Experience
Community Grants Executive July 2000 – Apr 2005
The Bedford Charity (The Harpur Trust)
Working directly to the Chief Executive and a Board of Trustees administering
a Community Grants Programme within the charitable objects: promotion
of education; relief of people who are sick or in need, hardship or distress;
the provision in the interest of social welfare of facilities for recreation
and other leisure-time occupations.
Area of benefit restricted to local Borough. Grant giving generally totals
over £500,000 annually, with provision for occasional major projects,
making the Trust’s community programmes comparable in funding allocation
to that of both the Borough and the County Council in the area of benefit.
North Bedfordshire is a multi-cultural area, and with a very mixed socio-economic
profile. Engagement with individuals and organisations before, during
and after the application process is high.
Community Involvement Officer April 1999 – June
2000
Havant and District Citizens Advice Bureaux
Established a new post to the CAB Service, funded eventually for six years
by the National Lottery. Aimed to enable local people, particularly those
at greatest disadvantage, to have a say in the way the three CABx in the
District provided their services, and to encourage a wider range of people
to become involved in their activities.
External work included meetings, talks, presentations, displays and targeted
publicity initiatives. Internal activities included establishment of focus
groups, developing effective volunteer recruitment, selection and induction
practices and improving communication between volunteers, staff, users
and outside organisations.
January 1999 – March 1999
Completing PADI Divemaster and Category 8 Skydiving qualifications
Travel to Australia (above post secured early February)
Founding Student Jan 1998 – Dec 1998
School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)
Selected for the first intake at the SSE, ‘for the high-minded and
hard-headed’, comprising eight weeks of study periods in London,
and the rest of the year placed in a partner organisation.
I requested to return to NACAB, assisting my Regional Director with her
work leading the National Volunteering Strategy Working Group, and co-ordinating
and submitting a European Social Fund Capacity building bid for CABx in
Suffolk.
Access Officer, Bedfordshire July 1992 to Mar 1998
National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, East Region
Working predominantly with CABx across Bedfordshire, but often involving
CABx and a wide range of organizations from throughout the Region and
further afield in activities.
To assist them in promoting awareness of their work more effectively –
particularly to those most disadvantaged in their local communities; developing
their capacity to recruit, support and train volunteers from under-represented
groups; supporting them in their work in diversifying their service delivery
to be more responsive to local needs.
This included considerable work with BME communities, collaboration with
organisations working with and for people with disabilities, and developing
services and engagement mechanisms for older and younger people experiencing
isolation or at risk of exclusion.
The innovative nature of this work contributed to my selection to the
SSE.
Other relevant work experience:
Computing Development Officer (ESF Trainee) 1989-1991
Exeter University Computer Unit
Specialised in face to face and telephone User Support, but also wrote
software guides, developed databases, ran training courses in operating
systems and wordprocessing, programmed in statistical software packages.
Editorial Assistant 1988-1989
Mercury Newspapers, East Anglian Daily Times
Assisted team in putting together two weekly local newspapers.
CAB Volunteer Adviser 1989
Bury St Edmunds CAB 1989
Sample work achievements:
The Bedford Charity:
Significant restructuring of Grants Committee to enable greater genuine
involvement of Trustees in the decision making process, and to allow more
effective mechanisms to evolve policies and programmes. Informed by greatly
increased analysis of grant giving through monitoring and evaluation,
and ongoing research of local, regional and national issues relevant to
programme activities.
Asked by the Association of Charitable Foundations to present two good practice seminars on developing and implementing a
grant making strategy at the first European Symposium for Trust and Foundation
Grant making.
Involvement in strategic partnerships, including Education Action Zone,
Out of School Hours projects, collaborative working with Education, Social
Services and Health Departments of County Council, and joint initiatives
with Borough Council and other major funders (eg Sport England).
Strategic Review of all current grant programmes and policies, particularly
those aimed at individuals, and where charitable giving needs to be most
closely informed by an awareness of the boundaries of statutory sector
provision.
This has led to national recognition of some of our ‘social
policy’ initiatives, particularly with regard to the impact of maintained
sector educational costs (eg school uniforms, trips and fundraising) on
low income families.
Major role in development and implementation of the Charity’s first
strategic plan. One outcome will be a four-fold increase in sums available for distribution through the Charity’s grantmaking by the end of
the decade (up to £2.1 million pa ).
Citizens Advice Bureau
Initiating and development of:
-
regional resource centre, enabling bureaux to share good practice
in awareness raising and recruitment techniques;
- dedicated 0345 Volunteering Information Line Service enabling
24 CABx across two counties to pool resources to recruit more effectively;
-
Regional Outreach Worker meetings to provide training and peer
support for isolated staff and volunteers, often working with particularly
disadvantaged client groups.