Exciting news! Leith Community Crops in Pots is offering freelance financial administration and children’s/young people’s outdoor/environmental education work. See the descriptions below or click on these links to download PDF versions:
Freelance Children’s/Young People’s Outdoor/Environmental Education Work
Background
Leith Community Crops in Pots is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, whose purposes can be summarised as ‘to encourage and support the people and organisations of Leith to grow food vegetables, and flowers for pollinating insects, in urban spaces, in order to improve health and wellbeing, community cohesion and the environment’. In short, we aim to create a happy, healthy, leafy Leith.
We manage an ‘urban croft’ – Leith Community Croft – at the northern tip of Leith Links Park: former waste ground which is now a thriving multipurpose community growing space. We believe that sustainable food can be a powerful locus around which to tackle social and environmental ills, and we are developing the Croft as a sustainable model, promoting healthy, inclusive and ‘green’ food production while building community and addressing the needs of those most disadvantaged in this mixed urban neighbourhood. We recently launched a social enterprise café/farm shop as an element of this.
We work with local schools and community groups, and encourage gardening, nature play and skill-sharing. We won the Youth & Education category in the Nature of Scotland Awards 2016, and we are especially proud of our ‘Nurture Children’ work upon which the freelancers chosen for the children’s environmental education work will build. Our Scottish Government-supported (Climate Challenge Fund) Croft Carbon College runs courses aimed at tackling climate change on the individual and community level, and improving resilience and wellbeing in the face of the climate crisis. Reflecting our belief in responsible global citizenship, we also promote the principles of food sovereignty through our engagement in a 21-school project in Malawi.
We look for people who share our ethos, will bring positive energy, observe our Code of Conduct and take pride in their work.
See our website for further information on us.
Work description
Summary
We are looking for experienced and reliable freelance educators to expand our environmental/outdoor education work with children and young people for the equivalent of one to two days a week (exact hours to be negotiated). Some of these children/young people may have experienced significant deprivation or disadvantage, and suffer from issues such as anxiety, low self-esteem and ADHD, and supporting their emotional wellbeing will go hand-in-(gardening-)glove with enhancing their environmental/outdoor skills and knowledge.
Successful candidates will run stimulating workshops and outdoor activities in which food-growing, simple horticulture and age- and ability-appropriate general environmental education (e.g. composting, soil, species identification, biodiversity, climate change…) will be elements, as well as exercise and simple fun. While there is some scope for the freelancers to develop their own work, they will be able to draw on the ideas and syllabuses Leith Community Crops in Pots has created over the years, as well as our physical resources and administrative support.
While we cannot offer salaried positions or more hours at this stage, either or both might become possible in the future.
Main duties
These will include:
- designing and running workshops and activities as outlined above, drawing on the charity’s knowledge and resources as required
- advertising and promoting the workshops and activities, and other aspects of the charity and its work, as required
- assessing and reporting on the progress of the children and young people, probably in collaboration with their teachers, parents and/or carers
- submitting regular invoices, detailing all work performed and the time it took
- submitting reports on projects as requested by the CEO
- working co-operatively, as part of a team, and being willing to help with various odd occasional tasks not directly connected with routine work
Location
The candidate will work from LCCiP’s office (Annexe 2, Davidson House, 57 Queen Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH6 7EY), on Leith Community Croft and potentially in other locations around Leith, such as in schools and in the gardens around Cables Wynd House. Occasional travel beyond Leith might be required for training, networking or to promote the charity’s work. This will be by negotiation and expenses will be covered.
Hours of work (depending on demand)
Up to 16 hours a week for first three months (to be negotiated). Additional hours on occasion and by negotiation to meet the requirements of the post.
Rate of pay
£13 per hour – to be invoiced by the freelancers, who will be paid promptly.
Holiday entitlement
No holiday entitlement as this is freelance work – candidates are technically self-employed.
Reporting to
CEO of Leith Community Crops in Pots
Skills/knowledge/experience
Essential
- childcare experience and PVG clearance (latter can be organised if not currently up to date)
- ability to deal with special needs and challenging behaviour
- educational qualification and experience in Community Education or play-based therapies
- experience of organising outdoor games and activities to suit a range of ages, interests and abilities
- excellent communication (verbal and written English) and interpersonal skills, including teamwork
- ability to deal with sensitive and confidential issues using discretion and diplomacy
- ability to prioritise and manage workload, work on own initiative and meet deadlines without supervision
- strong attention to detail
- environmental knowledge, esp. horticultural/botanical and with regard to the growing of food
Desirable
- interest in/knowledge of climate change and social justice issues
- knowledge of behaviour-change theory/methodologies, e.g. social norms, values and frames, Shifting Normal
- counselling and/or NVC skills (non-violent communication)
- first aid certificate (can be arranged if necessary)
- knowledge of a language other than English
Apply
Email our CEO, Evie Murray, (evie@cropsinpots.org), sending a short statement (a paragraph or two is fine) about your relevant experience and skills and why you’d like to be involved. We’ll get back in touch with you to arrange a time to meet in person and show you around the Croft. We shall also request two references, which we shall check before offering you work.
