Learn to Love to Read trustee roles
We are seeking new trustees for our local literacy charity. We work in the London borough of Wandsworth.
Our board of trustees meets in person every three months, for around two hours at 7.30pm, usually at a venue in Putney. Outside of this, trustees will need to allow time to read board papers and prepare for meetings; plus commit some flexible time to offering advice and networking as required.
Trustees serve for periods of three years. Our board must have a minimum of four trustees and a maximum of eight – we currently have six. We want to have a diverse board and are keen to include those who have experienced our work as parents or volunteers, as well as those who bring specific expertise. We are very happy to consider candidates who have not been trustees before if they bring relevant skills and enhance the board dynamic generally.
Here are some of the key attributes needed in our trustees:
- a passion for the charity’s aims and the local community it serves
- confidence they have sufficient time to give to the role
- reliability and commitment
- a willingness to use their individual expertise and experience for the charity’s benefit
- a willingness to challenge and question but also able to work thoughtfully in a team
- the ability to think strategically and willing to take responsibility independence and open-mindedness
- the ability to make difficult decisions in the best interest of the charity
- knowledge of or a willingness to develop an understanding of charity governance and finances – we will provide access to reading and training to help new trustees with this
Our staff produced the following description of how they want to work as a team. This same description also applies well to what we look for in our trustees:
collaborative, respectful, inclusive, open minded, communicative, generous, celebrating each other’s work, approachable, open to ideas, free to ask questions, free to throw out ideas, understanding of each other’s lives, dedicated, ready to support each other, passionate, values-led, understanding, collectively ambitious, open to challenging each other, creative.
We believe that children should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and keep them safe, and we are committed to practise in a way that protects them. We will carry out an enhanced DBS check (criminal record check) for all successful applicants. Successful applicants will receive safeguarding training and be required to confirm they have read and understood various safeguarding documents, including our own safeguarding policy, annually.
We will provide an induction process for new trustees to include: sharing necessary documentation; offering the opportunity to spend time with staff and other trustees and to see our work in action; directing to useful trustee websites and making training available as required.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-what-you-need-to-do, https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/guide/become-trustee and https://www.gettingonboard.org/how-to-become-a-charity-trustee contain useful information.
