South West Regional Manager January 2013 Dear Applicant, Thank you for expressing an interest in the role of South West Regional Manager for sported. The charity was set up by Sir Keith Mills, who was inspired by the commitment made in Britain s Olympic bid to use the 2012 Olympic Games to change the lives of young people. sported. has a clear and ambitious vision to expand community sport significantly as a means of transforming the lives of disadvantaged young people. sported. is a free membership organisation that offers organisational development and funding support to groups and organisations in the community and voluntary sports sector. We recognise that many of the organisations that are great at delivering sport to young people would benefit from support on the business side of their activity, and we want to provide that, to ensure they are operating to the maximum of their potential. We are also working to demonstrate the value of sport for development and its ability to change young people s lives our work moving forward will focus on demonstrating impact as well as on continuing to deliver our services. sported. has 12 regional offices around the UK and is currently looking for a Regional Manager for its South West office. Our work in the South West is well established we have over 240 Member organisations, a number of skilled volunteers delivering our work, and some excellent partnership working has been taking place over the last 3 years. We are looking for a motivated individual who can be the face of sported. in the South West. Continued growth of our Membership and delivery of services will be key for 2013, but the main focus will be on establishing sported as a key player in the region, and ensuring that we are in a place to create and react to opportunities to develop our offer. If you think you have the experience and skills to run and develop sported. services in the South West, we would be very interested to hear from you. Yours faithfully Jo Stocks Director
Background Information sported. was established by Sir Keith Mills with the principal aim of supporting projects and programmes designed to use sport to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK. sported. is specifically interested in supporting community and voluntary sector organisations that use sport as a vehicle for personal and community development, rather than those which promote particular sports or look for elite players. These projects do not form part of the school or club structure and range from third sector organisations to community based groups and inspirational individuals. Whilst these organisations are often very successful at engaging disadvantaged young people and in delivering sport, many do not have the funding, resources and business expertise they need to operate at their full potential, and may not belong to a wider support network. sported. provides operational and financial resources to community sports organisations, building their business expertise and sustainability, to enable them to operate at the maximum of their potential and to reach and improve the lives of more young people than ever before. sported. is a registered charity and is governed by a Board of 6 Trustees. Services To achieve its aims, sported. operates the following initiatives: Membership sported. is a free membership organisation, aiming to bring as many providers as possible together as members of a sport for development umbrella organisation. sported. is giving sport for development organisations the opportunity to be part of something national, recognisable and credible. Members access a number of services which are developed both nationally and regionally to meet the needs of our growing membership. Capacity Building sported. provides a number of capacity building services for its members: Mentoring Programme. A Regional/Country Manager and a network of volunteer mentors work directly with providers of sport for development, on a one to one basis, to help them to build the business skills they need to run a professional project. This will include advice on governance, policies and procedures, financial management, press and PR, business planning, monitoring and evaluation. Project Funding. Funding is available from sported. Un-solicited applications are not accepted but organisations with whom we have been working with on a general capacity building level are eligible to apply. Applications for funding are submitted through the Regional/Country Manager who also works with our Members to secure other funding. We work in partnership with other key national and local funders. Other Services We continually work to expand our Membership offer and have recently launched the Experts Team, a new Small Grants Programme and an insurance offer for our Members
Member Case Study The Dracaena Centre Organisation The Dracaena Centre is a recently built venue on the site of the old Falmouth Youth Club, with the support of the Football Foundation, through a grant to assist with the development. The facility is a community centre based in the heart of several housing estates, with fully accessible amenities. The centre is not a sports only specific focused venue, with several key agencies using the premises to house their services to assist with engagement with the community, including: Youth Cornwall (Local Authority) Extended Services Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change Salvation Army Youth Work Team Community Safety Partnership Devon and Cornwall Probation Cornwall Drug and Alcohol Team Stonham Housing The centre has a two badminton court sized sports hall, with changing and shower facilities and sports field adjacent to the building. There was little usage of the sports hall, as the development of activities, opportunities and clubs had not taken place. Local young people were not engaging with the centre in a sports context, though they do use the agency services (i.e. health services). Key Challenges for the Project The Indices of Deprivation 2000 gave Penwerris (where The Dracaena Centre is based) the rank of 717 out of a total of 8414 English wards. Historically Penwerris shows a chronic level of unemployment compared with the rest of Cornwall and the UK. Penwerris ward ranks in the South West as a whole as: - The highest number of poor households - The highest proportion of children in households with no wage earners - The second highest number of loan parents - The second highest percentage of houses with no central heating - The third highest for non-car-owners The need for a co-ordinated approach to encourage sports participation and healthier lifestyles within the community was obvious, and essential to the development of the community. Support provided The Dracaena Centre was one of the first organisations to apply to sported. for support and were assisted by the Regional Manager for 9 months from February to October 2010. The Centre wanted to employ a Sports Coordinator to deliver sports activities, training and educational opportunities for young people at the Centre and within the wider community.
