Membership Officer

Role Profile

Job Title
Position
Hours

Membership Officer
Permanent
Full-time 35 hours per week (including some evenings and
weekends)

Holidays

33 days including 8 public holidays

Manager
Location

Head of Marketing & Audience Development
Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road,
London SW3 4HS

1.

Equal Opportunities

Chelsea Physic Garden is a place for everyone. As an equal opportunities’ employer,
Chelsea Physic Garden is committed to championing equality, diversity, and inclusion in
our workplace. If you are a suitably qualified applicant, we encourage your application
whatever your age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual
orientation or socio- economic background.

2.

About Chelsea Physic Garden

Chelsea Physic Garden (CPG) is an independent charity set up in 1983 to promote and
preserve the four-acre garden of the same name. The charity’s mission is to demonstrate the
medicinal, economic, cultural, and environmental importance of plants to the survival and
wellbeing of humankind. We are open to visitors six days a week, eleven months of the
year.  There has been a teaching Garden on our site since 1673, and today we hope that all our
visitors leave inspired, having learnt something new.

3.

Our Values

We have a set of five interlinked reinforcing values that support each other

Openness and
Transparency

Respect &
Care

Sharing and
being generous
with information
Being  open to
new ideas and
opinions

Respecting
others' roles
feelings and
opinions
Listening
sensitively and
encouraging
dialogue

Inclusion

Working
collaboratively

Reaching  out to
involve others in
and outside the
organisation

Discovery &
Enrichment

Actively seeking
out new
knowledge
Inspiring and
motivating
intellectual
curiosity and
learning

Sustainability

Embracing
change and
innovation
Working  to
build on our
heritage

4.

About the Role

The Membership Officer plays a pivotal role in the growth and development of CPG’s
membership community, supporting our organisational ambition to inspire wonder, wellbeing
and discovery by uniting people with plants that heal. With a strong focus on membership sales
and retention, customer engagement and visitor conversion, the postholder will drive the growth
of the membership base and deliver an excellent standard of service across all membership
touchpoints.

Reporting to the Head of Marketing & Audience Development (HoMAD) and working closely
alongside the marketing team, the Membership Officer will support the development and
implementation of strategies to increase membership acquisition, retention, and overall income
to meet the Garden’s target of growing membership by 10% over five years. This includes
supporting the Visitor Experience & Retail Assistants (VERAs) and volunteers to maximise on-site
membership conversion, gift aid participation, and upselling opportunities. The postholder will
support training and provide guidance to ensure the team understands membership benefits and
can confidently promote them to prospective members.

The Membership Officer is responsible for maintaining accurate and GDPR-compliant records of
all membership data, ensuring prompt data entry, processing, and reporting. They will develop
and maintain active relationships with members at all levels and work collaboratively across
departments to deliver membership benefits, communications, and events that add value and
engender loyalty.  They will work closely with the development team to promote long-term
giving and support. The Membership Officer will be responsible for reviewing the contract with
the third-party mailing house, ensuring service level agreements are met.

The postholder will lead on proposing marketing campaigns related to membership, provide
insights on member behaviour and sales trends, and contribute to initiatives that improve the
overall visitor to member journey in coordination with the visitor experience and marketing
teams.

The Membership Officer will be available to work some weekends as part of a duty management
roster shared with others and will contribute to the delivery of major public events such as Spring

Open Days, Summer Lates, and the Christmas Fair.

5.

Key Responsibilities

I.  Membership Processing

The Membership Officer (MO) will ensure that all sales and renewals of Friends memberships are
processed accurately and in a timely manner. This includes inputting data into the CRM (Raiser’s
Edge NXT), sending out Membership packs, processing Direct Debit claims and submitting Gift
Aid claims.

The MO will be responsible for maintaining the Friends database including updating records and
providing reports to other staff when needed in line with GDPR guidance.

The  MO  will  work  with  the  third-party  mailing  house  to  ensure  that  renewals  letters  and  other
materials are sent out in a timely manner.

II.  Growth and Development

The  MO  will  take  a  proactive  role  in  identifying  and  developing  opportunities  for  membership
growth,  with  a  particular  focus  on  new  and  underutilised  segments  such  as  corporate
memberships.  This  includes  researching  potential  partners,  designing  tailored  membership
packages,  and  collaborating  with  the  Senior  Leadership  team  to  launch  and  promote  these
offerings.

