Director of Communications and Engagement

About Young Westminster Foundation:

The Young Westminster Foundation was established in 2017 to support young people growing up in Westminster to have healthy, safe and bright futures. The foundation is a cross-sector partnership, working with youth organisations, schools, businesses, funders, government and Westminster City Council and is part of the wider YPF network supporting children across North-West London.

We are a membership organisation, supporting local youth organisations through grants, training, research and networking opportunities. Forging partnerships with businesses, public sector partners, individuals and major funders, our work helps strengthen services for all young people Westminster.

Our aims:

• Members: Helping youth clubs and youth organisations to thrive
• Partnerships: Fostering a community who care about Westminster s young people
• Funding: Generating long term investment for youth organisations and young people in Westminster
• Knowledge: Listening, learning and sharing

The Role:

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Director of Communications and Engagement to join the team and be part of the Senior Management Team. In this role, you will be responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing the charity's communications, focusing on building our profile as well as outreach to our growing community of member charities, businesses and strategic partners. You will ensure YWF's voice is impactful and authentic, blending creativity and strategy to elevate our organisation's presence and strengthen its relationships with young people, member organisations, the public and partners.

You will cover digital, events and external communications, working closely with the team. This is a permanent part-time role (3 or 4 days per week) with flexible working options.

This is a hands-on role working within a small and busy charity. The scope of the role is varied and will evolve as YWF continues to develop, but will broadly involve the following:

Key Responsibilities

• Working closely with the CEO, create and implement a comprehensive communications strategy to promote the charity s work and to maximise opportunities of key partner engagement
• Take stock of our current communications activity and lead efforts to elevate the charity's visibility and profile, including reporting and acting on analytics from the various platforms
• Oversee and implement communications across all platforms, including digital, print, and events. This includes creating regular business and member newsletters, website updates and events comms
• Oversee branding and communication guidelines, ensuring that staff are supported to follow and adhere to them
• Working closely with our Business Development Lead to support corporate fundraising efforts
• Work with our Evaluation and Data Specialist to develop communications proposals and maximise the use of in-house and external data
• Work closely with the team to develop compelling stories and formats and align communications strategy with the charity's mission and objectives
• Work closely with the Westminster Youth Hubs supporting them in their marketing and communications, encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing and helping build capacity
• Work closely with external agencies, including videographers and photographers, to create engaging content for YWF
• Work closely with our partner YPF Young K&C on the development of the OurCity Website
• Supporting the YWF Social media intern in the creation of content and templates aligned with brand guidelines, ensuring high quality is maintained
• Line Management of YWF staff
• Where appropriate, represent YWF at events

Who Are We Looking For?

• We are looking for candidates with the following skills and experience:
• Understanding of strategies to grow influence and elevate an organisation's profile by fostering and maintaining strong, strategic relationships with key stakeholders and partners
• Proven experience in developing and executing communications strategies, content development and creation of campaigns, including culturally sensitive communications that resonate with diverse audiences
• Proven experience in gathering, analysing and leveraging analytics to inform and enhance communication strategies and engagement initiatives
• Understanding of organisational branding
• Proven experience of managing social media accounts, websites and marketing tools including Canva and mailchimp
• Excellent presentation, writing and storytelling skills across a wide range of applications and for varied audiences
• Excellent proofreading and editing skills
• Strong leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and empower YWF team members
• An understanding of the charity sector and children and young people and the issues facing both

What else?

Interpersonal skills you will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and have experience of developing relationships with a range of people

Mucking in working in a small team with tight resources you will not be shy about helping out with getting things done but in return you will get flexible working arrangements and a fun working environment

The cause you will be passionate about our vision to support children and young people and be aware of the issues young Londoners are facing

At YWF we offer an attractive package of benefits to our staff. This includes:

• Competitive pay package and pension scheme
• Annual leave 28 days plus Christmas closure
• Enhanced maternity pay
• Sabbatical scheme
• Flexible working
• Cycle to work scheme
• Learning and development opportunities

Diversity & Inclusion:

Young Westminster Foundation works with and supports diverse communities. Our member organisations are grassroots non-profits supporting young people in our communities. Many of these organisations are led by global majority groups. As YPFs we work with our members to elevate their work and voices. We recognise the impact of poverty and racism on our communities and aim to work actively alongside communities rather than doing to them and take an intersectional approach. We also acknowledge the additional impact of discrimination experienced by women, disabled people and LGBT+ people of the global majority. As part of our commitment to equity, inclusion and cultural competency across our network, we ensure diverse communities are represented and supported in our organisation and structures and encourage applications from all sections of the community.

Accessibility: Please note that our office is located on the second floor without lift access.

Application: As part of your application, please upload a CV and a cover letter explaining your interest in this role and how you fit the experience and skills profile.