About The Role
The purpose of the Area Giving and Finance Adviser role is to provide comprehensive finance support to churches within the Kensington Area, aiding them in the development of their ministries, manage Common Fund giving and to support the Area Bishop’s staff team in the management of resources including monitoring clergy post numbers, curate funding, and other financial matters. As part of a small team of Area Giving and Finance Advisers, the role involves offering training, resources, and advice on parish financial management and administration, and advice on various giving methods, including online and contactless options. Additionally, the role entails promoting generous giving through training initiatives, facilitating the award of grants and loans to churches from Area funds, and fostering effective communication and relationship-building between the Area team, Finance team, and parish officers.
Financial support
- Enable churches to develop their respective ministries, manage their finances effectively, and meet their statutory responsibilities.
- Provide finance and other appropriate training, support, resources and advice to the clergy, PCCs and parish officers.
- Assist the Bishop, Archdeacons and Area Deans in managing Common Fund giving by the churches in the Area.
- Facilitate and monitor the award of grants and loans to churches from Area funds.
- Support the Area Bishop’s staff team and Area Council in monitoring the use of Area resources, including post numbers, curate funding and other matters.
Giving
- Supporting parishes to encourage a culture of generosity and giving.
- Promote generous giving through training, preaching and providing resources to clergy and parish officers.
- Support the introduction of different methods of giving, including online, contactless, and Parish Giving Scheme.
Relationship management
- Build relationships with, and promote effective communication between, the Area team, Finance team, parish officers and the other Area Finance Advisers. Work with the National Giving Team on projects that support parish ministry.
Other duties
- The role will require regular evening and weekend working.
- Complete other duties commensurate of the role.
Essential
- Experience of encouraging charitable giving.
- Experience managing a wide variety of professional relationships.
- Educated to A Level or equivalent standard.
- IT proficiency (MS Office suite).
- Fluency in spoken English and ability to communicate clearly in English.
- Understanding of the ethos and mission of the Church of England, and of the role of parish clergy.
- Effective written and oral communication skills.
- Numerate and financially astute – comfortable working with financial data.
- Strong administrative skills, including use of Microsoft Office.
- Self-motivated, as work needs to be undertaken proactively and with limited supervision.
- Attention to detail – accurate and efficient.
- Strong interpersonal skills, including relationship building and discretion.
- Practicing Christian with empathy to the mission and values of the Church of England.
- Right to work in the UK.
- The person will not require a DBS check.
Desirable
- Experience of charity accounting (accounting qualifications are not a requirement).
- Educated to degree level.
Equal Opportunities
The Diocese of London is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce which represents our context and wider community. We are aware that those of Global Majority Heritage/United Kingdom Minority Ethnic (GMH/UKME), women, and disabled people are currently under-represented among our clergy and workforce, and we particularly encourage applications from those with the relevant skills and experience that will increase this representation.