Freelance Financial Administration Work
Background
Leith Community Crops in Pots is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, whose purposes can be summarised as ‘to encourage and support the people and organisations of Leith to grow food vegetables, and flowers for pollinating insects, in urban spaces, in order to improve health and wellbeing, community cohesion and the environment’. In short, we aim to create a happy, healthy, leafy Leith.
We manage an ‘urban croft’ – Leith Community Croft – at the northern tip of Leith Links Park: former waste ground which is now a thriving multipurpose community growing space. We believe that sustainable food can be a powerful locus around which to tackle social and environmental ills, and we are developing the Croft as a sustainable model, promoting healthy, inclusive and ‘green’ food production while building community and addressing the needs of those most disadvantaged in this mixed urban neighbourhood. We recently launched a social enterprise café/farm shop as an element of this.
We work with local schools and community groups, and encourage gardening, nature play and skill-sharing. Our Scottish Government-supported (Climate Challenge Fund) Croft Carbon College runs courses aimed at tackling climate change on the individual and community level, and improving resilience and wellbeing in the face of the climate crisis. Reflecting our belief in responsible global citizenship, we also promote the principles of food sovereignty through our engagement in a 21-school project in Malawi.
We look for people who share our ethos, will bring positive energy, observe our Code of Conduct and take pride in their work.
See our website for further information on us.
As a small, but ambitious and rapidly growing charity, we juggle multiple funding streams and projects, and are constantly exploring new ones. We use the VT Transaction+ software package to keep track of our finances, and work with a professional chartered accountancy firm to manage our payroll and help with our annual report.
Work description
Summary
We are looking for a reliable freelancer to support our daily office procedures for the equivalent of one to two days a week (flexible hours, to be negotiated), with the emphasis on our finances. The successful candidate will act as the point of contact for all employees, providing administrative support and managing their queries regarding finances (claims, purchases, invoices, etc.), as well as paying salaries, suppliers, partners, etc. Most importantly, this person will keep our VT software up to date, and keep project managers, the CEO and trustees informed of the organisation’s financial status. While we cannot offer a salaried position at this stage, this might become possible in the future.
Main duties
These will include:
- providing data for the quarterly board meetings
- reporting budget variance to CEO
- processing claims for our climate challenge fund project
- recording, registering and processing invoices for payment through our system
- setting up and processing payments on a weekly basis
- recording overheads and monitoring costs against budget
- handling inbound and outbound queries
- handling membership applications, payments and records
- working co-operatively, as part of a team to provide efficient and effective secretarial and administrative support to staff, the candidate will also be willing to help with various odd occasional tasks not directly connected with his/her routine work
Location
The candidate will work in LCCiP’s office (Annexe 2, Davidson House, 57 Queen Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH6 7EY).
Hours of work (depending on demand)
Up to 16 hours per week (to be negotiated). Flexible start/finish times. Additional hours on occasion and by negotiation to meet the requirements of the role.
Rate of pay
£13 per hour – to be invoiced by the freelancer, who will be paid promptly.
Holiday entitlement
No holiday entitlement as this is freelance work – the candidate is technically self-employed.
Reporting to
CEO of Leith Community Crops in Pots.
Skills/experience required
- experience of financial administration systems (experience with VT Transaction+ would be a great asset), word processing, databases and other administration-related software
- understanding of charity sector organisations and their often multiple projects and funding streams
- ability to prioritise and manage workload
- ability to work on own initiative and to meet deadlines without supervision, and with strong attention to detail
- excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- ability to deal with sensitive and confidential issues using discretion and diplomacy
- interest in climate change and social justice issues
Apply
Email our CEO, Evie Murray, (evie@cropsinpots.org), sending a short statement (a paragraph or two is fine) about your relevant experience and skills and why you’d like to be involved. We’ll get back in touch with you to arrange a time to meet in person and show you around the Croft. We shall also request two references, which we shall check before offering you work.