Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Job description

We are looking for a Comms and Marketing Coordinator to join our team to help build our brand, enabling a move to increased traded income via workshops and services for youth work and mental health organisations.

You will design, implement and manage a cross organisational strategy, building our reputation, branding and reach to new and diverse audiences. This is a creative role and there is potential to shape it in a way that suits the coordinator and the organisation.

Responsible to: Co-directors Ro Fry, Tim George, Amy Cox (we have a flat management system and all manage each other so in time you will also be managing us!)

Place of work: 30-64 Pennywell Road Bristol BS5 0TG

Hours of work: 16 hrs per week (2 days). This may include occasional extra paid days of work

Days of work: Wednesday/Thursday

Contract Type: 12 month rolling dependent on funding (June 24 - June 25)*

Annual leave: 25 days pro rata including bank holidays

Probationary period: 3 months

Pay: £141/ day (PAYE salaried employment including paid holidays, NI contributions & optional pension contribution via the NEST scheme. We are also open to employing someone self-employed)

*Please note, we operate for 11 months of the year (Feb - Dec) closing in January for rest and recuperation but spread our annual pay over 12 months so January is paid as well, the £141/day rate reflects this.

Role Outline 

In this vital role, the Comms and Marketing Coordinator will help us move away from a funding dependent model by building our brand and enabling a move to increased traded income via workshops and services for youth work and mental health organisations. 

They will design, implement and manage a cross organisational strategy, building our reputation, branding and reach to new and diverse audiences. It is a creative role and there is potential to shape it in a way that suits the coordinator and the organisation. 

They will be coming in alongside 3 existing founders at pay parity with a horizontal hierarchical structure. 

We are encouraging applicants from under-represented groups in our team to apply which includes those who are under 30 with lived experience of the issues we work with. We recognise t-at the diversity of our staff needs to improve, as we are not fully representative yet and we are striving to address this imbalance through positive action. This is because we are putting our community first and a diverse workforce will help us to understand the diverse needs of our communities and be able to adapt accordingly. 

If you don't meet these criteria but you feel would suit the role and have the relevant experience then please do apply. 

As part of The Birch Collective you will: 

• Be part of a small team where each voice is equal, we adhere to non-hierarchical decision making as much as possible

• Have the opportunity to shape your role and make your mark on the organisation 

• Have pay parity with permanent staff members  

• Be part of an organisation that is making a positive difference in the lives of 16-25s

• 25 days annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays (pro rata)

• January leave, an opportunity for rest, reflection and personal development.

• Training opportunities and time for personal development/reflection 

• Flexibility in working hours 

Roles and Responsibilities

Comms and Marketing:

• Create a cross-organisational comms and marketing strategy to broaden our reach, tighten up our branding and maintain our profile

• Seek new markets and create attractive, target group specific branding to support the development of our traded income streams allowing us to move away from a funding dependent model

• Increase followers on instagram & facebook generating inspiring, visually appealing content and targeted campaigns for ‘harder to reach’ audiences 

• Check and reply to messages on SM/website/ forward onto relevant team member  

• Create SM/ website content tagging funders and documenting funding for specific projects to help with report writing 

• Website: update content alongside relevant team member to update new programmes/ funders/ photos via our simple-to-use content management system for our website website manager (our web designer will action any coding)

• Monthly newsletter: create content promoting our programmes, events & opportunities to get involved using ie canva and mailerlite 

• Writing content to promote our work to send to other organisation newsletters/websites to promote our events and raise our profile

• Set up event ticketing ie Eventbrite 

• Coordinate with our graphic designer to produce posters in line with our brand and with the marketing strategy (if you have graphic design skills this could be brought in-house)

• Distribute marketing material for other members of staff to promote our programmes sticking to deadlines in the project schedule 

• Assist in proof reading and submitting funding bids 

• Work with Monitoring and Evaluation consultant to produce end of year 2-pager impact report for board and funders 

• Check team email regularly and reply/send emails onto relevant staff member 

Tech:

• Communicate with our web developer about build work/ maintenance/ glitches with the website 

• Manage phone/ email/contact list/ printer/photos/ tech issues - requesting and seeking external tech support with this if needed 

• Research and advise on any new tech to buy as needed 

• Work with tech team/web designer to streamline sign up/data collection process

• Keep all software up to date and resolve any issues (asana/zapier)

• Roll out Monitoring and evaluation system across organisation and to each programme (designed by consultant and already in process)

• Familiarise other staff with tools, how to record and process of data gathering 

• Decide if system if working, reflect with staff, feedback to consultant and amend accordingly 

• Work with consultant to process first tranche of data 

• Ongoing implementation, data gathering and impact reporting annually

• Disseminate this information through our marketing channels to illuminate the efficacy of our work

Finance Assistant:

• Checks forecasting spreadsheet once a month to keep an overview/ for errors/ inconsistencies (Finance manager is responsible for inputting info/maintaining the spreadsheet)

• Invoicing: pays invoices and oversees all direct debits/ creates and sends invoices, chases unpaid invoices

• Record all transactions in invoice record spreadsheet

• Oversees all expense receipts are uploaded electronically and labelled correctly 

HR:

• Responsible for PAYE: Liaise with accountant to submit monthly hours worked, pay staff and PAYE monthly (first Wednesday of the month)

• Overseeing timesheets are filled in correctly and each week

• Keeping us accountable to morning meeting check in and having a monthly dinner, encouraging everyone to take breaks outside! 

• Coordinating monthly supervision dates 

• Keep office stocked with stationary/ paper etc 

General: 

• Commits to working Wednesdays/ Thursdays at our Bristol office (occasional remote working can be negotiated)

• Facilitates internal meetings, according to agreed processes 

• Participates in weekly operational, and monthly strategic meetings  

• Attends quarterly board meetings 

• Attends monthly collective organisational reflective supervision 

• Is familiar and aligned with The Birch Collective’s values and mission 

• Work collaboratively with the Birch team and prepared to take on extra tasks as needed

• Seeks timely support with Birch Collective related issues

• You will need access to your own computer for this role

Skills, Experience and Interests (Essential):

• Background in comms and marketing - either through work in the industry or formal training 

• Thorough understanding and experience of increasing reach and following on a range of social media platforms, including but not limited to; Instagram, Facebook, Linked-In and Snapchat.

• Demonstrable and successful experience designing and implementing an organisational marketing strategy

• A proven track record of running comms and marketing campaigns and success in building the brand/ reach of an organisation 

• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written) and ability to represent the Birch Collective and our work in a way that is clear, accessible, engaging and inspiring to a diverse audience 

• Experience of successful collaboration in small teams 

• Confident organisational and project management skills: time management, communication, goal setting, self-motivation, work prioritisation, ability to work to deadlines

• A proven track record creating inspiring, exciting and engaging social media content 

• Experience using design and organisational software - such as Google Docs, spreadsheets, asana, canva, mailerlite or similar design/communication based software 

• Competent with spreadsheet software

Skills and Experience (Desirable):

• Experience working in the community mental health/outdoor learning sector or experience working with 16-25’s with diverse life experience

• Lived experience of loneliness/isolation/ associated mental health issues 

• Working in a small organisation or one aiming for a horizontal hierarchical structure 

• Existing relationships and contacts within community organisations/social prescribers/related professionals working with 16-25’s in Bristol and the surrounding area

• Project coordination skills and experience

Personal Qualities:

• Enthusiastic about this role and with capacity to take it on

• Honest and committed to relationship building in a small team- able to communicate clearly and sensitively about needs, to ask for help and know capacity

• Reflective in your work - able to learn new skills and to learn from mistakes

• Collaborative and flexible - willingness to muck in and support each other within this small team 

• Commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility 

• Passionate about community mental health and offering nature based services to 16-25’s

• An interest in transformational camps 

• A love of nature and spending time outside

About us

The Birch Collective work alongside 16-25s experiencing mental ill-health or social isolation. Through nature-based creative groups, we support participants through their transition to adulthood, unlocking their potential to be resilient, motivated, and empowered individuals who can make positive changes in their lives

We believe in the efficacy of community mental health interventions and to that end host a range of programmes including:

• Fresh Air Thursdays: a weekly land-skills and wellbeing session

• Camp Birch: A 4-night transformational woodland residential

• 1:1 Nature Based Mentoring: for participants in recovery from mental health crises (commissioned by the NHS)

• Therapeutic Forest School: Working alongside partners we have developed this offer for young adults with profound disability (United Response) and ESOL students (The City of Bristol College), many of whom are asylum seekers & refugees. 

• Partnership work: Bespoke nature-based workshops for partner organisations such as the Princes Trust, OTR and others/

• Steering Groups: a series of participatory workshops exploring loneliness/ social action and a chance to have a say in what direction the Birch Collective takes in the following year. 

All of our programmes aim to build community and engender feelings of belonging, purpose and resilience. We co-design our programme with participants and offer space and support for them to develop practical and interpersonal skills via delivering mini workshops, and becoming peer representatives and volunteers. We are a group of facilitators with experience in psychotherapy, eco-therapy, Forest Schools & play, community music, group work, heritage craft, forestry and ecologically-sensitive food growing. 

For more information about who we are and what we do, have a look at our website

Application information

Application is to amy@thebirchcollective.co.uk via CV/ cover letter and 2 referees (see JD/ PS for more info)

Drop in hour: Thursday 18th April 5.15-6.15pm come meet us and have an informal chat! 

Interviews will be on: Wednesday 8th May in Bristol 

Start date: Start of June Weblink

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs