Community Investment Assistant

Salary £17,527 per annum (£29,212 FTE)

Location Manchester, Greater Manchester - Agile working

The vacancy

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 21 hours over 4 days or as agreed – Agile working

Closing date: 12th January 2026

Interview date: 21st January 2026

Interview location: Oasis Community Resource Centre, Tatton Rd, Denton, Manchester M34 7PH

Our organisation is all about people – the people who live in our homes, the communities we serve, and those we work with. So, it’s no surprise that we recruit for attitude and behaviour which are central to us building relationships and delivering great experiences for these people. We employ colleagues who are passionate about making a difference and who will take responsibility to get things done.

As a not-for-profit housing association, providing affordable homes and services to more than 20,000 people across Greater Manchester, we have a strong social purpose and make it our mission to enable people to live well in their home and community.

This role will help us to do this by effectively supporting the delivery of Irwell Valley Homes’ community investment work through the administration of the Irwell Valley Foundation charitable investment fund.

The fund provides grants to Irwell Valley Homes customers to support with their personal development and wellbeing, as well funding for community projects which meet local support needs, bring people together and improve places. In this role, you will support our customers and communities to live well, overcome barriers, and achieve their potential.

You will be responsible for:

· Managing the administration of Foundation applications, from acknowledgement messages to evaluation forms.

· Working with the Community Investment Manager to review Foundation applications against the criteria, to decide on successful applications.

· Managing the administration of Irwell Valley Foundation panel meetings, including planning, agendas and minutes - working with the governance team and in line with relevant policies.

· Researching new community groups and projects who might benefit from the support of the Irwell Valley Foundation.

· Providing cover at our Oasis Community Resource Centre as required.

We need people who are / have:

· Excellent communicators (verbal and written) with great interpersonal skills.

· Bid administration and case management skills with knowledge of grant-making principles and criteria-based assessment.

· Experience within the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.

· Experience in office administration including minute taking and creating action point summaries.

· IT literate in Microsoft Office includuing Excel.

· A strong organiser with excellent planning skills.

Everyone’s welcome here. Our culture is inclusive, and we are committed to increasing diversity. We enable everyone to be themselves at work, so that they feel at home with us. And we trust and support people to do their best, in a role that is fulfilling and rewarding because we know that this helps us to deliver better outcomes for our customers and our colleagues.

If you want to be part of our team and help us make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.

#housingjobs #recruiting #Manchesterjobs #Investment #Charitable #Housing #Hiring

About us

We are a not-for-profit housing association, providing affordable homes and services to over 16,000 people across Greater Manchester. We build affordable new homes, work with partners to reduce homelessness, and support people to reach their potential.

Our organisation is all about people – the people who live in our homes, the people in the communities we serve, and the people we work with.

So, it’s no surprise that we recruit for attitude and behaviour which are central to us delivering great experiences for everyone!

We employ people who are passionate about making a difference who can take responsibility and get things done. And we have developed a culture that supports people to do this.

Everyone’s welcome here. Our culture is inclusive, and we are committed to increasing diversity. We enable everyone to be themselves at work so that they feel at home with us. And we trust and support people to do their best, in a role that is fulfilling and rewarding because we know that this helps us to deliver better outcomes for our customers and our colleagues.

The Communities team

Our Communities team pride themselves on delivering a fantastic service to our customers, representing the customer voice throughout the organisation and striving to make a real difference in people’s lives!

Forging strong relationships with our customers is central to what we do, none more than in our Customer Service and Support Team who assist customers with all aspects of housing, they really are a clued-up bunch! They also manage a full range of digital contact channels including live chat, social media, our app and of course the telephone so are skilled as well as knowledgeable!

Our customers are important to us, and we want them to feel that way, which is why our Communities Team support residents to manage their tenancy and make sure neighbourhoods are clean, safe and places you're proud to live. It’s a great feeling for the team knowing they can help to make services better for our customers!

We are constantly striving to find innovative solutions to support customers and focus improve our customer experience. Whether it’s developing an app, streamlining process or finding service improvements, they always have the customer at the centre of what they do!

We’re committed to doing what we say we’ll do, keeping customers updated, building rapport and problem solving.

Stats:

483 people moved into one of our homes last year!
We engaged with 3,400 customers, on everything from our new cleaning contractor to building safety measures.
90% of customers were happy with how they were treated last year!
80% of customers were happy with their last contact with us
We handled over 75,000 customer contacts last year!
We continuously work with customers across the organisation including our Resident Scrutiny Panel, Customer Offer Panel and Community Champions.

“Thank you for your interest in joining our Communities Team. For us, the Communities team is all about being reliable and respectful in the way that we interact with customer’s and colleagues. The team is a tight-knit bunch who all share the same ethos, to deliver excellent customer service and have fun doing so! We are genuinely passionate about helping customers and delivering a great service to them. To do this, we give our colleagues the right training and support, offer some great benefits, and promote a positive, inclusive culture where everyone is able to deliver their best service by being their best self. If you share our goal in ensuring Customers can live well in their homes and Communities, I’d love to welcome you into the team!”

Ross Powell, Head of Customers and Communities