Volunteering Opportunities

Position: Greyhound Awareness League Foster Coordinator

Operations Area: Re-homing

Reporting To: GAL’s Committee

Time commitment: Up to 5 hours per week, depending on the number of dogs being fostered at that point in time.

Team Leader Role: Yes

Number in Team: We currently have around a dozen fosterers; however, we’re also actively recruiting, so we hope to soon have a much larger team.

Purpose:

Uniquely, all of GAL’s incoming dogs are placed in foster homes before being adopted. GAL fosterers take in a foster hound and help them get used to living in a home, socialising them and assessing their personalities and behaviours to help find the best possible match for their new home.

Our foster carers are one of the most important parts of GAL’s operations, so we need someone to welcome new members to the team, provide a supportive environment for our fosterers, and ensure that they have an enjoyable experience fostering and will continue to foster for GAL.

Overview:

This will be a joint role initially, shared with one of our committee members who’s currently managing the work. However, once you’ve learned the ropes you will take responsibility for the position and our current coordinator will step in to provide cover and help you during busy periods.

The main purpose of the foster coordinator will be to liaise with the committee on incoming dogs and place them with a suitable fosterer. They will also ensure that our fosterers have the help and support they need to look after our dogs.

This role will suit someone who loves dogs and is passionate about helping our hounds find their     forever home.

We need someone who is supportive, approachable and is prepared to put in the time and effort to get to know the foster team, so they can help us decide who is best placed to take in an incoming dog based on the initial assessment of a dog’s personality and temperament.

You will also need to be able to build good relationships with our volunteer team as we sometimes need to ask our volunteers to help with transport and accompanying dogs to events and meet and greets if the fosterer is unavailable.

Other duties will include:

• Welcoming new fosterers and providing a positive onboarding experience.

• Attending GAL events and fundraisers to meet with fosterers and potential fosterers (1 x month).

• Providing updates to the GAL committee on our fosterers and their dogs via Slack.

• Holding regular online meetings with the volunteers to catch up, get updates and assist with any queries or concerns. (1-2 x month)

• Ensuring fosterers provide regular updates and passing these on to the committee so the dogs can be added to the ‘Available Dogs’ section of our website when they’re ready to be adopted.

Skills & Experience Required for Role:

• Essential - Ability to travel to GAL events in and around Glasgow.

• Essential – Good communication skills.

• Essential – Good organisation skills.

• Essential – Some knowledge of dog care and behaviour.

• Desirable - Experience coordinating a small team of volunteers.

• Desirable – Knowledge of Glasgow and surrounding area.

Position: Greyhound Awareness League Treasurer

Operations Area: GAL Committee Position

Reporting To: GAL Committee

Time commitment:

Team Leader Role: N/A

Number in Team: N/A

Purpose:

Our current treasurer is stepping down from this role after many years and having a well-deserved break! So we’re looking for someone to fill their shoes and help us manage our finances responsibly.

Overview:

This role is mostly remote. However, as this is a committee position there is the expectation that you will attend some events during the year to help out, meet volunteers and members, and you will be required to attend our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in person to report on our finances.

• Overseeing and presenting for approval the accounts at committee meetings and provide advice to cope with changing circumstances.

• Liaise with our accountant and financial advisor at year end to ensure all financial returns are correct and lodged timeously.

• Review and process outgoing such as volunteer expenses reimbursements, event costs and other administration/miscellaneous costs incurred in the running of the charity and ensure these are tracked and reported accurately.

• Ensuring that the charity’s resources meet the needs of GAL.

• Contribute to the fundraising strategy for GAL.

• Ensuring that the accounts are complete and ready for the annual audit in good time so as not to incur any penalties.

• Keeping the committee informed about its financial duties and responsibilities.

• Keep track of GAL’s accounts and investments and ensuring that there is no conflict between the charity’s aims and investments.

• Ensure a high standard of management accounting is maintained to support informed financial decisions and efficient management of daily operations.

• Create greater transparency and accountability to improve resource allocation and charity’s image by adding specific measures as per the Charities Statement of Recorded Practice (SORP) guidelines.

• Develop a reserves policy and safeguard GAL’s finances.

• Ensure all strategic plans are financially appraised and budgets are aligned to both short-term and long-term objectives each year.

• Advise on the financial implications of the charity’s strategic plans.

Skills & Experience Required for Role:

• Financial qualifications and experience.

• Be able to use Quikbooks online accounting software for our financials/expenditure management.

• Competent IT skills.

• Proven ability to communicate and explain financial information to members of the committee and other stakeholders.

• Analytical and evaluation skills, demonstrating good judgement.

• Understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of the Treasurer role in particular, in accordance with OSCR regulations and compliance.

• Good communication skills.

• Have a basic knowledge of animal rescue and rehoming work.

Position: Greyhound Awareness League Events Coordinator

Operations Area: Events

Reporting To: GAL’s Committee

Time commitment:

Between 2-7 hours a month, depending on event type; currently we have a monthly walk in Queen’s Park Glasgow, and around 3-4 other events during the year, the duration of these would be a half to full day for the events team, including setup and closing.

Events are usually held on weekend, so other than admin we don’t envisage taking up much of your time Monday to Friday.

Team Leader Role: Yes

Number in Team: 2-30

Purpose:

GAL are looking to expand our membership, fundraising, and engagement with our community of supporters, so we’re looking for someone to coordinate our efforts.

Overview:

GAL are looking for an events coordinator who can work well in a team environment, come up with creative and fun concepts, ensure all the logistics and details are well thought out and arrangements are made in advance to guarantee a great experience for everyone who comes along.

We’re looking for someone who’s enthusiastic, passionate about helping our hounds and has lots of great ideas to boost our profile and increase our community engagement.

Working with our volunteers and committee members, this is a great opportunity to realise all your great ideas and gain more experience in events organisation and management.

We have a passionate and enthusiastic team of volunteers who do amazing work, who will be there to support your planning and pitch in to help you pull off successful events.

This will be a great role for you if you’ve volunteered in the past and feel that you can take the lead to help us organise our amazing volunteers to run fun and successful community and fundraising events.

GAL currently run a monthly walk which is around 2 hours. Other events include a can collection event in Glasgow’s city centre twice a year and 3-4 GAL events through the year to bring together members, fosterers and hound owners and their dogs for fun days and meet and greets with the GAL team and to showcase hounds available for adoption.

Skills & Experience Required for Role:

• Essential - Ability to travel to events in and around Glasgow.

• Essential - Experience of organising and/or assisting with the planning and execution of fundraising and team events.

• Desirable - Experience coordinating a small team of volunteers to ensure events run smoothly.

• Desirable – Knowledge of Glasgow and surrounding area including dog-friendly venues and public spaces that might be suitable for hosting events.