They will be responsible for developing strategies to diversify and expand the Friends membership
base,  analysing  data  trends,  and  proposing  innovative  approaches  to  increase  acquisition  and
retention. The MO will also monitor market developments and peer institutions to identify best
practices and inform long-term membership development plans.

III.

Communications and Campaigns

The  MO  will  lead  on  day-to-day  communications  with  Friends  and  work  with  the  Fundraising
Manager to support stewardship of the Patrons programme. Working closely with the marketing
team, they will agree the frequency and nature of all communications sent out to Friends across
the year, maintaining a calendar of key information and messaging.

The MO will take ownership of relevant sections of the website, keeping information up to date,
accurate and effective. This will include utilising web analytics to understand and optimise user
journeys and support migration to Paperless Direct Debit.

IV.  Onsite Sales

Working  closely  with  the  Commercial  Director  and  Visitor  Experience  Manager,  the  MO  is
responsible  for  the  development  of  an  onsite  recruitment  strategy,  including  the  production  of
flyers,  forms  and  posters  in  the  house  style.  The  MO  will  also  support  the  training  of  Visitor
Experience and Retail Assistants (VERAs) on the process of selling and processing membership,
including upselling, converting day tickets to memberships and maximising direct debit and Gift

Aid sign up.

V.

Stewarding

The MO will act as first point of contact for prospective and current members. They will actively
steward and attend monthly Friends Coffee Mornings, and work on expanding the current offering
of Members’ events by devising additional opportunities for in-person engagement.

The  postholder  will  support  the  Fundraising  team  through  the  administration  of  Raiser’s  Edge,
including  Garden  Patron  membership  renewals,  prospect  management  and  gift  aid  claims.
Additionally, occasional support will be required for donor events.

Person Specification

Skills and Experience

Sales orientated and motivated by meeting or exceeding targets

Experience working with members of charitable, heritage or arts
organisation
Substantial experience working with Raiser's Edge
Knowledge of data protection legislation
Knowledge of Gift Aid legislation

Excellent communications skills (written and verbal)
Knowledge of MS Office programmes and ability to learn to work with
different systems such as Shopify
Knowledge of working in value-led organisations such as charities, or the
cultural sector
Experience of managing suppliers
Experience of processing financial information e.g., Direct Debits
Experience of producing letters and emails for mass distribution
Self-motivated and able to act on initiative
Strong organisational skills, able to manage multiple priorities
simultaneously
Experience of supervising volunteers
Experience of copywriting

Essential/
Desirable
E

E

E
E
E

E
E

E

E
E
E
D
D

D
D

Competency  Framework

We have a set of eight competencies that are common to all employees and within the
framework each competency has four levels which relate to the level at which individual roles
need to operate.  The competency assessment for this role is set out below and more
information will be provided to support this assessment.

Competency

Descriptor

1  Leadership
2  People

Management

3  Analysis and use
of Evidence

4  Communication

Setting the pace and behaving with integrity
Making  clear  what  you  expect  and  what  is  to  be
achieved;  enabling  and  supporting  your  staff  to
deliver
Collecting, analysing and using information and
evidence, assessing risk and taking
decisions
Communicating with colleagues, visitors and
stakeholders

5  Collaborative
Working

Working together with people within and
outside of CPG to help us achieve our goals

6  Delivering
Results

Organising and managing the work to deliver
results

Using resources cost effectively

The knowledge, skills and expertise you need
to do your job and help others to do theirs

7  Using and
Managing
Resources
8  Know How

Terms and Conditions

Level for this
role
3
2

2

3

2

3

3

3

The post holder will be required to work an average of five days per week, but the nature of
the role means that flexibility over the days and hours worked is required to meet the needs
of the business.  Full-time staff are required to work a minimum of 3 days per week in
the office, including a Monday or a Friday.

There is a requirement to work weekends and bank holidays as part of a roster (roughly one in
six weekends), for which time off in lieu will be provided.

The Garden operates a salary exchange pension scheme currently with Royal London which
means that your gross salary is reduced by the amount of pension contribution made by the
employer and employee which is then paid directly into your pension.
The  equivalent  contribution  rates  are  6%  employer  and  3%  employee  at  the  end  of  the
probationary period.

Details of other employee benefits and rights will be provided to successful candidates and
include things like a season ticket loan, a cycle purchase scheme as well as an employee
assistance programme.