Community, Participation & Volunteering Manager

Community, Participation & Volunteering Manager - Poole Summary

This is an exciting opportunity to join the team at Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (formerly Brownsea Island) as our Community, Participation and Volunteering Manager. As we move into our new 10-year strategy period, you’ll be at the forefront of delivering our strategy to End Unequal Access.

This role will include working on weekends and bank holidays on a rota basis, along with some evening working. You will also act as one of the Islands duty managers and be responsible for the smooth running of the site, ensuring visitors, staff and volunteers are safe and that the visitor experience is prioritised.

You will report directly into the General Manager, and be a member of the Property Leadership Team (PLT) and will manage our Community Rangers and Volunteering department with budgetary responsibilities.

Your office base will be the stunning Brownsea island, located in Poole Harbour. The island is a haven for wildlife, with an array of habitats including woodland, heathland and a lagoon. Travelling to work by water is one of the perks of the job at Brownsea Island and a free boat is available for staff.

There will be an expectation to spend time within BCP building community networks to support our Strategy to End Unequal Access to nature and will require regular travel to and from BCP.

For more information about our property please visit

Leading a ‘population and people first’ approach and putting the voice and needs of communities at the heart of our priorities and plans – so that together we can restore more nature, increase access to nature and heritage, and inspire millions of people to take action.

Increasing capacity and capability to deliver our charitable aims by embedding more collaborative and partnership ways of working. Leading for positive, inclusive and flexible volunteering experiences both on and off property. Increasing community participation by creating or co‑creating opportunities for people to share time and skills – actively supporting community, partner‑led or independent activities.

As a strong people leader you’ll develop your people and volunteers to deliver great service for all our visitors. You’ll play a key role in the future of Brownsea Island and the wider BCP Portfolio, driving strong performance across agreed Key Performance Indicators.

Applications from redeployees are assessed against the minimum criteria for the role. In your application, please provide details of how you meet the minimum criteria below:

• excellent understanding of good practice in community engagement and participatory practice, and experience of applying it in a range of contexts.
• excellent understanding of volunteer engagement and experience of innovating volunteering and increasing wider participation
• able to use data and insight to prioritise, make effective choices and decide when and how to engage
• significant experience of partnership working different audiences
• able to build effective and collaborative working relationships with leaders and wider teams
• ability to coach people to build confidence/capability, increasing community engagement and participation & volunteering.

All other candidates will be assessed on the following:

• Relevant experience of working in the volunteer, community sector and statutory bodies.
• Experience of working with people, welcoming visitors, getting feedback, working with volunteers, and working alongside other property teams to do the best that we can for our visitors.
• Skills in prioritisation and workload management to lead for the volunteer offer within the portfolio and contribute to island programming.
• Lead on strategic themes of Ending Unequal Access and Inspiring Millions.
• Skills to manage and champion teams; where you may not have technical expertise, you’ll use your coaching and mentoring skills to support staff and volunteers.
• A collaborative style of working with others, including Island Partners and External Stakeholders.

The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to…