Fundraising and Communications at United Bible Societies (UBS): information for the post of Online Communications Officer
The organisational context
The United Bible Societies Service Organisation (UBSSO)
The UBSSO is the General Secretariat of the international Fellowship of Bible Societies. and exists to provide a range of services to national Bible Societies around the world. These services are funded by grants from national Bible Societies from income they have generated nationally
The office in Reading, England, is known as the World Service Center (WSC) and there is an Area Service Center on each continent. The UBSSO employs around 170 staff globally, a large proportion of whom are involved in the work of Bible translation.
The Fellowship
The Fellowship is a federation comprising 145 autonomous agencies that, together, undertake Bible mission in over 200 countries and territories. The individual Societies vary considerably in size, history, culture and the range of activities they undertake.
However, collectively, the Bible Societies describe their common task as achieving the widest possible effective and meaningful distribution of the Holy Scriptures:
· in languages and media which meet the needs of people worldwide
· in translations that are faithful to the Scripture texts in their original languages and which communicate the biblical message
· at prices people can afford and
· to help people interact with the Word of God
Bible Societies: who we are
The Bible Society movement, which originated in 1804 in England, has as its motivation the fulfilment of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The Bible Societies understand their task as participation in the mission of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – as witnessed in the Holy Scriptures.
The Bible Societies
· see the churches as the primary agents of God's mission in the world
· carry out their task in partnership and co-operation with all Christian churches and with church-related organisations
· serve the churches as a resource, but do not usurp the mission of the churches
· in some situations, can best equip the churches by being catalysts and pioneers on the cutting edge of mission
· affirm that the Holy Scriptures belong to all churches, recognising that doctrinal interpretation of the Scriptures belongs to them
· use sound business principles in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency in their service
Bible Societies: what we do
The Bible Societies believe that the Bible is for all people. Traditionally, the work of the Bible Societies has concentrated on making the Bible accessible and affordable. This involves both publishing programs (translation, production and distribution) and fundraising programs.
The Bible Societies have come to see that the provision of the printed text, however well presented, is only one part of their task. To achieve the most effective and meaningful distribution, the Bible Societies also recognise the need to develop programs using all forms of media to stimulate and facilitate encounter with the biblical text in churches and in public arenas.
Strategic Context
Broadly speaking, Bible Societies fall into two categories: those that make grants to the Fellowship – principally from voluntary fundraising income – and those that receive grants from the Fellowship to undertake their work. The largest 17 grant- makers account for about 70% of UBSSO income. The UBSSO does not fundraise itself but has plans to begin doing so.
Most grant-receiving Bible Societies generate some income from product sales and many are introducing national fundraising programs. This process has accelerated since 1996 when fundraising was added to the strategic agenda of the Fellowship. However, the demand for Holy Scriptures and Bible encounter programs consistently outstrips available resources.
Since 2000, considerable energy on the part of the UBS leadership and governance structures has been put into developing plans to increase the income generating capability of the Fellowship as a whole. UBSSO operating plans are created annually for both Fundraising and Communications as two of the primary means of achieving this goal. The process has also involved a strategic review and implementation of a fundamental reform of the Fellowship’s funding apparatus and processes.
Local context of the post
Fundraising and Communications in the UBSSO
The Online Communications Officer is part of the Communications and Fundraising Directorate based at the World Service Center in Reading, England, but with staff working from different continents.
The purpose of the Directorate is to implement the communications and fundraising objectives approved by the UBS Global Board on behalf of the Fellowship. This is achieved:
· by providing an integrated range of communications and fundraising services to national Bible Societies that complement and enhance their communication and fundraising activities to their donors and other audiences. This includes the development of capacity and competence through workshops and other interventions
· by providing international fundraising resources and communications content required to meet audience development opportunities
· by managing internal communications processes (contact, content and translation) between the UBSSO and Bible Societies.
The post
Although digital communications have been part of the role of Communications for some time, the post is a new one created to service the requirement for enhanced on-line content and processes for our audiences.
The diagram below shows the context of the post:
Key priorities of the post for 2010-2011
The Online Communications Officer will be working closely with the Communications Development Manager on a number of online projects, including:
Bible Societies intranet
United Bible Societies are re-launching the intranet for the Fellowship of 145 Bible Societies in spring 2010. The site is based on a commercial .php solution from Claromentis (www.claromentis.com). The Online Communications Officer will be responsible for its technical development, the maintenance of the contact database, producing regular statistical reports and promoting the site to the Fellowship.
United Bible Societies staff site
A sub-site of the Bible Societies intranet, this staff site will provide a new way for the 80 international UBSSO staff to communicate together. It will require the Online Communications Officer to develop the site, train staff in its use and work with the editorial team on the site’s content.
Bible Societies site
www.biblesociety.org
The Bible Societies site will be redesigned and relaunched (using Drupal or another open source option) in autumn 2010 as a portal to Bible Society sites. The Online Communications Officer will play a key part in its redesign and maintenance.
Global website project
A major new initiative in the Fellowship is to provide content syndication, a Bible search engine and website templates to enable all Bible Societies to have a thriving, dynamic website. The Online Communications Officer will work alongside the Communications Development Manager in facilitating this work.
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