Community Organiser

Salary: £26,950 - £27,972 per annum 

Contract: Permanent 

Hours: 35 hours per week. Flexibility in working pattern, in agreement with line manager

Based: Working across Buckinghamshire with some travel to sites across the three counties. Hybrid working available

The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust has a vision for “more nature everywhere, for everyone”. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. This includes you being comfortable bringing your whole self to work, and us co-working with the diverse communities we serve to ensure we are meeting everyone’s needs. 

The Community Organiser will help nature recover by collaborating with and organising communities around shared issues and interests, facilitating them to take action for nature in a way that is most meaningful to them, ensuring that positive change is sustainable and systemic. The Community Organiser will build trusting relationships with a range of community groups and stakeholders, identifying and developing local leaders to enable sustainable community-led change for nature. 

You’ll be joining a small but cohesive team of community organisers working across the three counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. While we work largely independently in our own areas, we come together often to evaluate and reflect on our work, so that we can continue to develop and improve our craft of organising.  

What you’ll be doing:

• Building authentic relationships with communities developing them to take action to win the positive changes for nature and wildlife that they want to see in their localities
• Working with communities to embed a community organising ethos so that positive changes won for nature and wildlife are sustainable
• Facilitating groups to work together on issues that matter to them
• Identifying and supporting potential community leaders, helping them to develop their skills and confidence to lead change

What we’re looking for

• The ability to build authentic relationships with a diverse range of audiences including global majority and underserved groups
• Comfortable working independently with groups in a variety of locations
• Skills and ability to listen intentionally to a range of viewpoints to identify desired community outcomes, barriers to these, and how they may be overcome
• Current UK valid car driving licence or eligible for Access to Work support driver

The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust is committed to equal opportunities and maintaining a safe and secure environment for all children and young people. Therefore, the successful applicant for this position will be subject to pre-employment checks including an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Please note, it is an offence to apply for this position if barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.

For all your hard work you can expect a great rewards package in return. In addition to being part of a friendly, skilled and knowledgeable team who are passionate about making a difference, when you work for us you’ll also receive

• Generous annual leave entitlement with paid birthday leave, balance days, urgent personal business leave and generous occupational sick pay
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and family-friendly policies
• Flexible working to achieve work-life balance
• Salary exchange pension with generous employer contribution
• Learning & Development Programme for all
• Wellbeing initiatives including qualified Mental Health First Aiders, YuLife benefit package - access to immediate and confidential help for any work, health, or life matters; 3x life assurance, online GP access, discounts and trade YuCoin points for gift cards
• Salary sacrifice Cycle scheme & Electric Vehicle scheme
• Membership to BBOWT’s, and The Wildlife Trusts’, Staff Network Groups for social interaction, peer support, mentoring and personal development

How to apply

For full details, please read the job description and T&Cs below. To apply, please follow the application link.

The closing time and date for applications is 11.59pm on 9^th June. Online speed interviews will take place on Tuesday 16^th June and in-person interviews will take place on Monday 22^nd June.

BBOWT values diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We want every candidate to have the best chance of success as part of this process. In order to do this, we know that some candidates will need reasonable adjustments. Contact us on recruitment@bbowt.org.uk if there are any reasonable adjustments we can provide during the recruitment process, including completing your application. 

When applying for the role you can expect to answer a few questions online relating to the skills required and what you would be doing in the role. Your responses will be anonymised, randomised, and scored by a panel of reviewers. 

We don't use an application form, or CVs - your answers to our situational based questions will be scored against a review guide and scores from these will decide which candidates go through to the interview stage. See here to find out why we do this.

Whilst we appreciate ChatGPT and other AI platforms can answer these questions, we know what they have to say (and generally the answer they generate isn't great). We want to hear your perspective written in your own words. If it is clear that any of your answers are not your own work, we reserve the right to reject your application on that basis. 

You’ll also be asked for information about your background, anything you feel comfortable sharing will be anonymised and will not be shared as part of the selection process, it will only be used to help us understand how we are performing against our equal opportunities metrics. All candidates will receive feedback on their application. 

We want our people to be as diverse as nature, so we particularly encourage applications from people who are underserved within the communities in which we operate. This includes people from visible ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities (including those who are neurodivergent), the LGBTQ+ community, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and younger people. We are committed to creating an organisation that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities. 

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, Compass House: 1 Farmoor Court, Farmoor, Oxford, OX2 9LU

Registered Charity No. 204330 www.bbowt.org.uk