Head of Volunteering

About your role Reporting to the Director of People, you're responsible for shaping and delivering our volunteer journey, making sure we provide an outstanding experience for everyone who chooses to volunteer with us and that we attract, develop and retain a diverse network of volunteers. While volunteers are managed day-to-day by colleagues across the charity, you lead Dogs for Good's approach to volunteering, providing the frameworks, tools, support and strategy needed to deliver a consistent, high-quality volunteer experience.

You directly line manage and develop a small team, creating a positive, high-performing environment where colleagues are supported to deliver excellent outcomes for volunteers and the wider charity. You make sure your team has the skills, capacity and resources needed to deliver against our volunteering priorities and continuously enhance the volunteer experience.

Your work helps create an environment where volunteers feel welcomed, valued, connected and empowered to make a meaningful contribution. Through fostering connection, collaboration and shared experiences, you make sure that volunteers are fully integrated into the life of the charity and recognised as an essential part of who we are and what we achieve.

In the context of our move to a community-led, place-based operating model, you play a crucial role in fostering a culture where employees and volunteers work together as one team, united by a shared purpose and commitment to the people and communities we work with. Our operating model places community and individual need at the heart of the work we do and the services we provide, enabling us to tailor our approach to local priorities. By taking this person and community-centred approach, we can recruit, mobilise and retain volunteers in ways that are relevant, responsive and impactful, ensuring they make the greatest possible difference within their communities.

Because of this way of working, you regularly travel to visit the relevant areas (which are currently the Midlands, the North West, the South West and Scotland) spending time with colleagues where volunteering happens and developing a deep understanding of local needs, challenges and opportunities. This means you're comfortable working in a hybrid or remote-first way, depending on your location. If you're remote-first, you'll be expected to attend our Banbury HQ for a few days each month, at least during the first six months, and we'll cover your travel and accommodation in line with our expenses policy.

In the early stages, you take a hands-on approach to designing, testing and embedding the foundations of a high-performing volunteering function which spans recruitment, onboarding, policy, systems, processes and volunteer support. Once these foundations are in place, you lead the development and implementation of our volunteering strategy, embedding a compelling and shared vision for volunteering across our employee, volunteer and wider communities.

You build strong partnerships across teams that engage volunteers, helping to foster an environment where volunteering can continue to flourish. You develop sustainable approaches to recruiting, engaging, developing and supporting volunteers, ensuring we have the people, capabilities and capacity required to deliver our new community-based operating model successfully. Acting as a bridge between organisational priorities and local delivery, you help shape an experience that balances consistent standards with community ownership.

About you You lead with a visible, engaged and hands-on approach, and you're someone who likes to make things happen. With a clear sense of purpose and a practical, can-do approach, you're able to set direction, make decisions with confidence and turn ideas into action. You're comfortable leading through complexity and uncertainty, creating momentum and helping others focus on what matters most.

Just as importantly, you know that lasting success comes from bringing people with you. You take the time to build strong relationships across distributed teams, listen to different perspectives and build confidence in the volunteering function and the people who make it successful.

Above all, you're committed to fostering an inclusive volunteering culture where our people feel valued, connected and able to contribute.

Your responsibilities As our Head of Volunteering, you:

Are responsible for our volunteer journey

• Develop, deliver and continuously enhance an exceptional volunteer journey, ensuring volunteers have a positive, inclusive and rewarding experience.
• Lead volunteer attraction, recruitment and retention activities to support the delivery of our services.
• Develop and embed meaningful volunteering management information, producing regular reports and using data and insights to evaluate performance, shape plans and improve the volunteer experience.

Develop and lead our volunteer strategy

• Lead the development, promotion and delivery of a volunteering strategy aligned to the People strategy and wider organisational objectives, shaping an exceptional end-to-end volunteer journey that attracts, supports, develops, recognises and retains the volunteers that help us to deliver our services.

Collaborate and communicate across teams, networks and communities

• Work with teams across Dogs for Good to understand volunteer needs, identify opportunities to optimise volunteer involvement in support of our organisational strategy and make sure that volunteering supports organisational priorities.
• Build strong working relationships across the charity (especially with volunteer managers and community engagement officers) to make sure we're managing our volunteers well.
• Work closely with and support your team to make sure operational processes and systems are effective.
• Represent volunteering across the organisation and champion the contribution volunteers make to Dogs for Good's impact.
• Identify opportunities to expand and diversify volunteering across services, programmes and communities.
• Act as a visible volunteering ambassador for the charity, building strategic relationships across the sector and represent us externally in networking groups, forums and committees to foster collaboration, increase learning and strengthen our impact.

Lead on the 'One Team' vision for volunteering across the organisation

• Create opportunities for volunteers and employees to connect, collaborate and celebrate together, building a strong sense of belonging and shared purpose.
• Champion a culture where volunteers are recognised as an integral part of the organisation and fully included in team life, communications and organisational activities.
• Develop initiatives that strengthen relationships and mutual understanding between volunteers and employees across the charity.

Own volunteer experience and engagement

• Develop volunteer communications, engagement activity and recognition initiatives that strengthen connection and belonging.
• Foster a positive, inclusive and engaging volunteering culture where individuals feel connected to the charity's purpose.
• Develop initiatives that increase volunteer satisfaction, engagement and long-term commitment.
• Ensure volunteers are recognised and celebrated for their contribution.
• Gather and respond to feedback to continually improve the volunteer experience.
• Champion equality, diversity and inclusion throughout all volunteering activity.
• Make sure that volunteers have opportunities to contribute their ideas, experiences and perspectives to organisational development.

Create learning and development opportunities for our volunteer community

• Develop and lead a comprehensive volunteer learning and development programme that supports volunteers to thrive in their roles.
• Design and implement training, induction, mentoring and development opportunities that meet the needs of a diverse volunteer community.
• Ensure volunteers have access to learning pathways, resources and opportunities for personal growth.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of learning and development initiatives and use insight to strengthen future provision.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning and development across the volunteer community.

Make sure that safety and sustainability are a priority

• Make sure that volunteering is delivered safely and inclusively, maintaining oversight of safeguarding, accessibility, GDPR and health and safety requirements.
• Ensure volunteering contributes meaningfully to organisational goals, community impact and long-term sustainability.
• Stay informed about developments and best practice within volunteer management and community engagement.

Your skills, experience and approach It's essential that you:

• Have experience of leading or managing a volunteer team, ideally including remotely.
• Have proven skills in volunteer management.
• Have experience of supporting a diverse range of colleagues and teams to develop confidence and skill in working effectively with volunteers.
• Have proven skills in employee line management - leading, motivating and developing others.
• Have developed volunteering programmes within a charity, community, public sector or similar environment.
• Have developed volunteer learning and development programmes.
• Can demonstrate the ability to build strong partnerships and relationships, and that you have excellent relationship-building, networking and influencing skills.
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