Experienced charity trustee volunteer roles

About Reprieve

Reprieve is a leading international human rights organisation. Our aim is simple: to consign the death penalty and abuses carried out in the name of “counter-terrorism” or “national security” to history, drawing public and political attention to these past harms with a view to preventing them from occurring again.

In our view, you can best judge a society by how it treats prisoners, criminal defendants, and the far-flung targets of an ever-changing counter-terror policy. To us, the rule of law means little if we selectively apply it to people we agree with. It is for all of us. Liberty is always eroded at the margins.

Reprieve’s staff is made up of courageous and committed human rights defenders. Founded in 1999, we provide free legal and investigative support to people facing the death penalty and those victimised by states’ abusive counter-terror policies – rendition, torture, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killing.

We fight our clients’ cases in courts around the world; investigate their mistreatment; and advocate on their behalf, encouraging public and political debate of human rights issues.

Reprieve’s main office is in London, UK. Reprieve also supports full-time Fellows, who work as lawyers, investigators and campaigners in the countries in which we work. We work closely with a number of partner organisations in jurisdictions all over the world, who provide access to clients, expertise, knowledge and guidance on specific issues or regions. We work in cooperation with relevant government officials, individual lawyers and human rights defenders, as well as individual, corporate and foundation funders to further the cause of our shared goals.

Reprieve works in close partnership with its independent sibling organisation Reprieve US.  This collaboration is mutually beneficial to both Reprieve and Reprieve US as it enables each organisation to work more effectively and take advantage of the strategic locations to increase the impact of our work.

About the Role

Our work would not be possible without the highest levels of governance provided by our Board of Trustees and its Chair.

The Board meets four times a year (normally January, May, July and October). Two Board meetings are in person, and we ask that the Chair attends other events when they can to meet staff and other key stakeholders, including donors. 

Day-to-day management of Reprieve is provided by the Senior Management Team. 

About You

Our new Chair will be passionate about our vision and mission and will be able to bring inclusive and knowledgeable insight to the Board and the Executive. They will have a keen sense of strategic purpose and an inclusive leadership style that inspires and supports other Trustees, the Executive, staff and key stakeholders to participate. They will be comfortable with challenge and debate and able to encourage that in others whilst fostering a collaborative Board environment. They will be able and willing to act as a figurehead and ambassador, and champion Reprieve’s work through personal networks, social media (if appropriate), and other channels.

They will be willing to lead according to Reprieve’s values and have a passion for seeking justice for the victims of extreme human rights abuses. They will support our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion at Reprieve and share our commitment to fighting against racism and advancing racial justice, both in our work and within Reprieve.

They will have a passion for seeking justice for the victims of extreme human rights abuses. They will support our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion at Reprieve and share our commitment to fighting against racism and advancing racial justice, both in our work and within Reprieve.

Responsibilities

Your main duties will include:

• Leading the Board in ensuring that it fulfils its responsibilities for the governance of Reprieve
• Chairing and facilitating Board meetings including giving direction to board policy-making and ensuring that decisions taken at meetings are implemented
• With the Executive Director:
  • Planning the annual cycle of Board meetings
  • Setting agendas for Board meetings
  • Developing the Board of trustees including induction, training, appraisal and succession planning
  • Addressing conflict within the Board and within Reprieve, and liaising with the Executive to achieve this
  • Liaising with the Executive Director to keep an overview of the organisation’s affairs and to provide support as appropriate
• Being an ambassador and figurehead for Reprieve.

Person Specification/ Criteria

• A willingness to speak your mind and challenge both the Executive and the Board
• A keen sense of strategic purpose
• An inclusive leadership style: able to inspire and support other Trustees, the Executive, staff and key stakeholders to participate 
• Experience constructively challenging and appraising senior leadership
• A willingness to be available to the Executive and staff for advice and enquiries on an ad hoc basis
• A clear commitment to Reprieve’s vision and mission
• A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
• Willingness to commit two days a month to the role
• An understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship, as they apply to the Chair of the Board
• Experience of fundraising and its importance to a charity 
• Experience of committee work or being on a charity board.

Chair
Location: Leeds (Hybrid)
Time Commitment: Approx. 3 days per month (one board meeting, and two subcommittee meetings each quarter)
Remuneration: Voluntary (reasonable expenses covered)

A Leeds-based charity working to prevent homelessness and provide safe, supportive housing is seeking a new Chair of the Board of Trustees to guide the organisation through an exciting next chapter as it moves toward becoming a registered Social Housing Provider.

The Chair will provide clear leadership to the Board, ensuring strong governance, accountability, and strategic direction. Working closely with the Chief Executive, the new Chair will support and challenge the organisation to grow its impact, strengthen its housing offer, and build effective external partnerships.

To be successful in your application, you will have:

• Board-level leadership – proven experience chairing a Board or providing senior governance in a complex organisation.
• Strategic vision – a strong track record of shaping and delivering organisational strategy, ideally in housing, charity, or public service.
• Sector understanding – knowledge of housing, homelessness, or commissioned services is highly desirable.
• Governance expertise – good knowledge of charity governance, risk, and financial oversight.
• Personal commitment – alignment with the mission, values, and work supporting people facing homelessness and disadvantage.

