Careers
If you want to continue to make a difference after leaving the Armed Forces, a career in the charities sector offers a way to earn while also supporting a good cause …
The charity and voluntary sector, also sometimes referred to as the ‘third sector’, ‘not-for-profit sector’, ‘community sector’ or ‘civic sector’, aims to create social rather than material wealth. There are almost 200,000 registered charities in England, Wales and Scotland, ranging in size from the very biggest household names like Age UK, British Heart Foundation and the RSPCA, through numerous schools and colleges, hospitals and trade benevolent societies, to small regional funds, perhaps to support an independent animal rescue or the victims of a one-off local disaster.
Roles in the industry call for a range of skills, so if you have a desire to help make the world a better place the charity and voluntary sector offers you plenty of opportunity to do so. It’s also an extremely wide-ranging area, so it’s worth taking a look at Third Sector – the UK’s leading website for people wanting to know everything that’s going on in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector. Click here to find out more.
There are hundreds of Services-related charities. You may even have benefited from their help or advice yourself.A number of Service people also become involved in the management of charities as part of their duties – acting as museum trustees, managing funds or running large fundraising events. Some Service people also wish to continue working for a good cause when they leave the Forces, and a second career in charity management, for instance, can help them achieve this.
Service charities are largely staffed by ex-Forces people, although some posts that require specific expertise are filled from external sources. Appointments may be made on the basis of Service rank. While very senior officers are still recruited to head up non-Service charities on the basis of their leadership, organisational and administrative skills, many such charities now recruit people with valuable commercial experience, who may in turn be looking for more altruistic avenues for their talents.
To qualify as a charity under Charity Act legislation, an organisation has to be involved with:
Skills and attributes that are important in charity sector work include:
It is important to distinguish between the paid employees of a charity and its volunteer workforce. The former generally cannot be members of its governing council, while some of the latter may be on the council, and all will have a view on its activities.
Web portals like CharityJob and Third Sector can be a useful source of information on job availability and salaries across the sector.
Charity management is not an easy job and often involves out-of-hours work. While it may be personally satisfying to serve a good cause and be motivated by something other than money, charities can be complex organisations with challenging ‘people issues’. Some large charities have management training schemes consisting of a series of placements in different parts of the organisation. There are courses for beginners, and others for people with some experience.
Apart from general and financial management, those thinking of working for a charity might consider roles that involve:
We will now look at each of these in turn.
Fundraising managers are responsible for the various ways that charities collect money, and for organising staff and volunteers. In small charities, fundraising managers will probably run all the different revenue-collecting activities; in larger ones they may be responsible for only one or two. Methods of raising funds include:
Many fundraising managers are graduates and mature people who have previously worked in relevant areas like marketing, PR or sales. Working in other charities or as a volunteer are also ways to enter the profession.
Volunteer organisers recruit, train and manage unpaid volunteers. They interview, match candidates to vacancies, and organise training and ongoing support. They will probably supervise the volunteers in a particular geographical area, so the work involves administration, budgets, record keeping, report writing, applying for grants and organising fundraising. Some posts are part-time, depending on the size and location of the charity. Entrants are often mature people with experience in other fields. Experience as a volunteer, or of organising people, committee work or fundraising can be an advantage. There are courses and qualifications available in this specialism.
Case workers help individuals and groups to find assistance and relief from their problem. They may be specially trained – like nurses or welfare workers – or lay people. They are often involved in assessing individuals’ needs and directing them to the appropriate source of help, which may be their own charity, another charity or state assistance. They will often become involved in counselling, and helping with tribunals and paperwork to assist in getting the right result, and will often need to understand complex laws and regulations. There are no set entry requirements except that some case workers may need to be professionally qualified. Training is often on-the-job, although some large charities run courses.
Under the ELC scheme, a wide range of learning can be taken, provided it is offered by an approved provider listed on the ELCAS website and is at level 3 or above. For full details of how to make the most of your ELC, refer to the in-depth features elsewhere on the Quest website
Because of the very wide range of different charities that exist, as well as the current financial climate, it is quite difficult to give an accurate picture of average salaries, but the following guidelines from prospects.ac.uk may help.
CHARITY WORK APPRENTICESHIPS
Click here to read CareerMap’s blog post on how to get into charity work and related apprenticeships.
Additionally, some of the larger national charities (such as Christian Aid, ActionAid and Plan UK) offer apprenticeship schemes for those wishing to get into work in this sector. Use your favourite search engine to find out more, or click here to browse options near you.
A job-finding site that covers more than 50 different charity sectors
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