49 Courses and community fundraising volunteer volunteer volunteer roles

As the Guild has grown in the past few years, our risk management, financial controls, and body of policies and procedures have also matured. Following the scheduled departure of two trustees earlier this year, the Guild’s Finance Subcommittee is seeking to welcome an independent member with relevant skills to attend meetings and advise on financial matters to help us make good decisions effectively.

This voluntary role supports trustees and staff by providing independent insight, constructive scrutiny, and professional expertise on financial planning, budgeting, risk, and long-term sustainability. As a guest to Finance Subcommittee meetings, you will review financial information, contribute to discussions, and help ensure resources are used effectively to maximise our charitable impact for students.

The Finance Subcommittee currently consists of two elected Officers, two external Trustees, and may include a student trustee in future. Papers and reports are ordinarily provided by the Guild Director, who is a non-voting guest to Subcommittee meetings. The Subcommittee normally meets four times per year for around two hours.

Students’ Union experience is not essential, but we are seeking a volunteer able to operate within our distinctive context. We are particularly interested in applicants with experience in finance, accounting, audit, charity governance, or business management.

We're looking for Initial Contact Advisers across our offices in South West Surrey: Cranleigh, Farnham, Godalming, Guildford, Haslemere. 

What will you do?
● complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role
● talk to clients over the phone, face to face, or online to explore whatproblems they’ve come for help with
● assess clients capacity and the level of help they need, to decide nextsteps
● find information about the clients’ problems and help them to understandtheir options
● identify when a client needs more in depth help than you can give at initialcontact, and make an appointment for them to come back
● write a summary of the clients’ problems and what action you’ve taken
● look out for problems’ that are common, or are unfair, and write a shortreport about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AMor local councillor.

Some examples of what you could do:
● help a client with rent arrears find how to get help with their rent, andtake the first steps to secure their housing
● help someone with debts work out a reasonable amount to pay back, andmake a phonecall to an organisation they owe money to.
● explore what benefits a client is entitled to and to take the first steps inmaking a benefit claim.

What’s in it for you?
● make a real difference to people’s lives
● learn about a range of issues such as benefits, debt, employment and housing
● build on valuable skills such as communication, listening and analysing
● increase your employability
● work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
● have a positive impact in your community.

And we’ll reimburse your travel expenses too.

What do you need to have?
You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:
● be friendly and approachable
● be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
● have good listening skills
● have excellent verbal and written communication skills
● have good maths and IT skills
● be able to understand information and explain it to others
● be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection
● be willing to undertake training in your role

How much time do you need to give?
Ideally we ask for 6 hours per week, which can be over one day or spread over two days, for at least 6 months.

Valuing inclusion
Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and we particularly welcome applications from racially minoritised people/people of colour, disabled people, people with physical or mental health conditions, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people.

If you are interested in becoming an assessor and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact us.

Contact details
To apply, please fill out a Volunteer Application Form.

As a small but fast-growing charity, we have a strong trustee board in place but are looking to bring in new trustees to help in our new phase of growth and ensure a sustainable future. We are therefore looking for trustees who want to get closely involved in setting the strategy, direction and priorities of Write Back as we transition from new ‘start-up’ into a more established charity. We are therefore looking for individuals with:

● A strong commitment to the work of Write Back and empowering young people.

● The passion and enthusiasm to throw themselves into a new and exciting charity for young people to help us in our next phase of growth.

● The ability and experience of working at a strategic level, providing expert oversight, advice and guidance.

● The skills and temperament to collaborate effectively in a small, growing organisation.

● A good understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of charity trusteeship and an appreciation of the personal implications.

● A demonstrable commitment to equality and diversity.

We anticipate growing our trustee board significantly over the next 6-12 months. Our initial priority will be recruiting someone who is at least one of the following:

●experienced in financial processes and oversight.

● experienced in education, such as a qualified teacher.

● experienced in growing a small company or charity, in particular with legal, HR or other operational or governance matters.

● Under the age of 25 and who have lived experienced of the issues Write Back is trying to solve.

However, we are open to applications from a variety of backgrounds and would encourage you to get in touch if you are interested. We are intending to recruit 2 - 3 trustees in total.

Core requirements:

● This is a voluntary unpaid role, for which any reasonable expenses will be reimbursed.

● Your initial term will be for 2 years, with the possibility of renewal.

● Attendance at trustee meetings every two months (either online or in person, for roughly 90 minutes), as well as preparation for these meetings and any follow-up tasks. We estimate the time commitment to be no more than one day per month in total.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.