Why are we looking for young Trustees?
We are looking for two young Trustees aged 18-25 to join the board at Riverside Community Health Project. The board currently consists of seven people but we are looking to increase our numbers, scope and expertise.
The current Trustee board is lacking younger members. This generation of youth is the first to be worse off than their parents and young people are one of the groups facing the harshest consequences of cuts and austerity policy. Too often young people’s voices are overlooked, and young people’s participation is too often tokenistic. This is why it is important for us to get young people involved in Riverside’s board – to amplify the voices young people in meaningful way and make sure issues important to young people are reflected in our strategy and programmes.
We are looking for two young Trustees, as it allows the new young Trustees to have a support structure where they can turn to each other for support and work as a team within the wider board.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 13 February 2022.
What is Riverside CHP and who do we work with?
Riverside works to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged communities within the west end of Newcastle through using a community development approach to ensure appropriate service provision, and to tackle issues that affect the health of the community in the broadest sense.
The charity has worked for over forty years through supporting local people to identify and address issues that affect their lives and through delivering a range of services in response to identified need. This is an opportunity to make a positive difference to people who are disadvantaged through providing strategic leadership so that the organisation can continue to flourish and bring benefits to local people.
The charity prioritises work with women, parents, children and ethnically minoritised communities and offers support to local community groups. Services include support for parents of young children, activities for children under five years, holiday activities for families, support to apply for EU settled status, training and volunteering opportunities, and welfare rights advice.
We believe in the meaningful involvement and empowerment of local people and embracing diversity is threaded throughout everything we do. A key value is partnership working and valuing and supporting the work of other organisations.
You can find out more about our work at www.riversidechp.co.uk. You can also find a list of our current Trustees on our website.
What is a Trustee and why is it important?
Trustees have the overall legal responsibility for a charity as ‘the persons having the general control and management of the administration of a charity’ (Charities Act 2011, section 177).
Trustees ensure that a charity is operating legally, in line with the needs of the community it serves and is accountable to the public. Trustees lead the strategic work of the organisation (the staff team at Riverside are responsible for the operations/ day-to-day work).
Trustees work collectively as a board and take decisions at formal board meetings. Trustee boards are made up of multiple people. In the case of Riverside, we require at least three Trustees to function. Trustees have no authority to act on their own unless authorised by the trustee board as a whole. Once a decision has been collectively made all trustees are bound to support that decision.
A Trustee is a voluntary position, therefore is not remunerated. All expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with our expenses policy. This includes transport costs to meetings.
What is expected of a Riverside Trustee?
The position involves scrutinising board papers, leading discussions, focusing on key issues, and providing advice and guidance requested by the board on new initiatives or other issues relevant to the area of the organisation’s work in which the trustee has special expertise.
We have three sub-committees and we encourage Trustees to get involved at least one of these committees:
- Finance committee
- Strategy and policy strategy committee
- Carnegie committee (building that Riverside manages)
The time consideration depends on how involved you want to get. At a minimum, Trustees are expected to participate in:
- Management Committee meets at least nine times a year, for approximately 2.5 hours per meeting (in an evening)
- Sub-committee meetings
- Reply to emails threads, usually 1-2 per week
What are we looking for in a potential young Trustee?
You do not need to have previous experience as a Trustee to apply for this position. We recognise that everyone has experience, skills, and knowledge that they can bring to the table, and we want to harness this. This is also a space for development – the other Trustees and staff are here to help and support you! The most important thing is energy and enthusiasm to get involved and a belief in the work of Riverside. You should be based in or around the Tyne and Wear area, as there is a face-to-face expectation for the role (covid-dependent).
However, we find it useful to outline some of the knowledge, skills and attitudes we will be looking for in prospective Trustees, outlined below.
Knowledge/experience
- Understanding of the role of volunteers in an organisation
- Knowledge about the voluntary or statutory sector
- Working or volunteering in the voluntary or community sector (desirable)
- Community development principles (desirable)
- Understanding of management, finance and policy issues (desirable)
- Challenges and opportunities facing the West End of Newcastle (desirable)
- Local and regional political and policy landscape (desirable)
- Safeguarding issues (desirable)
Skills
- Teamwork
- Leadership (desirable)
- People management
- Ability to encourage the expression of ideas
- Change management (desirable)
- Monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance (desirable)
Values and attitudes:
- Commitment to Riverside’s aims and values
- Commitment to equality and diversity
- Honesty and integrity
- Professional, enthusiastic, dependable, conscientious
- Willingness to actively contribute to discussion and ask questions
We actively encourage people with other knowledge, skills and attitudes to include them in their application letter.
What can you gain from being a Riverside Trustee?
There are huge benefits in becoming a Trustee. Some of the things you could gain as a Riverside Trustee are:
- The opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way to the local community
- A chance to develop your knowledge, skills and attitudes in a safe and supportive environment
- Chance to meet new people from different walks of life
- Ability to participate in training and development programmes
- Transferable experience relevant for job applications and education
- Being part of an organisation with a strong reputation
- Increased understanding of policy and political issues in the locality and region
- Sense of purpose
How do you apply?
Please send a letter of application indicating (maximum 2 pages of A4) including:
- Why you are interested in applying
- What knowledge, skills and attitudes you could bring to the role (with concrete examples where possible)
- What unique qualities you could bring to Riverside
- A fun fact about you
You should send your applications to the Chair of Trustees Carly Walker-Dawson at carlywalkerdawson@gmail.com You may also contact her to arrange an informal chat about the role.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 13 February 2022.
If you feel you meet the criteria and are looking for a rewarding and challenging role in an established and highly successful organisation, we look forward to receiving your application.