Director

The London Society is seeking a Director – circa 2 days per week

Do you Love London and want to help shape the conversation about our future?

In case you don’t know us,The London Societyis for all those who ‘love London’.

Our members share a curiosity and love of the capital. They want to engage with debates about the city’s future whilst honouring and cherishing its past. Some are built environment professionals. Most are not. We have over 5,000 people who receive our newsletters, and a further 5,000 that follow The Society on social media.

The history of TLS is useful in understanding where we are going. The Society was founded in 1912 by a group of eminent Londoners concerned about a lack of planning in the capital. It examined key issues about the future of London - housing, roads, railways, bridges and even airports - all of which are still high on the agenda today.

Most importantly, the early membership of The London Society included ‘intelligent lay people’ including people from business, culture, and politics. For example, Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges, saw it as an important forum to which he could contribute to the debate on the capital’s future and became a life member.

The London Society had influence and respect as a ‘place’ where ideas could be formed, debated, and enacted. Many improvements in the capital can be directly attributed to The London Society including the construction of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, the North and South Circular and the establishment of the Green Belt.

The London Society is now a highly respected membership organisation that attempts to bring clarity to built environment issues that affect Londoners and those who love London. Although there are many excellent professional bodies dedicated to these issues, the language they use is often inaccessible to a lay audience. Most professional organisations struggle with this lack of public engagement but lack a mandate or the capacity to address.

This is where The London Society can make a difference. Our aim is to translate and bring clarity to these topics in a way that is informative and engaging, with a sharper focus to our talks and events so that they chime or align with the concerns of Londoners.

The role of the Director is to deliver that aim by engaging the wider community in the conversations about the built environment through developing a programme of talks, lectures, debates and other events and how London might become a better place in which to live and to work.

The Society is a registered charity led by a Committee of thirteen Trustees supported by three paid posts: Director, Events Manager and Content Curator.

The Society has an archive and a large collection of books and other material bequeathed to it and accumulated in the course of its various initiatives. These are stored in the Museum of London’s warehouse at Mortimer Wheeler House where the Society Office is also located.

The Director is responsible for all the Charity's

activities including Membership, Marketing and Communications, Governance, Finance and HR.

Key Responsibilities include:

• To develop and deliver a long term strategic and sustainable plan for the Charity incorporating Membership, Fundraising, Communications and Marketing.
• To update the Trustees on work undertaken, successes and challenges via ad hoc updates, a regular written report and attending Board Meetings as requested.
• To develop a sustainable membership base, attracting new members and ensuring that retention rates for existing members remain high.
• Reporting to the trustees on initiatives to recruit new members and alerting them to areas of concern
• To maximise income from current supporters and lead the development of new opportunities to create sustainable income streams over the long term.
• To lead the management of key external relationships including corporate supporters, media, members, partner organisations, suppliers and others.
• To ensure all the Society’s suppliers are fit for purpose and providing value for money, ensuring their contracts are reviewed regularly.

Marketing and Communications

• To develop and deliver an effective communications and marketing programme to maximise event attendance and membership, and maintain and develop awareness of the London Society and its aims.
• To be the custodian of the brand, ensuring it is used consistently both internally and externally.
• With the Honorary Editor oversee production and distribution of the Society Journal, ensuring it is produced on time and on budget, and reflects the mission of the Society.

Finance and accounts

• In liaison with the Honorary Treasurer to prepare the year-end statutory accounts and audit file of the Charity.
• To liaise with the Honorary Treasurer to prepare the Charity's annual income and expenditure budgets and continually monitor these to ensure performance meets or exceeds target.
• To liaise with the Honorary Treasurer to produce and analyse monthly management accounts, reporting significant variances and implementing remedial action where necessary.

Governance

• To ensure the Charity complies with all statutory and best practice requirements of the Charity Commission and other regulators.
• In liaison with the Honorary Secretary to prepare the Trustees Annual Return for the Charity Commission.

We envisage that this freelance role will be the equivalent of 2 days a week, which can be worked flexibly, and the salary is £60,000 per annum pro-rata.

If you are interested in this position, please forward your CV and covering letter to the Chair, Leanne Tritton on chair@londonsociety.org.uk.

Job Type: Part-time
Part-time hours: 16-20 per week

Salary: £60,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Flexitime
• Work from home

Schedule:

• Flexitime

Work Location: Remote

Expected start date: 01/08/2023