Supporter Care Assistant
Job Summary
Salary: £28,900 per annum.
Our Supporter Care Assistant plays a pivotal role at War Child as the first point of contact for many of our supporters and the general public. We’re looking for someone who is ambitious, proactive and passionate about fundraising: someone who believes in creating a personal and rewarding experience for the UK public to make a difference to the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. If you are a confident, friendly and empathetic individual who is passionate about great customer care, and building strong, loyal relationships, we want to hear from you!
Part of the Supporter Engagement Department but working across the organisation and the wider War Child family, you’ll be joining a team which prides itself on innovation and collaboration in order to inspire our fundraisers and supporters. The Supporter Care Assistant deals with a wide range of fundraising enquiries through phone, email and post: this is a varied role where no two days are the same. You’ll be supporting our vital work by providing timely, compassionate and appropriate communications, as well as ensuring efficient administration of donations and maintenance of accurate database records.
You will also support the smooth day-to-day running of the office, by assisting in maintaining a welcoming and efficient environment for staff and visitors.
We’ll need you to be able to work on a Monday, as it’s our busiest day in the team. A regular on-site presence is essential too as managing the incoming post and attending the office are core parts of the role, so we’ll need you to be based in our London office for a minimum of two days spread across the week. You can work remotely on other days if you choose and we are happy to consider other flexible working arrangements.
Your Role
As the first point of contact for many prospective new donors and supporters, your role is critical to delivering an excellent supporter experience which leads to a fulfilling and long-term relationship with War Child UK.
You will deal with a wide variety of enquiries through phone, email and post, which will give you the opportunity to gain experience across a broad range of fundraising income streams. Working closely with the Supporter Care Executive you will be responsible for multiple essential tasks, including: cancelling and setting up regular donations; banking gifts; updating supporter records on our Salesforce database; sending out fundraising materials and thanking supporters. You will also have the opportunity to support on the delivery of projects, and will carry out general administrative tasks for the wider Supporter Engagement Team as needed, such as processing invoices or maintaining our due diligence records.
You will also support the Head of Compliance & Supporter Care with ensuring that we maintain a safe, efficient and welcoming office environment for staff and visitors. This will involve identifying and escalating any issues, as well as maintaining good relationships with suppliers such as our cleaning or management companies.
Your Responsibilities
- Address a wide range of enquiries about fundraising, donations and our organisation, via phone, email and post, according to service level agreements and in line with our Supporter Promise.
- Receive and bank donations, set up Direct Debits, and send thank-you cards, letters and email updates to supporters; recording and updating supporter data on our Salesforce database in a timely and accurate way.
- Listen and respond to complaints and problems from supporters, as outlined in War Child’s Complaints Handling Procedure.
- Maximise opportunities to increase income and lower cancellation rates when speaking to supporters (eg by asking for Gift Aid).
- Undertake a range of general administrative tasks including invoice processing, logging our due diligence screening and support on specific projects where needed.
- Attend fundraising events as required and represent War Child UK, this may include working occasional evenings and weekends.
- Support with the development of new and existing Supporter Care processes by proactively seeking ways to adapt and improve Supporter Care techniques, and make suggestions to ensure maximum efficiency and excellent levels of Supporter Care.
- Act in compliance with all relevant laws, best practice and War Child UK policies, such as the Fundraising Regulator Code of Conduct, the Data Protection Act and Chartered Institute of Fundraising best practice when handling supporter data and liaising with supporters.
- Coordinate office access for staff, including managing, keys, locker access and staff passes for starters and leavers.
- Support the smooth day-to-day running of the office by monitoring and ordering supplies (including stationery, equipment and refreshments) and helping to minimise waste.
- Assist in maintaining a safe, welcoming and well-functioning office environment by logging maintenance issues, liaising with building management and service providers, and keeping colleagues informed of updates.
- Support office organisation and upkeep by coordinating storage, archiving and recycling processes, and assisting with office tidy-ups and space management.
- Issue travel ID cards for staff who are travelling.
- Support relationships with external suppliers and service providers, including cleaners, couriers, landlords, building management and tradespeople.
- Support workplace health and safety by acting as a trained Fire Warden and Emergency First Aider, and under supervision of the Head of Compliance & Supporter Care, assist with the coordination of safety checks, risk assessments, PAT testing and fire drills.
- Maintain accurate records and support reporting of incidents, hazards and near misses, escalating issues as appropriate to support compliance and risk management.
- Coordinate welcome packs for new starters
- Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults and compliant to War Child’s Safeguarding and PSEAH (Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse & Harassment) Policies.
- We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace. All staff are expected to actively contribute to this by embedding principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging into their day-to-day work, decision-making, and interactions with colleagues, partners, and supporters.
These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the role.
You Are
- Experienced in delivering high-quality customer or supporter care that informs, motivates and inspires others; charity/NGO sector experience would be an advantage but not essential to be considered for this role.
- A natural people-person, who is friendly, empathetic, and enjoys communicating with supporters over the phone and in writing.
- Experienced in carrying out administration tasks and processes, with good knowledge of Microsoft Office.
- Highly organised and with a ‘can do’ attitude, proactively looking for ways to improve the support on offer.
- A flexible and diligent team player, able to work under your own initiative, take instructions from others, and go the extra mile to service supporter needs.
