Over 15 years experience supporting community and volunteer groups maximise their potential by helping with following; 

1. To provide direct support to voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) so that they are sustainable, function more effectively and deliver quality services.
2. Support grant applications.
3. To connect voluntary and community organisations to facilitate communication, networking, collaboration and peer support.
4. To liaise with communities to identify gaps in services and work with them and other appropriate partners to develop solutions.
5. To promote and enable volunteering.

For the previous ten years I have worked for two charity training providers in a development role, supporting the CEO’s and senior management teams in the day to day running of the organisations. My main duties included completing grant and contract applications; carrying out effective research to develop projects to support disadvantaged groups and individuals. In turn I worked closely with the CEO and finance team to ensure our applications were properly costed. Once funding was secured I was responsible for implementing new contracts and programmes into organisational delivery structure, including managing projects/programmes for the duration of the funding period our length of contract.  

In my previous roles I have proven myself capable of working equally well on my own initiative, or as a constructive and adaptive team member.  I believe I have demonstrated my ability to undertake effective research to secure funding from a variety of sources including DWP, SFA, ESF, Lottery and a number of private grant making trusts. I am able to adhere to strict deadlines both in terms of submitting applications and completing ongoing progress reports to funding partners, and guaranteeing we meet the stated outcomes within agreed timeframes.  

One of my key strengths is my ability of communicating with people at all levels, from services users, heads of national organisations, civil servants and local and national government representatives. This has meant I have developed and maintained an effective network of partners and professionals willing to support the organisations I work for.