Connected Communities Project Support Officer – AIM

About AIM 

The Association of Independent Museums is a thriving UK museum membership organisation with over 1000 museum members. We represent a wide range of the UK’s museum and heritage organisations, from some of the largest attractions in the country to small, grassroots heritage organisations across a huge range of subject areas and localities. AIM helps heritage organisations prosper. We believe that museums must grow to fulfil their purpose and demonstrate the relevance of heritage to everyone.

About Connected Communities

AIM Connected Communities will run until 2025 and is funded through DCMS and Arts Council England as part of the Government’s £29million Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) fund https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/29-million-know-your-neighbourhood-fund-confirmed which targets support at 27 disadvantaged areas across England.

£5 million of the funding is to be invested in supporting people to participate in volunteering and connect with others through expanding the existing offer of arts, culture and heritage activities across the 27 KYN target areas.

Connected Communities will support museums in the target areas to deliver projects that increase wellbeing/decrease loneliness, provide high-quality volunteering opportunities, and give more people the chance to get involved in their local museum and build meaningful relationships. The programme will offer grants of up to £100k. Successful applicants will also be able to participate in a capacity-building programme to support and upskill staff and volunteers, help build partnerships with local organisations and ensure their grant-funded projects have a long-term legacy in their organisation and across their communities through building links with other delivery organisations enabling a systematic and holistic response to social issues in the community.

The programme will run until mid-2025 (tbc) and there will be two rounds of grants.

Project Support Officer

AIM wishes to recruit a Project Support Officer. This is an exciting opportunity to play a role in the implementation of a new fund which will invest in and support museums to build relationships with  their local communities.  

The Project Support Officer will report to the Head of Programmes and work closely with the AIM Grants Administrator and Programmes and Events Officer. The role of the Project Support Officer is to:

• Receive all initial enquiries and expressions of interest for the project and to assess and advise as necessary.
• Identify potential applicants and encourage them to consider applying, ensuring that there is a good range and quantity of applications for each round.
• Assess applications and carry out checks against eligibility and funding criteria.
• Advise the Grant Award Panel on specific applications and provide background information where relevant and useful.
• Provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.
• Negotiate any specific terms or conditions for the grants that are to be awarded.
• Monitor progress of successful projects
• Undertake site visits to some projects.
• Organise and facilitate a cohort event to share learning and evaluation.
• Liaise with other museum sector organisations about the project if necessary.

We are looking for a contractor who:

• Has good knowledge of the museums and heritage sector, in particular the type of organisations that make up AIM’s small museum category.
• Has a good understanding of the administration and management of grant funding, in particular the AIM New Stories New Audiences model (i.e. the combination of a grant fund and capacity-building programme).
• Has a good knowledge and understanding of current issues around understanding community engagement, volunteering and wellbeing in the heritage sector.
• Is approachable, flexible, organised, and communicates clearly and regularly with other team members.
• Is supportive towards all applicants and potential applicants.

Contract Management

We anticipate that this work will involve 30 days per grant round making a total of 60 days between the beginning of March 2023 and the end of December 2025. There is a total fee of £25,500 (a daily rate of £425) plus VAT and including any expenses. A payment schedule will be agreed on appointment.

The role is freelance and the contractor will need to be able to work from home and provide their own IT and office equipment.

AIM has a standard self-employed contractor agreement.

The contractors will report to the AIM Head of Programmes.

How to apply for this role

Please supply a CV (no more than 3 pages) and brief covering letter highlighting why you are interested in this role and how you are equipped to carry it out. Please also provide one case study of a piece of work (paid or voluntary) that you feel is particularly relevant to this programme. The covering letter and case study should be no more than 2 pages.

Please provide 2 referees

Proposals should be sent to AIM Head of Programmes, Margaret Harrison [email protected]

Closing date: 9am Monday 13 February.