Hello team,
November is almost over and soon it will be acceptable to play Christmas songs and wear festive jumpers. If you have already embraced this then good on you and if none of that is up your street then good on you too!
Who's who?
This month's team focus is the Fundraising Team. The team consists of Gaenor Hall, Head of Fundraising, Bethan Hudson, Fundraising Manager, Caitlin Neale, Key Relationships Manager, Ellie Tyers, Key Relationships Manager, Martin Gee, Grants and Trusts Team Leader, Clive Ashby, Grants and Trusts Manager and Amber Dunstan, Fundraising Assistant.
Gaenor Bethan Caitlin Ellie Martin Clive Amber
Here's a little note from Gaenor:
'Fundraising is precisely the opposite of begging. When we seek to raise funds we are not saying 'Please, could you help us out because lately it's been hard', rather we are declaring 'We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you - your energy, your prayers, and your money - in this work to which God has called us."
(Spirituality of Fundraising)
Part of inviting people to invest well, involves supporting, empowering and equipping Safe Families and Home for Good to fundraise well, recognising that fundraising is everyone's responsibility.
On a day to day basis, we connect with prospective donors, research and apply for grant, set up events, that engage people not only in fundraising, but relationship development, and connect with corporate enterprises, to grow engagement and income. All this is very much underpinned by prayer.
If you have any ideas or can think of ways to get involved, please do reach out to the Fundraising Team
Staff Updates
We had a request this month to include something new in Staff Matters and we thought it was such a great idea so we have added it in. Every month we will be introducing new starters and sharing about those who are leaving the organisation. We want to be able to welcome our new starters well so please do touch base with them and we want to say a huge thank you to all those who are leaving us. So without further ado here are the updates for this month.
New Starters
This month we would like to give a really warm welcome to...
Jennifer Kitty Imogen Marcella Anna
- Jennifer Ball, Finance Assistant, started 18 November.
- Kitty Hardyman, Communications Manager - Digital, Content and Resources, started 18 November.
- Imogen Onwuka, Central and East Engagement Coordinator, started 18 November.
- Marcella Frattini, Student FSM in South Team, started 6 November and with us until March 2025.
- Anna Barwick, Student FSM in North East team, started 18 November and with us until March 2025.
Leavers
This month we are sad to say goodbye to... Christine Muneza, FSM in North East Team, Anna Scott, RAC in Central Team, Martin Bethell, CVMTL in Scotland, Dave Martin, CVTL in the North West and Cherith Withington, CVM in the North West. We will be praying for them all in their next chapters. Moving forward with Staff Matters we hope to be able to add a few words from our leavers.
Annual Leave Update
We will be adding allowances for 2025/2026 before the Christmas break so you will be able to start to request leave for next year. We will share on #allstaffupdates when it is live.
A reminder that you will be able to 'carry over' one working week of annual leave to next years allowance. This will be done through the staff database and we will share details of how to do this in March.
The IT team are also working hard on developing our annual leave booking system so that those who work non-standard hours (e.g. 9am - 3pm) don't have to also record leave on a spreadsheet! In preparation for this, please ensure that your contracted working hours are correctly marked on the staff database. If they are not correct please speak with your line manager.
Christmas - Pay Day and Leave
In December, pay day will be at the earlier date of the 20th due to our payroll providers closure. Also, don't forget to book off the bank holidays and the Christmas closure period on the staff database - this won't happen automatically.
Group Income Protection
As we mentioned last month, we wanted to share a bit more about the Group Income Protection scheme which is a policy that will provide support towards someone's income should they have to be off work due to long term illness. There are also some great advantages through this scheme to provide support for those who are sick. We have worked hard to gather all the information and everything you need to know so please follow this link to find out all about it.
New Training Sessions
As one organisation we felt that it was important that we have some training around Adoption, Fostering and Supported Lodgings. This is to further our knowledge as staff and to enable you to feel more confident in sharing about our vision in these areas. The marvellous Enquiry Team have pulled together a session for all existing staff to attend and we would love to see you there. After these initial sessions, this training will become part of our new starters induction so that we can make sure all our staff feel well-informed and equipped. For more information of what these sessions will cover and information about how to book in, click this link.
How to - Health and Safety
Alicia Barwick is now working alongside Anna Pilgrim, and all our wonderful Office Leads, in supporting us all regarding Health and Safety. If you have any health and safety questions please get in touch here.
One way that we can create a safe workplace for everyone is through reporting any hazards (things that could cause harm), incidents (if something has caused harm) or accidents (where first aid is needed).
This can now be done through the staff database and can be reported by anyone. For more information about how to do this please read this article.
Coming up...
In December we will be letting you know some more updates from the working groups that have been gathering since the merger so be sure to check that out.
Thanks for reading this month's Staff Matters. As always, if there is anything you need help with or you think would be good to be included in Staff Matters please raise a ticket here and we will get back to you.
People and Culture Team