Head of volunteer roles in leeds, west yorkshire
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
About Us
For three decades, Forward Arts Foundation (‘Forward’) has been at the forefront of new poetry and now reaches an estimated 131 million people each year. We are a national charity working across the UK and online to widen poetry’s audience, honour achievement and support diverse talent. Through our two flagship programmes, Forward Prizes for Poetry and National Poetry Day, we work towards a better society where individuals and communities can develop their innate creativity, their agency and their understanding through the making and sharing of poetry.
Leadership and Management
Forward is led by its board of eight Trustees, chaired by Jamie Andrews. Jamie is Director of Public Engagement at the British Library and brings extensive experience as a trustee of several charities, including Oxford House. Other trustees are Forward’s founder William Sieghart CBE, responsible for the 2013 Sieghart Report on libraries and e-books; Kim Evans, former senior executive at BBC and Arts Council; Aoife O’Connor, poet and producer; Amelia Richards, culture and communications leader; treasurer and CFO Latinka Pilipovic; marketing manager Maya Ophelia and data scientist Mary Amanuel.
The organisation is led by Mónica Parle and Lucy Macnab, Co-Executive Directors. Both have experience as directors of writing organisations (First Story and Ministry of Stories). Mónica is an award winning writer and Lucy brings national policy and strategy design experience from Arts Council England. With joint accountability, they each work 0.5FTE. The team also includes Jay Bhadricha, Head of Programmes, and Annalise Peters, Finance and Operations Coordinator.
The team is supported by freelance specialists in education, communications, finance and fundraising.
We believe poetry is for everyone. Our approach to recruiting trustees is shaped by a commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion. We particularly welcome applications for vacancies from D/deaf and disabled and black and minority ethnic candidates, as well as candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as they are under-represented in the arts, and we commit to review our processes to ensure that our organisation more closely reflects the society it serves.
Chair Role
The Chair leads the board, ensuring that it governs the charity effectively, in service of the charity’s vision and mission. The Chair leads in an inclusive way, supporting the board to work together well, and providing support and challenge to the Chief Executive. The Chair is also an ambassador for the charity.
- Provide strategic leadership to the charity and the Board.
- Work in partnership with the Co-Executive Directors and Vice Chair.
- Lead the board in ensuring that it fulfils its responsibilities for the governance of the organisation.
- Plan and chair the board meetings with the Vice Chair and Co-Executive Directors.
- Act as a spokesperson and figurehead for Forward.
What we are looking for
- Experience of being a trustee. You do not need to have been a Chair before.
- A keen sense of strategic purpose.
- An inclusive leadership style: able to inspire and support everyone to participate on an equal footing.
- The ability to listen and engage effectively. You are comfortable with challenge and debate and are able to encourage that in others whilst fostering a collaborative board environment.
- Advocate - be able and willing to champion Forward’s work through personal networks, social media, and other channels.
- A strong personal commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
- Be responsive. At a small charity, things sometimes ‘come up’ that require the Chair to advise, support or give consent to. It is very helpful to have a Chair who is available and responsive.
Trustee roles
We are also looking for trustees with expertise in any of the below and a belief that your skills will contribute to the strong and effective governance and growth of a small charity. We are especially looking for experience and networks in:
- Fundraising or philanthropy
- Governance/institutional/policy leadership
- Digital/data/design
- Education
- We’re also interested in applications from those under 30 or those seeking their first trusteeship, and offer support and guidance from an experienced ‘buddy’ trustee.
- Ideally, applicants should show interest in or understanding of the literature/arts sector and/or literacy and education.
Responsibilities of all trustees
- Support and provide advice on Forward’s purpose, vision, goals and activities.
- Approve operational strategies and policies, and monitor and evaluate their implementation.
- Oversee Forward’s financial plans and budgets and monitor and evaluate progress.
- Ensure that key risks are being identified, monitored and controlled effectively.
- Provide support and challenge to Forward’s Co-Executive Directors
- Keep abreast of changes in Forward’s operating environment.
- Applying your skills, expertise, knowledge and contacts to promote Forward’s work.
Essential qualities and attributes of all trustees
- Willingness and ability to understand and accept their responsibilities and liabilities as trustees and to act in the best interests of the organisation.
- Ability to think creatively and strategically, exercise good, independent judgement and work effectively as a board member.
- Effective communication skills and willingness to participate actively in discussion.
