Help Oversee a Wellbeing/Environmental/Food-Growing Charity with Projects in Leith (Edinburgh) and Malawi.

About us:

Leith Community Crops in Pots is a Leith-based community food-growing charity. Our purposes can be summarised as ‘to encourage and support the people and organisations of Leith to grow food, and flowers for pollinating insects, in urban spaces, in order to improve health and wellbeing, community cohesion and the environment’. Furthermore, we champion the principles of food sovereignty.

• We pride ourselves on being community-led, and regularly consult local residents and other stakeholders on all our work.
• Our current major funders are the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge and Climate Justice Funds and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, but we also have several smaller funders.
• We are an active member of several umbrella groups and campaign/lobby with them on issues such as the Good Food Nation Bill.
• We have worked extensively withlocal schools, from the nursery to the secondary level, establishing ‘edible classrooms’ and mini-orchards and engaging children, their parents/carers and their teachers in hands-on environmental education centred on food-growing. This has included work with vulnerable children. We won the Youth & Education prize in the Nature of Scotland Awards 2016.
• We run a community growing space on Leith Links known as Leith Community Croft. We have ambitions to refurbish the dilapidated building on the Croft and turn it into the heart of a pioneering ‘urban croft’, a multi-partner self-sustaining and regenerative community anchor project, serving social, environmental and educational purposes, which we hope will be widely replicated across Scotland and beyond.
• We hold the purse strings of an ambitious multi-partner 21-school project in the Rumphi district of Malawi. We see our role as supporting good governance and upholding the principles of food sovereignty. We are exploring the possibility of supporting other promising work in Malawi (an organic farm-base education project).
• Our largest current project is our immensely successful Croft Carbon College, also a multi-partner venture, which is based in our office next to Leith Community Croft and on the Croft itself. Entering its second year now, it appears increasingly sustainable as we fine-tune its broad offer of community gatherings, workshops and courses, most of which fall into the ‘7 Easy Steps to a Greener You’ and ‘Green Skills’ streams. Largely focused on adults so far, we shall be expanding its offer to include after-school and summer clubs for children, with a focus on outdoor play and enjoyable environmental education.
• We are keen to use our resources to do more to address inequality and disadvantage, and help vulnerable individuals/groups.

Read more about us on our website: leith-community-crops-in-pots.org

What we are looking for:

• To help overview our strategic direction, we need new trustees (board members), willing to attend monthly meetings (traditionally held on the evening of the first Monday of the month) and our AGM, and respond to occasional requests for input between such meetings. If you can offer practical voluntary help with other aspects of the charity, so much the better.
• Ideally you would have some experience in governorship, have a connection to Leith and have skills/interests relating to one or more areas of our work (e.g. fundraising, project management, social enterprises, publicity and media, non-violent communication, working with the vulnerable/disadvantaged, child or adult education, community engagement, climate change, horticulture, sustainable agriculture, agroecology, permaculture...).
• We are particularly keen to find someone with financial/bookkeeping/accounting skills to act as treasurer, and someone with legal knowledge/experience would also be invaluable.

Feel free to contact us if you have any queries.

This post is a key role in the continued growth and development of the Trust’s volunteering work, with a major emphasis on the recruitment and nurture of volunteers and the successful promotion, development and delivery of our building expeditions to East Africa and South America.

Educated to graduate level, the successful candidate will have “a can do, self-starting attitude”, ideally with overseas and volunteer experience, who thrives on working in a tight-knit team. Reporting to the Programme Manager for Overseas Expeditions & Education, they will work closely in meeting the volunteer recruitment target and ensuring a safe and first rate experience for all our volunteers. Outstanding inter-personal, communications and relationship management skills are required, together with strong logistical, social media and IT ability. A clear and enthusiastic endorsement of the Trust’s ethos is also essential.

The Organisation

Vine Trust is an international development charity which enables volunteers to provide medical, building and care support to communities living in severe poverty in East Africa and South America. We work to empower communities, connecting enthusiastic volunteers with in-country partners and local people to create significant, sustainable development for vulnerable children and families. Our partners include churches as well as grass root organisations, such as the Tanzania Women’s Research Foundation in Moshi, and local & regional governments.

