Volunteer Administration Assistant RSPCA Cumbria West

VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANT

Administration Assistant RSPCA Cumbria West Branch

All About Us at Cumbria West

Our charity shop in the heart of Whitehaven is looking for a friendly volunteer to join our team and help to provide administration support for our animal welfare and volunteering activities. Join our dedicated team of animal daft people, make new friends, have fun, and help us care our local animals!

About our opportunity

As a Volunteer Administration Assistant, you would join a small team of volunteers working together with Trustees and a range of other Volunteers, to provide administrative support from our offices in Whitehaven. Activities will also include answering telephone and email enquiries, taking messages and liaising with other members of our team, providing recruitment and selection assistance, filing, assisting with fundraising requests and other routine administration tasks, depending on experience and any training needs.

In our building we currently have two retail spaces, one space for clothing and accessories and the other retail space is for bric-a-brac and gifts. These two retail areas are only separated by a very small, covered courtyard, which is also part of our building, so we can work very closely together, and give each other plenty of support. The upper floors include offices and dedicated spaces for sorting and preparing donations, online sales and administration.

We offer positive and friendly guidance and support especially with our new volunteers in mind, for those of us who are learning new skills, or for people who may have joined us to gain more confidence and social skills.

We are very aware that many people may need just a little bit of a helping hand to make friends and to socialise, after being confined in their homes for long periods of time, isolated with little social contact, or who may even have been ill, all due to the Covid 19 pandemic. We don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t been affected in one way or another.

All the volunteers and trustees are a mixture of ages, with different personalities and life skills, the thing that consistently brings us all together is our love of everything animal, we would love to hear from you if you think that you could offer us some help make RSPCA Cumbria West a great success and raise vital funds for local animal welfare.

We all also like having a chat, with a cuppa and a cheeky biscuit, so come and meet us!

If you are still not sure about joining us, come and have a chat, or visit us for a couple of days, we can show you around, introduce you to other volunteers and give you a chance to get to know how we work.

About the RSPCA

Founded in 1824 we have been saving animals for almost 200 years and are proud to be the oldest welfare charity around. It has always been our vision to live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion, so our volunteers and employees work tirelessly to ensure that all animals can live free from pain and suffering.

About Our Charity Shop in Whitehaven Market Place

The shop is part of the RSPCA Cumbria West Branch building and plays an essential role in raising our profile in our local community and funds raised go to support our branch activities so that we can continue our vital animal welfare work. Our shops sell a mixture of donated items, including clothes, books, bric-a-brac and collectables, and a selection of new items.

Every member of the RSPCA West Cumbria Branch Team are unpaid volunteers.

Volunteer Administration Assistant responsibilities

· To be polite and friendly to our customers and to other volunteers.

· To meet and welcome visitors for appointments.

· To answer telephone and email enquiries.

· Pick up answerphone messages from out of hours calls.

· To take messages and relay them accurately to other members of our team.

· To help us maintain a filing and correspondence system.

· To provide recruitment and selection support.

· To provide support with a database of donors, email and postal fundraising appeals.

· Keeping office areas clean and tidy, and free from slip and trip hazards.

· To take instruction and advice from trustees regarding the overall management of administrative duties.

What we are looking for in a volunteer Administration Assistant

· Friendly volunteers who enjoy working as part of a team

· Administration experience would be ideal but is not necessary as full training will be given.

· We are ideally aiming for someone who is flexible and can offer an ongoing commitment at some point when the office and shops are open, hours are currently 10am until 2pm, Monday to Wednesday, 10am until 4pm Thursday to Saturday, and 12md until 4pm on Sundays over Summer.

· Good communication and numeracy skills.

· You will need to be aged 18 or over.

· We also travel to car boot sales and other community events, run a tombola and raffles, so if you would like to help us for some (not all though) of these fundraising events that would be great too!

What we can offer you as a volunteer Adminstration Assistant

· A way to meet new people and make new friends in your local area.

· A place where you will learn excellent new skills to add to your CV, such as all the administration skill you will be delivering, customer service, multi-tasking, fundraising, and many more.

· An excellent induction and training programme relevant to your role.

· The opportunity to contribute towards making a huge difference to the welfare of animals.

· Reimbursement for any reasonable travel expenses you may incur whilst volunteering with us.

· A great support system.

Our voluntary roles are subject to an informal interview and trial period. We will ask you to provide contact details for two referees and dependant on the position you may be required to sign an agreement and undergo specific training before starting the role.

Job Type: Volunteer

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Flexitime
• Work from home

Schedule:

• Day shift

COVID-19 considerations:
Protecting our volunteers and customers is extremely important to us; therefore, due to Covid-19, we have implemented a range of new measures. These include; using plastic screens, providing hand sanitiser, storing donations for 72 hours before sorting.

Work Location: In person

Reference ID: CW Admin