Parish Finance and Giving Adviser

Overview

The Church of England Diocese of London comprises of 400+ parishes north of the River Thames and within the M25 motorway. 

The Finance team enables the missional objectives of the London Diocesan Fund (LDF), parishes, archdeacons and bishops through delivery of effective financial reporting and efficient processing of financial transactions. We contribute to the work of the parishes by providing support, advice and training to parishes on a wide range of financial issues, both in technical areas such as bookkeeping and gift aid, but also support generous giving and stewardship.

 There is an occupational requirement that the job-holder is a Christian under the Part 1 of Schedule 9 to the Equality Act 2010. 

Introduction

The successful applicant will work within a team of Finance Advisers, with responsibility for supporting parishes in the Willesden Episcopal Area, one of the five administrative areas of the Diocese of London. The role also provides administrative support for key projects to the team of Finance Advisers.

The Finance Advisers provide financial & stewardship support for parishes. The role has principal responsibility for providing appropriate training, support, resources and advice to the clergy, PCCs and parish officers to enable the parishes to develop their respective ministries. This includes support and advice for basic accounting and bookkeeping, budgeting and planning; Christian giving stewardship programmes and general matters.

Main Responsibilities

The role has two primary purposes:

1. The job holder will have principal responsibility for providing proactive finance and other appropriate training, support, resources and advice to the clergy, PCCs and parish officers to enable the parishes to develop their respective ministries.  This support (including training) includes basic accounting and bookkeeping, budgeting and planning; Christian giving/stewardship programmes and general financial matters.

The job holder works within a team of three other similar roles, which have responsibility for different geographical areas of the Diocese of London.

As an intermediary between the parishes, the Areas and Diocesan House, the post holder must ensure there is effective all-ways communication. This is particularly important in relation to Common Fund (i.e. the Parish Share system operated by the Diocese of London) and requires working closely with the Area Bishop(s), Archdeacon(s) and Area Deans while building and maintaining good relationships with parish officers, incumbents, other parish post holders and outside agencies.

1. The post holder will act as project coordinator for the team of finance advisers, providing administrative support for key projects. The post holder will ensure that team projects are properly organised, scheduled, maintained and documented. The post holder will be a key driver in ensuring projects are delivered on track but will also be working collaboratively with the team of Finance Advisers.

The post holder will ensure that proactive communication and reporting between the finance adviser team and other stakeholders is in place. The post holder will need to be able to work collaboratively with the other area finance advisers, but also be able to self-motivate and create momentum.

The role will have primary responsibility for creating first drafts of particular reports and other documents as necessary, which will be worked on further in concert with the rest of the team.

The current highest priority project is focused on a Stewardship/Generous Giving, seeking to equip parishes within the diocese to run high quality stewardship campaigns.

The Ideal Candidate

There is an occupational requirement that the job-holder is a Christian under the Part 1 of Schedule 9 to the Equality Act 2010. 

Experience, knowledge, training and qualifications

Essential

Have an understanding of the institution, ethos and mission of the Church of England, including an appreciation of the roles of key office holders (e.g. ordained clergy, Archdeacons, Area Deans, Area Bishops, Diocesan Bishop, Lay ministers)

Have a sensitivity to, and an understanding of, the role of the clergy in London.

Effective manager of working relationships

Desirable

• Experience of administration of church organisations
• Some financial experience (NB: accounting qualifications are not a requirement)

Aptitudes and abilities

Essential

• Service focused – seeking to serve
• Strong interpersonal skills – a “people” person and team player
• Excellent presenter – confident and clear communicator
• Numerate and financially astute – comfortable working with financial data
• Computer literate – experience of Microsoft Office essential
• Dedicated, driven and committed – takes a pride in their job
• Pro-active and innovative – wants to do things better
• Plans own work effectively
• Problem solver and enquirer – keen to question and resolve
• Flexible and enthusiastic – adaptive
• Attention to detail – accurate and efficient
• Deadline focused – gets the job done on time
• Quality – not satisfied with “second best”
• Takes ownership – will do what it takes to achieve a task

Personal attributes

Essential

• Ability to work confidentially and is sympathetic to the aims of the Church of England
• Relishes a challenge
• High personal integrity
• Self-motivated with the ability to work under own initiative and manage own workload.
• Organised
• An ability to communicate in a friendly and professional manner with others both face-to-face, via telephone and in writing
• Flexible in your approach

About us

The Church of England in London is growing, vibrant and at the heart of communities throughout the capital. At the London Diocesan Fund we seek to do everything we can to support this mission and growth, using our resources to help our parishes and chaplains to serve over 4 million people.

We value the benefits of employing individuals from a range of backgrounds, with diverse cultures and talents and aim to create a workforce that:

• Values difference in others and respects the dignity and worth of each individual
• Reflects the diversity of the nation that the Church of England exists to serve
• Fosters a climate of creativity, tolerance and diversity that will help all staff to develop to their full potential.

To learn more about our offer to staff and our enhanced pension scheme with a 15% employer contribution, please refer to the attached 'Our offer to you'.