Project aims:

• The Croft Carbon College is a Climate Challenge Funded community education project led by Leith Community Crops in Pots. It is a centre that raises environmental awareness within the community, providing accessible and engaging courses and community events that encourage Leithers to take both personal and collective action to create a happy, healthy and leafy Leith.
• We deliver the course programme collaboratively, drawing on the expertise of LCCiP staff as well as local organisations and educators focused on other areas of environmental sustainability, in order to boost the environmental skills and confidence of the Leith community in a resilient and effective way.
• Year 1 of the college has acted as a pilot with courses delivered on a low-cost trial basis. In order to ensure the college meets the needs and interest of the Leith community, we shall continue to undertake regular engagement and consultation to get feedback from both course participants and the wider community.
• This new funding period commencing 1 April 2019 will expand CCC’s current offer by providing a food-growing trainee programme, an after-school club, summer camp and green skills workshops for children, adults and employees of local businesses over four terms/year
• A key focus of CCC will continue to be motivation. LCCiP’s experience suggests it is challenging to motivate people to measure carbon savings, and the work of the Common Cause Foundation (on values and frames) cautions against relying on extrinsic motivators, e.g. ‘saving money’. CCC’s approach will be to ensure that every course will have a balance of self-evidently enjoyable elements (practical skills/hands-on experiences) and ‘hard’ education and carbon calculations.

A job description and person specification is available for download below.

Visit our website to learn more about us: leith-community-crops-in-pots.org

Project aims:

• The Croft Carbon College is a Climate Challenge Funded community education project led by Leith Community Crops in Pots. It is a centre that raises environmental awareness within the community, providing accessible and engaging courses and community events that encourage Leithers to take both personal and collective action to create a happy, healthy and leafy Leith.
• CCC will ultimately be centred in a new/refurbished building on Leith Community Croft, the growing space we run with and for the local community, and it will be integrated with and make maximum use of this site’s facilities.
• CCC will build on the experience and resources of LCCiP and those of other local organisations and individuals, while also drawing on expertise from further afield, and will be collaborative in nature, fostering co-ordination and cross-pollination to boost the total effectiveness of those concerned with climate change and other issues, e.g. pollution, decreasing biodiversity, loneliness and poor diet.
• A key focus of CCC will be motivation. LCCiP’s experience suggests it is challenging to motivate people to measure carbon savings, and the work of the Common Cause Foundation (on values and frames) cautions against relying on extrinsic motivators, e.g. ‘saving money’. CCC’s approach will be to ensure that every course will have a balance of self-evidently enjoyable elements (practical skills/hands-on experiences) and ‘hard’ education and carbon calculations.

A job description and person specification is available for download below.

Visit our website to learn more about us: leith-community-crops-in-pots.org

Candidates should have excellent organisational, interpersonal and IT skills to provide administrative support to our West Area volunteer team (covering, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Dumfries).

We require someone with excellent communication skills, who can respond effectively to a wide range of enquiries including bereaved people.

You will be required to establish effective working relationships with a range of Cruse volunteers and staff, as well as statutory funders and grant making trusts.

In addition to general administrative duties, the post-holder will be provide support to our West Area Manager, to ensure Area targets are met as outlined in our Strategy and associated Implementation Plan.

This post will be based at our office in central Glasgow, with occasional travel throughout the West Area and to our Headquarters in Perth required.

For the past three years, Bethany Christian Trust have been delivering a community-based addiction recovery program in Scotland. As the demand for this service grows, we are looking for a candidate who will lead, develop and deliver Bethany’s Bridge to Freedom program within a group setting. A significant part of the role will also be to facilitate and develop recovery and resettlement work in partnership with churches and other organisations around the Edinburgh and Midlothian area including Moredun and Gorebridge.

It is essential that you have experience in facilitating, planning and working with vulnerable people in a community setting. A qualification in Social Work, Social Care, Community Education or related discipline is essential, or a willingness to work towards such a qualification.

As Bethany is a Christian organisation this post carries an Occupational Requirement in line with Equality Act 2010. Please note that one reference must be from your church minister or leader to endorse your live and active Christian faith and commitment. Successful applicants for this post will require membership of the PVG scheme.

Do you have a passion for donor centred fundraising?

At Bethany we are committed to developing a relationship with our supporters, to understand why they are willing to invest in our work and what they expect to hear from us. We are looking for someone who has an engaging personality and who likes to communicate with people on a one-to-one level whether in person or through a written or digital medium.

You will provide specialism practice, guidance, support, direction and supervision to the Individual Giving Fundraisers and act on behalf of the Fundraising Marketing Manager where required, plan and deliver Fundraising and activities.

You will oversee and develop lifetime relationships with individual donors to Bethany, focussing on major gifts and legacies. This post will develop strong relationships with Major gift donors and develop strategy for increased Philanthropic partnerships.