- Strong and proactive in your approach to managing your own workload, able to work to tight deadlines and multitask at short notice in a busy environment.
- Experienced in using CRM databases to record information promptly and accurately.
- Able to demonstrate excellent written and spoken English with a confident and professional manner on the phone and in person.
- Able to articulate and promote War Child’s aims, mission, policies and work.
- Someone with excellent attention to detail and good numeracy skills.
- Passionate about supporting and helping others.
- Willing to undertake training and act as a Fire Warden and/or First Aider as part of supporting a safe office environment (training provided).
About Us
At War Child we are driven by a single goal – ensuring a safe future for every child affected by war.
Using our 30 years of experience and proven methodologies, we aim to reach children as quickly as possible when conflict breaks out and stay long after the cameras have gone to support them through their recovery. We work with local communities and governments to help protect and educate children, and support them to heal and learn, for a safer, brighter future.
We understand children’s needs, respect and stand up for their rights, and put them at the centre of everything we do – because one child caught up in conflict is one child too many.
Every day, our local teams are in communities and in refugee camps creating safe spaces for children to play, learn and access psychological support, and we specialise in responding rapidly to emergency crisis situations to deliver immediate and critical care impartially to help to those who need us most, when they need us most.
Because no child should be part of war. Ever.
Our Values
- Bold: We use our passion and creativity to deliver high quality evidence-based work designed to maximise our beneficial impact for children in conflict.
- Accountable to children: Children can rely on us to respond to their voices and to treat them with respect and dignity.
- Anti-racism: Anti-racism is not merely a belief. It includes actions that we mainstream throughout our work to change and challenge policies and behaviours that perpetuate racism.
- Transparent: We expect to be held to account by our supporters and participants and we respond with openness and honesty.
- Supportive of each other: We support each other to achieve ambitious goals and be the best we can be. We are honest and open, sharing our successes & confronting our challenges.
Our Benefits
- Flexible working - we recognise the considerable benefits that flexible working can bring and are happy to discuss any possible flexible working options with our employees from hiring. For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, occasional working from home and compressed hours.
- Annual leave – 28 days per year (full-time) rising to 33 days with service, plus bank holidays
- Pension - all eligible employees automatically enrolled into a Group Personal Pension Plan with a 5% employer contribution, with minimum employee contribution on a salary sacrifice basis. This increases to 6% after one year's service.
- Family leave – we offer enhanced Maternity, Partner/Co-Parent/Paternity Leave, Adoption & Shared Parental Leave
- Health & wellbeing - employees may take advantage of a healthcare cash plan and a range of wellbeing initiatives and training. In addition, all employees have access to free, confidential one-to-one wellbeing consultations with trained counsellors.
- Learning & development - dedicated to the investment in learning and continuing professional development for all our employees
- Workplace Nursery Benefit – employees make tax and NI savings on nursery costs for children up to the age of 5
- Flexible public holidays - up to two standard UK public holidays can be exchanged for those that have cultural or religious significance.
- Cancer Cover: Voluntary contributions can be made through payroll allowing employees to claim back on a range of cancer treatments.
- GP 24/7 Helpline: A GP helpline is be available to all UK employees providing access to a qualified GP, 24/7 via a telephone or webcam consultation, and offers diagnosis, advice and reassurance on a range of medical matters, as well as authorisation of private electronic prescriptions.
- Welcome Bag for new starters: A War Child Tote bag, War Child T-shirt and some other practical things to welcome new colleagues to War Child.
- Discounts on War Child Merchandise: 25% discount on full price War Child merchandise, available to all employees, sold through Everpress.
- Range of flexible benefits such a Cycle to Work scheme and season ticket loans.
Flexible Working
We positively support flexible working arrangements. These currently include: office working, homeworking, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexi-time, flexi-place (hybrid working) and job shares. We would be happy to discuss individual flexible working requests during the interview process.
How to Apply
- To apply, simply submit an application through our Current Vacancies page and attach a copy of your CV.
- On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible.
- If you have any questions about reasonable adjustments before or during your application, we welcome the opportunity to talk about what we can do to fairly adapt our process for you. Please share what you’re comfortable with to help us put the right support in place, by emailing careers@warchild.org.uk. Anything you tell us will be kept completely confidential by our HR team.
- We are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. In order to apply, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the country where this role is based.
Safeguarding
Our work with children and at-risk adults to ensure their safety is our top priority. We are committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in all aspects of our work. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior or practices that put children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse or harm.
Successful applicants will be required to comply with and sign our Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, and PSEAH Policy. You can find the Safeguarding and Integrity policies here:
https://warchild.sharepoint.com/sites/Integrity
Diversity and Inclusion
We value diversity and inclusion and are committed to ensuring that all our people and job applicants are treated fairly, irrespective of where, what or whom they were born, or of other characteristics. We want to offer a safe and inclusive workplace where all our people, especially those who are currently marginalised or underrepresented, can be themselves at work. You can read our Diversity and Inclusion policy on our website, and if you have any questions about our commitment to diversity and inclusion do get in touch: https://www.warchild.org.uk/our-work/policies-and-reports/diversity-and-inclusion
Pre-employment Checks
Employment with War Child will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:
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a satisfactory police record check to include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and/or an International/National Criminal Record Check
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a clear vetting and Due Diligence check
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receipt of two professional satisfactory references