- A strong personal commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
- Enthusiasm for our vision and mission.
- Willingness to lead according to our values of wonder, play and openness.
- Commitment to Nolan’s seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership
Terms and Commitment
Location: All board meetings may be attended online. We will try to meet face-to-face when we can. But trustees are welcome wherever they live.
We estimate you’ll need to commit around 30 hours over the course of a year. The board meets quarterly and we have a strategy day one afternoon a year. Trustees are appointed for a 3-year term, with a maximum of 2 terms.
Salary: Unpaid, travel expenses will be reimbursed if needed and where necessary.
Deadline for applications: 21 July
Interviews beginning w/c 28 July
To apply or find out more, contact Co-Executive Director Lucy Macnab explaining why you would like to be a trustee. If you are interested in being Chair, please make this clear. You may want to tell us what your previous experience is, and what knowledge and skills you have and what you would like to gain from the experience. Also someone we can talk to as a referee. We will accept applications in any medium.
For those applying for the chair role, you are welcome to have a call with Jamie Andrews, current chair, to find out more.
Forward Arts Foundation is a registered charity (charity number: 1037939) and a company limited by guarantee (company no: 02902864), registered in England and Wales.
This role is advertised as part of TPP's Free Giving Back Services. This volunteer advertisement copy has been supplied to TPP and applicants apply direct to the organisation. Please contact the organisation directly if you have any questions about this volunteer role.
Thank you!
Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, is inviting applications for new non-executive directors to join the Board of its trading arm, Living Streets Services (LSS). We want to expand the experience represented on the board and ensure a balance of skills in order to support the organisation achieve its strategic objectives.
On the LSS Board, we are seeking additional non-executive director(s). We are looking for people who have skills and experience particularly in the commercial sector or social enterprise.
Above all, we are looking for passion, fresh ideas and a desire to improve our streets. Whatever your background, a commitment to the values and objectives of the charity overall will be crucial.
This is a pivotal time in our history: with a dynamic and experienced new Chief Executive, Catherine Woodhead; and a period of development, with a new strategy incoming that will take us towards our centenary in 2029.
We are a charity which can influence anyone’s daily life.
With our thousands of members and supporters we run campaigns for positive change and influence policies that improve our streets such as encouraging families to walk to school, 20mph speed limits and controlling pavement parking.
We manage innovative national projects, engaging schools, communities and workplaces to encourage more people to walk short journeys. Our year-round walk to school challenge captures the imagination of children in over 2000 schools.
We work with local authorities and businesses to improve streets and public spaces. Our reports, such as The Pedestrian Pound, make a substantial contribution to the active travel agenda.
We actively welcome applications from people from a diverse range of backgrounds generally and from all parts of the UK.
Walk with us.
These roles are voluntary and unpaid, although appropriate expenses will be paid.
Closing date: 20/07/2025 (midnight)
Interviews: 29/07/2025
Registered Charity
101 - 500
Our mission is to achieve a better walking environment and inspire people to walk more.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
We’re seeking to appoint up to 4 new volunteer NEDs to join the Zero Hour Ltd Board, at this pivotal moment to help invigorate and shape the organisation during its transformation into a truly nationwide campaigning power.
Like many environmental campaigns, we operate in challenging times. As we continue to improve our strategy and grassroots model—ensuring that we have the culture, structures, systems and capabilities to build on our progress—we’re looking for new Non-Executive Directors to join us at this crucial moment for the future of environmental policymaking; and the future of Zero Hour.
Zero Hour is the campaign for the Climate and Nature Bill, formerly the CE Bill and CEE Bill, a plan for a new UK law that addresses climate change, global warming, and the nature crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The Bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the emergency.
We’re searching for people who can bring their personal commitment and experience of the climate crisis and how it affects them and ordinary people across the UK to Zero Hour’s leadership and governance.
Successful applicants need not have prior NED, charity Trustee, or other governance experience: as an organisation and a Board we are committed to nurturing new leaders at every level. We are especially committed to facilitating increases in diversity in our sector because we acknowledge that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented in environmental campaigning.
We are particularly keen to receive applications from people of colour; people with disabilities or other health conditions; people who identify as LGBTQIA+ or with different gender identities; and people who identify as working class (or have done so in the past).
While we recognise that certain terms to describe minorities and underrepresented groups can be problematic, these are the terms we currently use at Zero Hour. We are always open to a discussion on our use of these terms in order to do better.
