Community Organiser

Community Organiser

Ongoing role
J100914
At a glance

Skills

  • Campaigning
  • Event management
  • Public speaking
  • Volunteer management

Where

Birmingham, B186HJ
Mainly at home

Time

Either in or out of office hours Estimate of time needed:
1-3 hours / week or 3-7 hours / week

Visitors from Fifth Day

Welcome to Reach Volunteering. We are a community and registered charity that connects people, skills and good causes.

To apply for this role, and any other on our platform, you need to be based in the UK, have at least three years of experience using the skills you wish to volunteer in a professional capacity or have lived experience (for trustee roles). Read more about our criteria.

We have an ever-growing Community Network of vegans just like you, who have a passion to volunteer and promote veganism where they live. As an Organiser, you would be the caretaker of your local area.

What will you be doing?

As an Organiser, you would be the caretaker of your local area. Experience managing volunteers would be very beneficial.

Tasks would be emailed to you directly every month by our Volunteering Coordinator, who would be your main point of contact here at The Vegan Society. It would then be your job to send out the task to Advocates in your local area and get feedback from them. You'll also be able to ask your Advocates for help with any stalls and lobbying. Every Organiser receives an outreach pack, including a table runner, leaflets and banners. We make sure you are fully supported with an Organisers' WhatsApp group for socialising and ideas. We also have a monthly gathering on video.

What training and support is available? 

There will be a full induction to the role, with a gradual introduction of new tasks and responsibilities. To start with, we will provide an initial training session to cover the basics of community organising, communication skills and event planning. This will be done remotely from wherever you are. Along with this, we will provide a full pack of resources that covers a range of work that we do. 

From there, there will be regular conversations and reviews, where we can discuss other training requirements. Staff are always available to Organisers for any questions, via phone or email. 

What skills would be useful in doing this role? 

  • Great organisational skills
  • Experience of coordinating people
  • Experience of working to specific dates and deadlines
  • Good time keeping
  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to motivate people around the topic of veganism
  • Ability to stick to branding
  • Ability to read emails in a timely manner and translate tasks into actions quickly
  • Ability to report back on activities
  • Excellent knowledge of vegan issues

It would be beneficial for this role to have access to a vehicle, as some actions will involve taking resources to events or visiting MPs’ offices. However, this is not mandatory as the campaign toolkit can be carried in a backpack. 

How much time do I need to invest?

You should be able to commit around two days a month to carry out actions, and this is usually spread out across the month. We also expect timely responses to emails. When a new Advocate applies to work with you, we would like them to be contacted within seven days.

What are we looking for?

  • Great organisational skills
  • Experience of coordinating people
  • Experience of working to specific dates and deadlines
  • Good time keeping
  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to motivate people around the topic of veganism
  • Ability to stick to branding
  • Ability to read emails in a timely manner and translate tasks into actions quickly
  • Ability to report back on activities
  • Excellent knowledge of vegan issues

It would be beneficial for this role to have access to a vehicle, as some actions will involve taking resources to events or visiting MPs’ offices. However, this is not mandatory as the campaign toolkit can be carried in a backpack. 

What difference will you make?

Influencing people often starts with introducing concepts and answering questions about living a vegan life. Here are some examples of the work we do through volunteer roles: 

  • Asking high street shops and restaurants to provide more vegan options through our Vegan on the Go campaign. 
  • Lobbying MPs and other policy makers to influence laws that will make it easier to go vegan and stay vegan, through campaigns such as Catering for Everyone
  • Educating the public on how inexpensive a vegan diet can be, through our Live Vegan For Less campaign. This is especially important in the cost-of-living crisis. Giving out our mini recipe leaflets is an impactful outreach activity. 
  • Promoting the health benefits of a vegan diet, dispelling the myth that vegans are weak and deficient. Our Vegan and Thriving campaign showcases world record breaking athletes, busy parents and business owners. These inspiring individuals show what can be achieved when you remove animal products from your plate and thrive on a vegan diet. 

Before you apply

Who can I contact to find out more?

Enquiries are welcome! Please contact us via Reach.

How do I apply?

Interested? Simply fill in our Community Organiser application form. This takes around 5–10 minutes.

Causes
  • Animals / wildlife
  • Campaigning
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Faith and ethics
  • Health and well being / research and care
  • Organisation type: 
    Charity

    The Vegan Society is the world’s oldest vegan organisation whose founder Donald Watson defined the word ‘vegan’ in 1944. We are an educational charity that provides information and guidance on...