How to Apply
To learn more and find out how to apply, please view the role on our website.

The organisation is committed to making the recruitment process inclusive and accessible and will make any reasonable adjustments to ensure all applicants can fully participate in the application and interview process.

Closing date: 21st September
Interviews with Prospectus: 25th – 29th September
Final interviews: w/c 6th October

Who are we looking for?

At present we are working towards being fully operational, over the next year Living Reasons will be looking to expand its reach and part of that journey is to develop an online food bank, allowing people access to a food bank that may not get help through their local council/Job Centre and may only want to use the service online.

People may want to use the online service of a food bank for many reasons, whether due to disability or not. 

The role of Project Co-ordinator role will oversee this project with guidance and input from the trustees, lived experience board members and with the support of other co-ordinators that are relevant to the outreach, funding and running of the service.

You do not necessarily need experience of this kind of role but good attention to detail and task management potential will be key, we can work the rest out together. If you like the idea of this, please get in touch with us and we can arrange an informal chat.

What is the plan?

The person who is starting the charity up is autistic, has ADHD, CPTSD and also multiple physical conditions that effect daily life and is part of the LGBTQ+ community and has faced a lot of issues in life because of these things.

Living Reasons is being created to fix what we think is a challenging situation that is getting harder to achieve every week, month and year in the current economic, political, environmental and societal landscape. It is not easily defined but we hope the charity objects below will help put context to what we want to achieve, what we can say is that below are the issues we are trying to address, how we do this will change as quickly as society does, but the issues we want to tackle are these:

1) Outdated and damaging employment practices

2) Accessibility to services

3) Limited employment, training and education opportunities

4) Lack of support during times of crisis or need

5) Lack of equity and agency for many people in society

6) Institutional discrimination that is not challenged

7) Abuse of the legal system at all levels

8) Abuse of power in government bodies

9) Poor access to healthcare

10)  Unequal treatment of many people in society by large corporations

11)  Assumptions made by wider society based on incorrect, outdated or discriminatory rhetoric that is used in daily life

12)  Outdated company engagement with the public

13)  Lack of support that is not talked about and not being addressed

Our Living Values -

Creativity

1) Imaginative Development (Individual)

2) Instilled Collaboration (Internal)

3) Changing The Status Quo (External)

Prospectivity

1) What Can You Do (Individual)

2) What Can We Do (Internal)

3) What Can They Do (External)

Revolutionary 

1) Inspire With Confidence (Individual)

2) Boundaryless Innovation (Internal)

3) Challenge Traditions (External)

Attentivity

1) Analyse and Redesign (Individual)

2) Rebel and Reform (Internal)

3) Enquire and Reimagine (External)

British Blind Sport (BBS) is the National Disability Sport Organisation that represents blind and partially sighted people in sport. Our vision is to empower all people living with sight loss to get active and enjoy sport, whether it is taking their first steps or helping to secure talent pathways to encourage individuals to fulfil their potential. Working across both the sight loss and sport sector, we work with strategic partner organisations to fulfil our aim and, by doing so, we positively impact the lives of hundreds of people every year.

About the role:

To support this work and to help us to demonstrate our commitment to VI sport we are looking for an Independent Director to help support the Finance Director with the responsibility for Finance, Audit and Accounting.

Duties and responsibilities:

• To work with our Finance Director, advise and guide Board members and staff on Finance, Audit and Annual Accounts, as appropriate.
• Assist the Finance Director to oversee the financial affairs of the organisation and ensure they are legal, constitutional and within accepted accounting practice.
• Assist the Finance Director to ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures are in place.
• Assist the Finance Director with the monitoring and reporting on the financial health of the organisation.
• Assist the Finance Director to oversee the production of necessary financial reports/returns, accounts and audits.
• To contribute actively to the board of trustees' role in giving strategic direction to the organisation. Setting overall policy, defining goals and setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets.
• To safeguard the good name and values of the organisation.
• Be a member of board sub-committees as requested by the Chair of Trustees and in relation to your expertise.

Specifically

• Liaise with the Finance Director, relevant staff, Board and committee members to ensure the financial viability of the organisation.
• Ensure that Board and committee members are aware of their financial obligations, and take a lead in interpreting financial data to them.
• To ensure that the organisation complies with its governing document, charity law, company law and any other relevant legislation or regulations.
• Regularly report the financial position at Board meetings (balance sheet, cash flow, fundraising performance etc).
• Support the production of an annual budget and propose its adoption at the last meeting of the previous financial year.
• Ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures and controls are in place.
• Assess the financial viability of plans, proposals and feasibility studies.
• Support on appointing and liaising with auditors/independent examiner.

Skills, knowledge and abilities

• Significant Financial/Accounting experience, including relevant qualifications.
• Leadership skills within this area.
• Ability to scrutinise and prepare management and annual accounts.
• To work with Auditors in the Annual Statutory Accounts process and Annual review.
• Ability to explain finances in a clear and simple way for non-financial people.
• An understanding of charitable accounts would be an advantage.