Trustee

Twyford, RG10 9RP Mainly at the office Travel limit? Ideally, within ~25 miles of our Centre; reasonable travel expenses reimbursedTime Either in or out of office hours Estimate of time needed: 0-5 hours / month or 1-3 hours / week Trustees are asked to offer at least 4 hours flexibly per month, including preparation, attendance at meetings, liaison with other trustees & staff. ApplyAsk a question Save opportunity Looking for someone with an HR-focus & knowledge: do you want to support the governance and people of Age Concern Twyford & District, to help us improve the lives of older people?What will you be doing? Our charity, set up in 1988, opened our Day Centre in 1996, and is now an independent, local charity, unaffiliated with others, providing a wide range of services and social support to older people in Twyford and its vicinity. We're looking to upskill our trustee Board, and are particularly interested if you have people-management and HR skills, experience and interest, in order to help us better support our employees and volunteers. In 2023-24, our turnover was £160k, as our charity recovers after the financial constraints of the pandemic, and our services and facilities return to being well-used and very well-appreciated in our community. Our Board includes people with experience and skills in an organisation that provides for local older people, and we'd expect you to have empathy with our cause and our beneficiaries. We're looking for a trustee with an HR-focus, to help plan our people-management (staff and volunteers), and advise trustees and the Centre Manager in our recruitment, retention, reward and recognition systems. This is not an operational management opportunity, rather a high-level strategic opportunity to drive change. You don't necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship: support from local charity-advice organisations is always available. Full induction to our organisation will be provided, plus specialist support as a new trustee, including access to external training. If you can think strategically and plan long-term, you have what's needed by our trustees, and you'll work collectively with all other Board members. Support and information from our Centre Manager is available, as they deal with the day-to-day running of the organisation. We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles to governing our organisation. We are looking for fresh expertise and experience to expand the diversity of our Board, in all aspects, and we welcome potential trustees with ideas and expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds. The Board meets face-to-face, monthly at our Day Centre (RG10 9RP) for up to 2 hours and some of your trustee duties can be carried-out online. The focus of a trustee role is strategic, and trustees will not be expected to get involved in the organisation's operations on a day-to-day basis; however, contact and liaison with other trustees and employees is expected., Here is some of what we would expect from our trustees. We know that you may also need training and support from employees, from other trustees and from external organisations, and that that will be forthcoming, as necessary, to build on any area.,

• The ability to continue our support for older people in our community
• An agile organisation, with a well-informed and well-managed Board of trustees
• A forward-looking people-management strategy and processes
What do YOU get as a volunteer trustee with our organisation?
• An opportunity to exercise your HR strategic planning skills, probably in a different environment or context
• An opportunity to influence and collectively-lead an organisation supporting older people in the community
• A chance to expand and implement your understanding of our work
• A chance to augment your experience of charities
• A boost to your career and CV, if needed
• Satisfaction of helping an organisation that supports older people, thus giving something back to your community
• Induction, training, support from our organisation and from charity-support organisations
  
  Governance
• Strategic development and planning
• HR
• Volunteer management, Understanding of the needs of our beneficiaries is desirable; an empathy with them is essential
• Clear commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, valuing differences to make better decisions and deliver better services for our beneficiaries
• Understanding of good HR practice in recruiting, supporting and retaining employees is essential
• Experience of the use, and understanding, of HR/employment legislation is essential, together with understanding its contextual implementation
• Experience of performance review would be welcome, but is not a prerequisite
• Understanding of good practice in recruiting, supporting and retaining volunteers would be welcome
• Strategic vision; good, independent judgement; ability to think creatively, tempered by pragmatism and reality
• Ability to cooperatively work with the team of trustees, bringing impartiality and objectivity to decision-making
• Skills and ability to listen, even to dissenting views
• Willingness to speak your mind and to challenge other trustees and employees with good intent; able to make unpopular recommendations to the Board, if necessary
• Skills to analyse proposals, examine their strategic consequences and make concise recommendations
• Secure personal access to digital communication and able to competently use those resources
• Commitment to the organisation; willingness and ability to devote the necessary time & effort
• While experience and understanding of charity law and governance can be useful, we strongly welcome people without prior charity trustee experience in order to increase the diversity of our Board; training in those areas is provided
• Willingness to be available to our employees for advice and enquiries on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis
• Willingness to mediate and support staff in employee relations issues such as disciplinary and grievance matters
• Having appropriate personal and professional contacts & networks, with willingness to draw on those as needed, Your people-management strategic skills, knowledge, understanding and experience
• Your abilities to influence our HR plans for our charity's future
• Enhancement to our overall governance and the Board of trustees
• Your participation in our collective decision-making, contributing to all areas of our charity work
• Your enthusiasm