Job Opportunity for Asst. Manager/Manager- Volunteer Program at Akanksha Foundation in Mumbai

Working at The Akanksha Foundation

Akanksha is on a mission to build one of the largest and most innovative networks of schools in India, serving children from low-income communities, to maximize their potential. Our aspirational vision for students integrates academic excellence with life skills (including socio-emotional development), that will enable each child to live an empowered life. We believe an empowered citizen must possess a sense of mastery to pursue excellence, a sense of agency to make informed choices and a sense of purpose to serve their communities.

Over the last 30 years, Akanksha has been at the forefront of proving what’s possible for children from low-income communities in Mumbai & Pune. Our 4,500 alumni are on the path to living an empowered life. Today Akanksha runs 27 schools in partnership with governments of Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur serving ~13,000 children in grades Jr Kg – Gr 10.

Our schools are led by competent, passionate and purposeful educators who believe in demonstrating excellence. And our central staff teams are committed to the ideal of building a high performing institution in alignment with our core values: Be the CHANGE

• We Collaborate – We unite as a team to achieve our vision, support each other in securing our goals and find joy in each other’s success.
• We Have Belief – Every Akanksha member lives and breathes the organization’s mission and believes in our ability to achieve challenging goals that go beyond expectation.
• We Act with Integrity – Our team takes ownership of their actions and we take pride in holding ourselves accountable to our set commitments.
• We Never Give Up – We are big believers in learning and continue to stay strong and resilient till we reach the very end.
• We Give Respect – At Akanksha, we embrace the diversity all around us and treat each other with dignity.
• We Excel & Enjoy – We raise the bar and push ourselves to go the extra mile as a team, all the while ensuring that we enjoy and celebrate our wins along the way. We believe it is important to help each other succeed.

What Can The Akanksha Foundation Offer You

• An opportunity to be a part of one of the most reputed organizations in the education sector in India, that focuses on transformative impact on children by getting them out of poverty.
• An environment that is challenging, offers a significant degree of autonomy and is focused on holistic well-being of its people, so they can be the best version of themselves in life.
• Access to learning and career growth opportunities in a steadily growing organization
• Remuneration that is competitive in top one-third of Indian NGO scales and benefits that include medical insurance (covering your family including parents), provident fund and access to free counselling support.

Position Summary: In order to drive quality impact, Akanksha believes in building a strong, structured volunteering Program that aims to attract mission-driven, committed, and talented people to Akanksha. We believe in building long-term relationships with volunteers to motivate them to become goodwill ambassadors for Akanksha that will help the funding, hiring, and word-of-mouth promotion for us and our work. As an Assistant Manager / Manager – Volunteer Program, you will be the Lead for Volunteer Program at Akanksha in all cities.

You will be reporting to Senior Director, Human Resources

Specific responsibilities will include:

Leadership & Coordination

• Lead on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a volunteer program that generates opportunities and role descriptions based on current operational and program aspirations.
• Recommend and implement goals and objectives for the volunteer program reflecting Akanksha’s values.
• Manage the practicalities of the program, including policies, procedures, standards, and budgets.
• Embed good practice in volunteer coordination, training, motivation, recruitment, and safeguarding.
• Maintain relevant data & metrics to enable regular monitoring and evaluation.

Volunteer Recruitment, Training, and Support

• Deliver a plan to recruit the right volunteers with the right skills to match organizational needs.
• Coordinate, develop, and deliver appropriate training for volunteers to be successful in their positions.
• Monitor and review volunteers ensuring they receive sufficient support and achieve their goals.
• Act as a central point of contact for volunteers and for the coordination of volunteering enquiries.
• Familiarize volunteers with their understanding of Akanksha, its audience, its services, and the role and responsibilities of staff and volunteers.

Promotion & Networking:

• Investigate best practices in the volunteering and cultural sectors regarding increasing the diversity of volunteers.
• Develop and manage partnerships with external stakeholders including Universities/volunteering hubs. Develop and maintain links with local community groups and other organizations and businesses in order to recruit volunteers.
• Attend volunteer fairs and community events and organize recruitment workshops and talks.
• Utilize networks, social media platforms, and other services to promote Akanksha’s volunteering opportunities.
• Sourcing suitably qualified and earnest Volunteers
• Devising goal-oriented work schedules
• Conduct continuous evaluation of the programs and services delivered by the volunteer and implement corrections when necessary
• Ensure that volunteers and staff are well supervised, consistent check-ins are done and meet-ups for tasks are completed
• Research and draft volunteer policies and procedures, including risk assessments
• Ensuring compliance with Volunteer-specific and company-wide guidelines.
• Maintain an up-to-date database and use this information to monitor and evaluate activities
• Design formal or informal activities to recognize the contributions of volunteers to the organization in addition to giving them experience certificates
• Organize profile raising events to attract new volunteers
• Ensure that the welfare of volunteers is high, and perform any other administrative activities.
• Interact with School Leaders and Team Leaders to understand their volunteer needs

What you need for this role:

• Knowledge of current trends, resources, and information related to volunteer management
• At least 2 years of experience in initiating and managing volunteer projects
• Excellent communication skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to deal with a diverse range of people;
• Capacity to inspire, influence, and motivate others;
• Ability to deal with information in a confidential manner and respond with sensitivity;
• Good organizational skills and the ability to manage a variety of tasks;
• Administrative and IT skills, and an ability to maintain records and produce reports

Interested candidates can send their resumes to aneri.shah@akanksha.org

Note: This role involves travel to Akanksha network locations (Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur)