CLOSED: Communications Officer, IVAR

Closing date: Friday, 16 October, 2020

We’re looking for a capable communicator who can help take IVAR’s profile to the next level.

About The Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR)

We help charities and funders to be the best they can be – for the people and communities they exist to support. We do this by asking questions and helping our partners to answer them through action research – bringing together an organisation’s data and experience with wider evidence. It’s high quality, rigorous research – with a practical application. Grounded in 20 years’ of working with organisations and partnerships across the UK.

Through our work we often produce useful ways of thinking about particular challenges. We publish these freely on our website for others to use.

We value diversity, equality and inclusivity. Applications are actively encouraged from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and religion.

Job description

You will be a capable communicator who can help take IVAR’s profile to the next level; supporting us to bring our strategic priorities to life, and enabling us to share insights from the full breadth of our research portfolio with a wider audience of professionals from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector; trusts and foundations; and public agencies.

Main functions

Work with researchers on the design and delivery of communications plans for specific projects
- Manage the production of communication materials from brief to delivery using our external team of designers, web tech support, proofreaders and printers
- Create new webpages (using templates; WordPress site)
- Write and distribute press releases
- Develop constructive and collaborative working relationships with IVAR’s staff and associates, trustees and funders enabling them to contribute actively and meaningfully to IVAR’s communications activities
Support the delivery of IVAR’s strategic priorities
- Contribute creativity and initiative to the question of how IVAR can use communications to meet its strategic priorities (find out more on page 4 of the job application pack: see How to Apply section below)
- Contribute to the growth of our network
Contribute to IVAR’s organisational communications planning and delivery
- Work with the Head of Communications and research team to generate and plan content across IVAR’s channels: website; blog; social media (Twitter and LinkedIn); newsletter (Mailchimp)
- Manage IVAR’s social media feeds (Twitter and LinkedIn)
- General website updates, e.g. updating time sensitive information
- Use audience insights and Google, Twitter and web analytics to gather data to report on the effectiveness of IVAR communications

Person specification

This post requires someone with the following:

Interest

A natural interest and understanding of the distinctive features and operating environment of the voluntary sector and/or funding environment
A commitment to IVAR’s mission, values and ways of working – including a commitment to continuous learning
Ability to think conceptually and creatively about the translation of research into useful and usable materials

Knowledge, skills and personal attributes

First class communication skills; able to write, edit and present information clearly and engagingly with a keen eye for detail
Experience in extracting key messages and meaning from longer format content and adapting content to a range of formats, e.g. newsletters, reports, web, Twitter
Understanding and experience of the production process required for delivering communications across media from brief to completion (e.g. print, online, social media)
Experience in digital communications
A good team player, yet also able to work alone, take initiative and manage a diverse and fast-paced workload
Understanding of data management, data protection and legal requirements
Competent use of Word, Powerpoint, Excel
Competent/confident to use Mailchimp/Wordpress content management systems
Competent/confident to use Google/web/Twitter analytics

How to apply

You can find out more about the role and how to apply by downloading our job application pack. You’ll also need the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.