Our new NEDs will be joining a committed Board, working alongside our inspiring Co-Directors, a brilliant core team of (digital, grassroots, partnerships, research, and comms) campaigners alongside our dedicated CAN Bill volunteers across the nations.
We are recruiting four new NEDs as the work of this comparatively young organisation is growing and a small number of longstanding NEDs are stepping down. The existing seven NEDs have a broad range of experience in campaigning, HR, finance, and good company governance, and want to bolster the team to ensure we have the capacity in the Board to match the organisation’s growth and impact ambitions.
You will have an appreciation for the importance of good governance and a commitment to actively engaging on how to adapt and respond to the challenges faced by a forward-thinking, growing, and agile environmental organisation. You’ll be keen to thoughtfully foster organisational growth and maintain high levels of ambition while caring for the individuals who implement that vision.
Our new NEDs will bring intellectual versatility, energy, and integrity to Zero Hour’s Board. You will contribute to the strategic direction of the CAN Bill campaign, and offer governance support to the campaign Co-Directors. You’ll also bring sound reasoning attributes and the ability to think critically about what is best for the campaign as a whole.
We’re seeking a diverse set of skills and lived experiences in our new NEDs, and in addition to seeking to foster new leaders in the sector it would be helpful to have specific experience in:
- Finance and Fundraising
- Diversity and Inclusion in Campaigning
- Legal and compliance
- Media, Social Media, and Communications
Zero Hour’s strapline has long been “let’s secure a liveable future” and—together—we can help bring about the just transition to a zero carbon, nature positive future for everyone in the UK.
Non Charity Employer
11 - 20
Tackling the climate and nature crises together through the Climate and Nature Bill.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) is seeking a dynamic and well-connected professional with experience in fundraising, marketing and relationship building to join its Board of Trustees.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a unique and growing organisation working at the nexus of human rights, rainforests and climate change, and to use your skills and passion to deliver impact for Indigenous Peoples and other local communities on the frontline of the fight against tropical deforestation.
The role of the Board is to provide strategic vision, direction and leadership, to support the financial and operational stability needed to advance RFUK’s mission, and to promote the organisation’s continued effectiveness.
We are looking for a Trustee with experience and skills in one or more of the following areas:
- Philanthropic giving
- Charitable foundation grants
- High net worth giving
- Corporate partnerships and CSR fundraising
- Individual giving and legacies
- Networking and profile raising
- Marketing, PR and communications
Thank you!
The International Council of Museums in the United Kingdom (ICOM UK) is seeking a new trustee with strong financial acumen and a passion for the museums and heritage sector and working internationally to be the Finance Lead on our Board. This is a strategic finance role to support the Strategic Director and advise the Board of Trustees in respect of the conduct of the charity’s financial affairs.
The role requires experience and skills in financial planning and management, preferably in a charity and/or company, along with the ability to understand and communicate the impact of decisions on the organisation’s finances.
We welcome applications from professionals with the skills, knowledge and lived experience that will strengthen and diversify our Board.
For further details on the roles and ICOM UK, you can view our Finance Lead Trustee Recruitment Pack.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Join Us as a Trustee and Help Tackle Food Poverty in Hackney
We are a dynamic, mission-driven charity with a turnover of £1.5 million, working at the heart of East London to address food poverty and support our richly diverse community. Our work is impactful, community-led, and more vital than ever.
We are now seeking two new Trustees to join our dedicated Board.
What We’re Looking For
We are looking for individuals who are:
- Passionate about social justice and food insecurity and committed to making a meaningful difference in East London.
- Able to dedicate time for 5 Board meetings per year (including one all-day away day), as well as 4–5 committee meetings annually.
- Willing to engage actively between meetings, contributing to decision-making, strategic guidance, and supporting our staff and volunteers.
We are particularly keen to appoint trustees with expertise in:
- Legal affairs, to help us navigate governance, compliance, and contractual matters.
- Human Resources / Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), to support us in ensuring our organisation reflects and serves our community with integrity and care.
However, we welcome applicants with other relevant skills or lived experience that could enrich our work.
Why Join Us?
As a trustee, you’ll be part of a committed, forward-thinking team, helping to shape the strategic direction of a charity that has a direct, positive impact on people’s lives. This is an opportunity to apply your knowledge, grow your experience, and support a cause that matters.
If you share our values and are ready to make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.
Closing date 11th August.
Please apply with a covering letter and CV
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.