Volunteer Manager

Fare Share now operates 21 Regional Centres around the UK. The majority of these are run by local charitable organisations we call our Delivery Partners. This enables us to be a UK-wide organisation yet also think and behave with local concerns at the heart of our actions. We support 9,653 local charities and groups – our Community Food Members. Over the past year 16,992 tonnes of food were redistributed by Fare Share Regional Centres nationwide, feeding 772,000 people every week.

We operate across 1,500 towns, cities and villages and we save UK charities and community groups more than £28 million each year.

Hunger is a growing issue in the UK and while there is surplus food that is otherwise going to waste, we believe that this food should be used to feed people first. Demand far outstrips supply.

We aspire to grow our number of volunteers to help us deliver our mission and that of our member charities and community groups, whilst helping to ensure the ongoing sustainability of Fare Share’s 21 Regional Centres across the UK. Volunteers are the life blood of Fare Share, without them food which is received from the UK’s food industry, would not make its way to the nearly 7,000 charities and community groups we support.

The majority of people who currently volunteer with Fare Share do so in the warehouses of the 21 Regional Centres. They help to sort, allocate and deliver the food to our member charities and community groups. We also have other invaluable volunteers who liaise with our members to plan food deliveries and work in the community to support our outreach programmes, which work to raise awareness of Fare Share and its services.

Our aim is to grow our volunteer base in these roles, while we also diversify the types of volunteering opportunities available within Fare Share Regional Centres, which support the wider operations, whether this is in Fundraising, Communications, Management or Logistics. This could be a small as recruiting Last Mile volunteers to delivering food to a charity or community group, or as big recruiting volunteers to set up a Local Food Collection Point within their community.

We are looking for someone dynamic and engaging, with excellent communication and volunteer management skills, as well as a commitment to delivering a high quality service in line with our mission and core values. In addition, to working with the team in the Fare Share Regional Centre you will also work closely with the Fare Share National Volunteering Team. You will work together to provide a consistent volunteer experience across the Fare Share network, which is enjoyable, rewarding and safe for our volunteers.

You should be self-motivated, with experience of working within volunteer management and able to manage ad-hoc corporate groups, short term volunteering schemes as well as long-term and regular volunteers. Additionally, you should be able to deliver end to end volunteer recruitment activities and provide on-going supervision and support to volunteers, ensuring that their training needs are met. You should also be able to develop and deliver a range of local volunteer engagement activities.

Furthermore you should have experience promoting and championing the role of volunteers, so that they are respected and valued for their contribution to the organisation.

• Develop and implement a regional volunteer recruitment strategy that will deliver an extensive pool of diverse and engaged volunteers to ensure the operational needs of your Fare Share Regional Centre are met in a timely manner.
• Recruit, build and maintain relationships with a wide range of regional volunteer sources, ensuring regular engagement leading to long term partnerships.
• Regular liaison with the Fare Share National Volunteering Team to capitalise on national initiatives.
• Volunteer engagement and communication strategies
• Develop and deliver a regional engagement programme that ensures all volunteers have a rewarding experience, whilst effectively contributing to Fare Share’s overall development
• Promote volunteering, internally and…