage 

·         Developed IT skills. Some experience of websites, email marketing system or social media is desirable

·         Some knowledge of communications and marketing techniques and channels

·         A thirst for learning

·         Willingness to get stuck into a hands-on role

·         A genuine interest in developing a career in communications or marketing.

Benefits

ACF has a developed a range of benefits to enable staff to perform and be supported in times where personal situations change.  Annual leave is 25 days per year, plus all the bank holidays, as well as time off during Christmas and New Year which does not affect the leave above.  We also make a pension contribution of 10% of base salary into Now Pensions on staff members behalf.

We have a generous sick leave policy to support staff in the event of illness or accident, and a Parental, Maternity and adoption leave policy designed to significantly support staff above our legal obligations.

ACF offers flexible working and ensures that any working from home is supported by equipment to ensure your home office set up is optimised.

The application process

ACF uses Be Applied https://www.beapplied.com/ as its recruitment platform to remove as much bias as possible in the process.  Candidates will complete questions on the platform, which are scored for every candidate who completes an application by a suitably trained and qualified panel. Those selected to be interviewed are as a result of these scores; we do not take CVs into account at this point in the process.

Interviews will take place online, with the structured questions shared in advance to enable candidates to prepare thoroughly. The Panel will score independently each candidate’s responses with a review of candidates’ summary scores only reviewed when all interviews are completed. 

Communication will be via email through the platform and managed by the HR team. Any support a candidate needs can be directed to recruitment@acf.org.uk which will not impact their application, negatively or positively.

All candidates who apply for the position will receive feedback from the panellists at the conclusion of the process to support your future applications.

Application deadline: 14 December 2021

Interviews to be held: 20 or 21 December 2021. Interviews will take place on Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Job description                    

1.      JOB DETAILS               

           Job Title:              Marketing and communications officer

           Location:             London, Head office

           Responsible To:   Senior marketing and communications manager

           Responsible For: NA

            Hours: 35 hours per week

2.      JOB PURPOSE

 To support the senior marketing and communications manager to deliver communications and marketing activity and plans to build ACF’s brand and reputation and improve ACF’s communications reach and impact

Assist colleagues to ensure they have good understanding of the marketing and brand strategies and all communications meet organisational needs.

 3.        KEY RESULT AREAS/PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 3.1

Assists senior marketing and communications manager with website maintenance by adding, editing and archiving content in line with style guides and supporting ongoing improvements to accessibility, layout and performance of the ACF website.

 Assist in the effective operation of all ACF communications channels including blogs and articles, newsletters, infographics, photos, videos, adverts and guides to maximise audience reach and brand awareness as well as ensuring organisational objectives are met. Monitor online resources and information to ensure they are up to date, accessible, on brand and in high quality format for all ACF website and social media users.

 Support the preparation of regular and ad hoc email campaigns to ensures all e-communications are sent on time and on brand.

 Actively contribute to developing the ACF brand by championing the use of house style guides and supports colleagues to apply them to their work.

 Support the coordination of communications activities across the organisation by maintaining a comms planner and assisting colleagues with producing tailored comms and marketing plans for specific activities and ensuring a culture of forward planning

3.2 Key contacts – Internal and external

Internally –

Senior managers

 Externally –

Members

Key stakeholders and partners

Creative and digital agencies

            Official Partners and other commercial supports

3.3   Health and safety

·         Ensure that Health and Safety guidelines and fire regulations are strictly adhered to

·         Comply with safe working practices as defined by ACF

·         Complete mandatory training as and when required

·         Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by acts or omissions at work

·         Report any accidents, incidents or near misses as soon as reasonably practicable.

3.4    General

·         Be aware of and adhere to ACF’s policies at all times

·         Commitment to follow and implement ACF Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) values

·         Take part in progress/performance reviews throughout the year

·         Cooperate with other departments

·         Attend training courses and complete online training modules as required to meet the requirements of the post

·         Take responsibility for own personal development, seeking out opportunities to learn new skills

·         Undertake any other duties as requested by the Trustee Board which are reasonably deemed to be within the scope of the role

3.5     Other

 ·         Apply the ACF’s values and behaviours to every aspect of the role at all times

·         Promote and maintain the brand standards of ACF

Person Specification

 ESSENTIAL

Skills

•  Developed IT Skills including Office 365, social media

• Developed ability to time manage

•  Good communication skills

•  Developed written skills

•  A willingness to learn

  Personal attributes

•  Rational, logical thinking

• Creative thinking

• Flexible

• Resilience

• Rational compassion and empathy