With sported. support The Dracaena Centre initially developed an Action Plan for the project. Then produced and Income and Expenditure plan for the five year fully sustainable project. Then a Business Plan was produced. Finally funding was sought to achieve the income required for the initiative. Securing the funding was a tough ask and on several occasions the project was kicked back from funding streams, however, the desire to achieve the vision of the project was strong and eventually grant providers committed to the funding required. Planned impact for young people by year five - Over 5000 young people will have participated in sport and physical activity - 30 young people from the local community will have been trained and educated in sports leadership and coaching - 10 new community sports clubs will be established for young people - 10 sports activity sessions will be established at the centre for young people Funding The Dracaena Centre secured all the funding required to deliver the 160,000 five year project. 40,000 from the Football Foundation, 25,000 from sported. and 15,000 from Lloyds TSB were the major funding streams accessed, with training resources secured through the CSP and CVS.
Job Description South West Regional Manager Reports to: Director Management Responsibility: Volunteer Mentors Main Relationships: External: Community sports providers Volunteers Regional partner organisations Local government Voluntary Sector Funders Internal: Director Member Services Manager Volunteer Services Manager Marketing Executive Salary: Benefits: Location: Hours: Duration: circa 30,000 p/a depending on experience 25 days holiday p/a in addition to statutory bank holidays. Office location as appropriate for post holder, with significant regional and regular UK travel 37.5 hours per week. There will be an expectation to work evenings and some weekends. Time off in lieu will be offered for anti-social hours. Permanent
Scope of the Job / Principal Duties Regional Networking: Local networking and relationship building - foster and manage relationships with regional stakeholders. Attend external meetings and networking events and build the profile of sported. in the region. Identify and build relationships with regional organisations and agencies, with the aim of increasing awareness of the Sport for Development sector and optimising sported. activity through partnership working. Volunteer Management: Recruit volunteer Mentors across the region in conjunction with sported. Volunteer Service Manager Training, management and ongoing support of the team of Mentors. Capacity Building Services: To manage the sported. Member services according to the needs of each Member group. This support may include advice on governance, business planning, financial management, policies and procedures, HR, monitoring and evaluation. In some instances this work will be done directly by the Regional Manager, in the majority of cases it will be done by the Mentor with the support of the Regional Manager. The Sported programme will include: o Making initial contact and carry out assessment of each project. o Prepare brief on project requirements and either work directly with that project or allocate a mentor with specific skills. o Assist with preparing documents, i.e. policy documents, financial statements, funding applications. o Use sported. s web-based services as support. o Signpost to expert agencies link up organisations with other relevant networks. Deliver and support regional training and workshops for Members. Funding: Manage the regional grant making processes. o Submission of bids on behalf of Members prior to a quarterly grant panel. o Ongoing monitoring of grants and progress against stated aims. Audit and ongoing monitoring of available local funding. o Foster relationships with potential local funders and develop joint bids where appropriate. Organisational Development: Work as a proactive member of the sported. team through supporting others in areas of expertise and sharing best practice with other Regional Managers. Work with the Director and Deputy Director to develop and lead a regional strategy to further sported. s aims in the West Midlands. Communication Provide regular updates to the Regional Website pages, write a quarterly regional newsletter and ensure continual promotion through key partner communications. With the support of the sported. team develop media events and write related press releases. General administration and other responsibilities Develop and maintain regional database
Oversee a regional budget. General involvement with other sported. events as required. Person Specification: Part 1: Knowledge and Experience Essential 3 years experience in either the voluntary, community or sport sectors. Significant experience of organisational or departmental management and development. Recruitment and management of paid staff or volunteers. An understanding of all of the elements of organisational management in the third sector, including governance, business planning, financial management, policies and procedures, monitoring and evaluation. Experience of the funding environment, either as a fundraiser or a grant maker. Experience of initiating and managing multiple relationships and partnerships. Understanding of issues facing small community groups. Desirable Experience in understanding the role sport can play in a social context. Delivering training in a range of areas. Experience of monitoring and evaluation processes Knowledge and understanding of working in the South West Part 2: Skills and Attributes As a remote worker, the ability to manage and prioritise own workload. Strong organisational and business management skills. Personal authority to establish credibility with key stakeholders, and diplomatic and sensitive when dealing with a range of people. The flexibility to get involved with development of a growing organisation and adapt to a changing environment. IT skills. Commitment to the aims of the sported. Strong verbal and written communication skills. Part 3: Personal Circumstances: Able and willing to work outside office hours, as required. Willing to travel to regional and national meetings. Full driving license and access to a car.
Stage Closing date for applications Short-Listing meeting First interviews (Bristol) Timescale Fri Jan 25 th 5pm Weds 30 th Jan Tues 5 th Feb, Bristol (tbc) Role commences March 2013 To apply for this role, please send your CV with a 2 page covering letter, to Jo Lear j.lear@kemmanagement.co.uk If you have any questions about the role please contact Jo Stocks j.stocks@sported.org.uk