About us Switchboard’s listening service caters to all LGBTQIA communities in the UK. We are a safe space for anyone to discuss anything, including sexuality, gender identity, sexual health, and emotional well-being. We enable our service users to explore and understand the right options for them, providing information and support and, where necessary, signposting to other services. We offer a non-judgemental and inclusive environment for all our service users and aspire to a society where all LGBTQIA people are informed and empowered. Switchboard is a highly valued service that has provided support and information to millions of people for over 50 years. We are rightly proud of our history, but we are ambitious, too We aim to increase Switchboard's reach and impact through the services we deliver while continuing to act as a keystone national organisation that serves the needs of our community. Our listening service handles, on average, over 17,000 conversations each year, and we know that there is an unmet demand for our services beyond this. To address this unmet demand, we are growing the charity and increasing our capacity, which requires expanding and improving our operational processes and services. We have largely been volunteer-resourced for most of our history and are proud to be supported by over 260 volunteers. However, the board of trustees recognised that charity had outgrown the ability to remain entirely volunteer-led and sponsored a cultural shift within the organisation. Since 2021, we have been on a journey that could be termed a ‘start-up’: establishing a staff team, building a new culture within the charity and moving operational activities and ownership from volunteers to staff. We will continue to scale this cultural shift by growing the staff team to 11 by the end of 2024. We will shortly begin developing a new three-year strategic plan. We are thinking long-term and broad-scope about how Switchboard can meet the needs of our community for the next 50 years. Switchboard’s solid financial position provides opportunities to create new pathways that increase options for our service users, grow Switchboard as an organisation, and enable our staff to develop professionally. All of this will help us support more people in our community. Team and Culture This role sits within the staff team at Switchboard and reports directly to the Head of Volunteering and Training. This post will work closely with key volunteer-led operational teams. Switchboard HQ is based near Angel in London, N1. Currently, the staff team operates on a hybrid basis. They are expected to be in HQ at least twice a week, one of which is a Wednesday. Switchboard is a vibrant community where we encourage staff and volunteers to bring their whole authentic selves to the organisation. Switchboard is committed to being an inclusive workplace representative of the diverse communities that need our service. We actively encourage applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds, particularly from people of the global majority, transgender, non-binary identities, and disability groups, which are currently underrepresented within Switchboard. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, or age. We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments individuals may require during the recruitment process, upon commencement, or once in post. The Role As we look to cover our rota more effectively, we are working towards recruiting and training around 100 new volunteers in 2024, taking our total membership to the 350 mark. This number will only continue to grow each year, ultimately until we are able to handle all calls, IMs and emails our service receives. With this in mind, we want to ensure we not only retain new volunteers for a number of years, but that they also book regular shifts, are looked after and feel part of an active, vibrant and inclusive community. This role reports into our Head of Volunteering and Training and oversees four main areas: volunteer socials, wellbeing initiatives, celebrations and EDI. This role is key to ensuring we retain, nurture and engage volunteers within Switchboard, and that we create a community of volunteers which reflects the rich diversity of the wider LGBTQIA community. Switchboard is in a new phase of its journey, transitioning operations from a volunteer- to a staff-led basis, with the Board stepping back to focus on governance and longer-term strategy. This creates a unique opportunity for someone looking to join an established charity and who wants to be instrumental in building and leading something new. This role will help shape and sustain the direction of the charity and is critical to the success and stability of our service. It is a key role in a time of exciting development at Switchboard, as we continue to extend our staff team and fundamentally change the operational nature of the charity. Responsibilities Deliver a range of in-person and online social events throughout the year which engage volunteers and ensure they feel part of a vibrant community: Work with the operational group Vol Comm to plan a calendar of events for the year, ensuring volunteer input is at the heart of our plans Deliver a range of small and large social events (at least 3-4 big socials each year), which offer touchpoints to interact both in-person and online. Work with corporate partners to organise these where necessary Ensure all events are delivered within budget and on time, overseeing all project deliverables and logistics Manage the promotion of these events, sign ups and all event communications Oversee the feedback process for events, ensuring we improve each time Ensure all events are delivered in-line with Switchboard processes, policies and general health and safety guidelines Run ad hoc events from time-to-time that enable us to bring our volunteers together, connect and build friendships Design and launch a buddy scheme for volunteers which enables them to meet others and build connections. Oversee the sign up process and social events connected with this Manage our programme of Pride activations for 2025: Work with volunteers to decide which pride events we will attend in 2025 Manage the logistics and delivery of pride events for 2025, ensuring volunteers are signed up, travel/hotel arrangements are made, pride kits are assembled and activations have an identifiable ROI for Switchboard Oversee our programme of volunteer celebrations: Plan different volunteer awards, recognition and celebration events Write birthday and anniversary cards each month Manage seasonal decorations and the catering provided in the building, ensuring we have snacks at all times Manage our wellbeing initiatives: Manage our portfolio of wellbeing initiatives, working with third party agencies to scope work and ensure they deliver the service required. Deliver these initiatives on-time and within budget Ensure volunteers are aware of our wellbeing framework and are aware of different forms of support they can access if they need it Develop mechanisms for identifying wellbeing concerns internally Be a point of contact for those who require support Ensure Switchboard is a diverse and inclusive organisation: Oversee our EDI initiatives, working closely with the EDI group to plan events, influence policy and hold the organisation accountable for driving change Deliver training on relevant topics to our membership, ensuring they have the skills needed to create a diverse and inclusive culture Manage our network of volunteer groups such as the neurodiversity and FLINTA groups, ensuring they have the budgets needed to deliver events and that these are delivered on time About you This is a new role within the Switchboard staff team, a hands-on role which aims to help us engage volunteers and retain them within the organisation. As a result, people skills and soft skills are critical to the success of this role. We understand that your experience may be from unpaid roles and formal employment; we want to know why you’re the right person for this role, not whether you’ve been given the right opportunities. The skills and experience list outlines the attributes we’d like you to have – but you don’t have to have all of these to be considered for the role. We understand that interviews can be overwhelming, and we want to see your best. To that end, we will provide certain interview questions upfront to short-listed candidates before the interviews. Candidates must demonstrate an understanding of LGBTQIA people’s lives, including awareness of the issues that LGBTQIA people might face. You’ll need to understand the challenges and needs of our service users and how these issues can impact our volunteers and be prepared to work in an environment where issues that affect the lives of LGBTQIA people are regularly discussed. Essential skills & experience Has experience organising a range of events from large scale conferences to smaller social events (minimum two years) An understanding and appreciation of promoting and championing diversity and inclusion Motivated by the mission of Switchboard Familiarity with issues of the LGBTQIA communities Understands the importance of EDI and creating inclusive spaces for all volunteers to take part Strong people skills- an able communicator who can develop strong relationships with stakeholders, identify and handle conflict, and who seeks out feedback as much as possible Experience in using data to gather feedback and analyse results Has experience working with third party suppliers and agencies to organise events Is able to follow project plans and deliver events on-time and within budget Has experience designing and supporting wellbeing interventions Has a friendly and approachable manner Is able to manage a variety of stakeholders effectively Is passionate about the work we do Desirable skills & experience Able to effectively manage competing priorities Demonstrable ability to work to deadlines and use initiative to solve problems proactively and effectively Ability to work well as part of a small team and to support staff and volunteers A resourceful thinker with initiative and flexibility An understanding of what it means to be a volunteer Comfortable in public speaking We are hiring for this role on an ongoing basis and will close this role earlier if we find the right candidate.