Title:Administrator

Employer:Guild of St George

Hours:2.5 days per week

Pay:As an employee or contractor depending on preferred approach, £30k pa pro rata.

The Guild of St George

The Guild of St George is an independent charity founded by John Ruskin (1819-1900) in 1871. Please see the website for further information.

It is run by the Master of the Guild and Directors all of whom are volunteers. There are four full Directors’ meetings a year, the Annual General Meeting in November (held at various places across the UK) and three Finance and General Purposes meetings (usually held in London) for which the Administrator needs to prepare papers and at which s/he must be present to take minutes.

The Guild is looking for an organised, efficient person with excellent IT and record-keeping skills, who is able to work with a group of Directors from a variety of professional backgrounds.

Summary

Your main responsibility will be to take care of the administrative needs of the Guild of St George, acting as the company secretary. You will be expectedto liaiseclosely with the Master of the Guild of St George and with the Directors, the Communications Officer, project managers, vendors/suppliers and service-providers. You will be home-based but able to attend meetings in the UK, mainly Cambridge, Sheffield, Birmingham or London. On occasions there might be the need to stay overnight. You will need to work flexibly in response to the cycle of meetings, the dates of which will be set in a timely manner.

You will be line-managed by one of the Directors.

Detailed Job description

Your duties will be as follows:

(A)Financial and Legal

  1. To receive and copy/scan all invoices and receipts relating to the business of the Guild, including Directors expense claims, filing them physically and electronically.
  2. To receive and bank income from donations, publications sales and events fees, maintaining a careful record of donations and making a gift-claim from HMRC regularly.
  3. To maintain a detailed up-to-date record of the Guild’s transactions (income and expenditure) using the online accounting system, Xero, ensuring that all entries are properly coded in order to optimise the usefulness and accuracy of automated financial reports.
  4. To prepare and carry out payment runs as efficiently and promptly as possible.
  5. To assist with the annual auditing and budgeting process.
  6. To file the annual accounts with Companies House and the Charities’ Commission.
  7. To ensure that the Guild is properly insured (property, public liability, employer’s liability insurance etc.).
  8. To ensure legal compliance in all areas of the Guild’s business, implementing a system of property checks to assist in the effective management of the Guild’s properties.
  9. To oversee health & safety and safeguarding policies, and maintain records of risk assessments for public events.

(B)Meetings and Events Management

  1. To make practical arrangements for Board meetings, committee meetings and members’/public events taking place in various locations throughout the year. This will involve booking:

(i)venues

(ii)catering services (refreshments and lunch)

(iii)overnight accommodation and

(iv)restaurants (dinner)

(v)rail tickets (for self and occasionally Directors)

  1. Where the Guild is leading events you will be expected:

(i)to manage the timings of the day’s events;

(ii)to maintain a list of all participants;

(iii)to conduct appropriate research to secure all aspects of the arrangements at reasonable cost (to be agreed with the line manager);

(iv)to make flexible bookings that take account of the fact that Directors sometimes have to change their plans at short notice;

(v)to communicate these arrangements clearly to all participants at least one week prior to the meeting or event taking place.

  1. To write (together with the Master or committee chairman) agendas for Board meetings, committees, the Annual General Meeting and any other meetings as required, keeping a note of potential items for forthcoming agendas throughout the year to help keep track of the Guild’s business.
  1. To receive, collect and distribute papers for meetings electronically, printing and posting a copy of the same for anyone who does not use email, or anyone who otherwise requests a copy, and ensuring that spare copies are available in meetings and that one copy is properly archived for future reference.
  2. To produce an Administrator’s Report for Board meetings as requested, drawing any matters of special note in the administration of the Guild to Directors’ attention.
  3. To attend annually up to four Board meetings, three Finance and General Purposes Committee meetings, the Annual General Meeting and any other meetings as required, helping the Chairman to run the meeting as required.
  4. To produce for all meetings, a clear set of minutes to the satisfaction of the Master and Board, and to distribute the same within one week of the meeting taking place.
  5. To maintain a meetings and events diary up to three years ahead, making the same available to Directors at all times, assisting Directors, project managers, Companions and outside organisations to co-ordinate activities effectively.
  6. To liaise with the Communications Officer, Directors and project managers to ensure that public and members’ events are properly promoted in a timely fashion.

(C)Office Management

  1. To source all office equipment and supplies as cheaply and efficiently as possible.
  2. To print and post any important email correspondence for communication to any recipient not using email.
  3. To produce weekly timesheets and send them promptly to your line manager;

This job description is not exhaustive and the Administrator will need to perform such other duties as required and agreed in advance by mutual consent.

Person Specification

Essential Requirements

  1. To work flexibly to suit the needs of a busy group of volunteer Directors/Trustees, and manage varying workloads within the 18.5 hours per week, both weekdays and weekends
  2. To maintain an office, providing storage and an efficient retrieval system for the Guild’s working papers
  3. Computer literate in Outlook, Word, and Excel
  4. Experience in minute taking

Desirable Requirements

  1. Experience in managing small charities
  2. Experience in liaising with senior professionals from a variety of backgrounds
  3. Educated to degree level
  4. Sympathy with the thinking of John Ruskin and the aims of the Guild of St George