Job title: Corporate Partnerships Assistant

Reporting to: Corporate Partnerships Manager

Location: London/Hybrid

Contract: Permanent, Full Time

Hours: 35 Hours

Salary: up to £24,000

About FareShare

FareShare is the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, made up of 18 independent organisations. Together, we take good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and get it to almost 10,000 frontline charities and community groups. During 2021, we redistributed 127 million meals, the equivalent of 4 meals every second through our FareShare Regional Centres and our retail surplus model FareShare Go, reaching over 1 million people.

FareShare exists because of two hugely important and highly topical issues.

As a consequence of supply and demand, huge volumes of food are grown or made in the UK and a percentage ends up as unwanted surplus with little commercial value.

At the same time, there are many thousands of frontline community groups and charities that are providing a vital safety net for the most vulnerable in our society. We seek to squeeze as much social good out of that uneconomic surplus by getting it to almost 10,000 such groups across the UK whilst they provide essential wraparound support services for their beneficiaries.

The Cost of Living Crisis and before it, the COVID-19 have shone a spotlight on the issue of food insecurity in the UK and with it, FareShare’s ability to get food to vulnerable communities nationwide.

It is estimated that over 4.7m UK households are now experiencing food insecurity and whilst the equivalent of 1.3bn meals of good surplus food occurs each year, FareShare believes that it is wrong for these two situations to co-exist.

To combat this, FareShare is moving into an ambitious 4 year programme to achieve unparalleled growth in both our food volumes as well as our fundraised income. We are driven by the opportunity to secure even more of the food available at farm gate, manufacturing and retail levels and to do this, we need to maximise our new groundswell of public support to generate the funds needed to operate at this greater scale. There has never been a more exciting time to join a relevant organisation which delivers both social and environmental impact, at such a crucial time.

By joining us you would be leading some of our most important work in helping us generate more support from Donors, Corporate Food and Fundraising Partners, Foundations and Volunteers as we strive in our ambition to meet the demand for food to support the UK’s most vulnerable.

Hunger is a growing issue in the UK and while there is surplus food that is otherwise going to waste, we believe that this food should be used to feed people first.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on the issue of food insecurity in the UK and with it, FareShare’s ability to get food to vulnerable communities nationwide. We are fortunate to benefit from the support of the major retailers, the media, sports ambassadors and a groundswell of public engagement. As a result, there has never been a more exciting time to join an organisation at the heart of public consciousness.

FareShare’s recent increased brand profile and consumer awareness, along with our dual purpose in creating both social and environmental impact, gives us a strong proposition. This is an exciting time to join the Fundraising team, as we are experiencing huge growth and have a fantastic portfolio of corporate partners. High profile brands such as McDonald’s, Tesco, OpenTable, Barclays, Coca Cola, Kellogg’s and Hellmann’s support us in a variety of ways including commercial activity, staff and customer fundraising and corporate donations.

FareShare’s Strategy & Vision
 

Vision: We have the vision of a UK where “No good food goes to waste”.

Mission: To use surplus, fit for consumption, food to feed those who are vulnerable in the UK by supporting front line charitable organisations that tackle the cause and not just the symptoms of food poverty.

Our Purpose: We are doers. We are a community. We change lives.

Our Values: Passion – for our cause and the challenge that lies ahead

Ambition – to go the extra mile and drive the change that must happen

Respect – for ourselves, each other, our volunteers, our partners and our beneficiaries

Collaboration – it’s only by working with others that we can be stronger

Focus – on providing the best service possible so that we deliver and achieve the most for our clients/customers.

 

The role

Reporting to the Corporate Partnerships Manager.

The key focus of the role will be:

• The first point of contact for new corporate supporters and to deliver exceptional customer service, whilst directing and processing enquiries within the wider team
• Support in the delivery and stewardship of existing partners
• Managing gift processing and income reconciliation
• Coordinating corporate volunteering and other benefits and experiences
• Providing administrative support to the team

This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to develop a career in Corporate Partnerships whilst working in a successful team.

Main areas of responsibility

You will be working in a public facing role delivering a high level of customer service and administrative support.

You will be a fantastic communicator with a flair for delivering excellent customer service. You will have solid experience of managing a variety of administrative responsibilities and will be comfortable managing a number of different tasks concurrently. You will be a positive force in the team, happy to use your initiative to help and support the team as needed.

• Customer Service
• Corporate Volunteering, experiences & Benefits
• Gift Processing and Income Reconciliation
• Administration
• Values and Behaviours

• Be the first point of contact for corporate enquiries, liaising with corporate partners and internal colleagues to process and respond to enquiries in a timely and appropriate manner
• Deliver an outstanding level of customer service, providing detailed and accurate information and support enquiries from current and new corporate supporters

• Responsible for organising and booking corporate volunteer days and site tours in our Regional Centres, including liaising with our network
• Introduce partners to our corporate volunteering platform, Partner Pod, and providing customer service support to for enquiries
• Coordinate other corporate experiences as they develop such as Charity panel discussions, including liaising with our network
• Support the corporate partnerships team in the administration of corporate benefits including impact reports, newsletters, Lunch and Learn sessions etc.

• Work with the Corporate Partnerships team to administer the thanking of low level corporate gifts, writing and sending donation acknowledgement letters to supporters
• Work with the Fundraising and Finance teams to ensure accurate banking and recording of donations including processing income from a variety of sources
• Ensure donations are recorded accurately and timely on the CRM (Salesforce)

• Manage the mailing out of fundraising materials as requested by corporate supporters
• Help maintain accurate up to date records of all corporate contacts on the database, and to ensure that this information adheres to data protection guidelines
• Update and upload information onto the FareShare website
• Support the Corporate Partnerships team with ad hoc research requests
• Support the Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager and wider corporate team as required
• Undertake any other duties, which are in keeping with the grade and overall purpose of the role

• A commitment to Equal Opportunities
• A passion for understanding of FareShare’s mission and strategy
• Flexibility of approach and a team player
• Forward thinking and willing to contribute ideas and opinions

As an employer committed to Equal Opportunities, we will assess applications in line with these criteria that we consider either as being essential or desirable in this role.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

• Experience of dealing with a variety of people, on the telephone and in person; providing good customer service
• At least 1 years’ experience of working in an office based/administrative role
• Experience of organising and prioritising own workload on a day-to-day basis
• Good communication skills at all levels, both written and oral
• Ability to be aware of current departmental activities, taking the appropriate action as and when necessary, using own initiative by taking ownership of key responsibilities
• Excellent attention to detail
• Good IT skills. Competent in the use of MS Office including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of the voluntary sector
• Experience of using a CRM system

Competencies and behaviours

• A commitment to Equal Opportunities
• An understanding of and sympathy with FareShare’s mission
• Flexibility of approach and ability to work in a team and across other internal teams

Benefits

Salary up to £24,000 per annum

Hybrid / Flexible working, with regular UK travel

Permanent, 35 Hours, Full Time

25 days’ annual leave + 8 bank holidays

Employers pension contribution

Employee Assistance Program

Interest free bicycle purchase loan scheme

Season ticket loan