Treasurer trustee role volunteer roles in wimbledon chase, greater london

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

We currently have a vacancy for a three hour per fortnight Office Volunteer Role, 9.30am - 12.30pm.  Option to work in our small office or from home.  Are you good on the phone?  Able to learn an online database system?  Enjoy being part of a small team?  Kew Neighbourhood Association needs you as part of our team.

KNA’s Office Volunteers are the link between KNA’s 40+ Driving Volunteers and our 200+ beneficiaries in Kew – who are often elderly and vulnerable.  Our beneficiaries phone the KNA Office requesting to go to medical appointments and to get The Avenue Club.  The role of our Office Volunteers is to link our Volunteer Drivers with people in Kew who need transport. 

"It’s an opportunity to use my office skills whilst helping the local community.  It's lovely to speak with our clients." - KNA office volunteer.

Our Charity

Kew Neighbourhood Association (KNA, Charity no. 1196093) was established in Kew in 1977 by local residents. 

KNA’s charitable objectives are the provision of services and facilities for people in Kew who are housebound or have mobility difficulties, without regard to race, sex, politics, religion, etc.  KNA has a committee of Trustees, including a Chair and Treasurer, and is administered by 3 part-time salaried staff from a small office in St Luke’s House, Sandycombe Road. Our office volunteers can use this space or work from home. 

KNA is funded principally by grants from other charities, from Richmond Council and by donations and fundraising events.

KNA’s current activities are:

• providing lifts by volunteer drivers in their own cars to those needing transport to medical appointments (e.g., GP or hospital) and to day centres, etc. (mainly the Avenue Club in Kew);

• providing volunteer companionship to isolated residents by periodic visits in their homes, accompanying them for local walks and to local cafes, cinema, theatre, cricket, etc.;

• assisting those in need of help with shopping and some light gardening;

• providing Moments of Joy to help our beneficiaries feel remembered in and valued by their community including an annual tea party for clients. 

Statistics

KNA has over 200 clients, around 40 drivers, and 28 companionship volunteers.  KNA carries out about 3,000 driving, shopping, gardening, prescription pick up and companionship jobs each year in Kew, TW9.

Volunteering for KNA is extremely flexible.  It is designed to fit around you and your other commitments. We do ask for a minimum commitment of helping for six months as it costs money to carry out DBS checks and to onboard volunteers.

Invitation to apply for the position of Society Chair

A. Description of the Society

The Society is the third oldest local conservation charity in England, founded in 1897 by many of the public figures who  campaigned to procure the passing of the 1871 Hampstead Heath Act, which saved Hampstead Heath as a public open space in perpetuity, and who went on to found the National Trust.

The Society is an unincorporated association, constituted by its contractual constitution, and is a registered charity. Its charitable objects are as follows:

3. (a)  to preserve those parts of Hampstead Heath which are subject to section 16 of The Hampstead Heath Act 1871* in their wild and natural state, and also to preserve the natural and characteristic features of the later additions to the Heath, so far as is consistent with their enjoyment by the public;

(b) to promote and maintain the amenities and characteristics of the environs of the Heath, and of the buildings and streets of Hampstead; and

(c) to promote public interest in the study of natural history, conservation, and the history of the areas referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Rule 3.

*[Section 16 provides: The [Metropolitan] Board [of Works] shall at all times preserve, as far as may be, the natural aspect and state of the Heath, and to that end shall protect the turf, gorse, heather, timber and other trees, shrubs, and brush-wood thereon.]

The Society’s geographical remit is limited to Hampstead Heath, the fringes of the Heath, and the old borough of Hampstead (now legally subsumed into the London Borough of Camden).

It is governed by a ‘general committee’ of some 15 trustees which is supported by (i) three subcommittees (each of approximately a dozen members) responsible for the distinct areas of Hampstead Town, Hampstead Heath, and local planning applications, and (ii) a Plaque Selection Panel which is responsible for the erection of plaques on buildings in Hampstead Town commemorating famous residents.

The Chair, along with principal Society officers, is elected annually at the annual general meeting.

The Society has approximately 2,000 members and is in sound financial and reputational shape. Further details of the Society may be found on the Society's website. 

B. General role of the Chair

The general role of the Society Chair includes the duties outlined in the English Charity Commission document entitled “The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do”, namely:

· help plan and run general committee meetings and in members’ meetings

· take the lead on ensuring that meetings are properly run and recorded

· take the lead on ensuring that trustees comply with their duties and the charity is well governed

· act as a spokesperson for the charity

· act as a link between trustees and committee members.

Reference should also be made to “A Chair’s Compass - A guide for chairs of charities and non-profit organisations”. 

Given the local remit of the Society, it is desirable that the prospective Society Chair should be resident in Hampstead (including West Hampstead), Belsized, Highgate or Hampstead Garden Suburb. The prospective Society Chair will be invited to join the general committee and ‘shadow’ the current Chair for the appropriate period before taking over.

C. Core and specific tasks of the Society Chair

Convene, set the agenda for, and chair bi-monthly meetings of the general committee, and approve the draft minutes of those meetings

Convene and set the agenda for the Society’s annual general meeting in June of each year, deliver a verbal annual report at that meeting, and approve the draft minutes of that meeting

Write the annual trustees’ report for inclusion in the annual return to the Charity Commission

Settle and approve the Society's annual financial statements as prepared by the Treasurer and the Society's auditors/examiners

Write a column of approximately 2,000 words for the Society's newsletter published in January, May and October

From time to time, as an observer, attend meetings of the Society's three subcommittees (Town, Heath and Planning) and the Society’s Plaque Selection Panel

Support the Society’s vice-chairs in their chairing of the Society’s three subcommittees (see above)

Oversee recruitment to the general committee and, as required, the Society's three subcommittees

As required, be the public or official face of the Society in dealings with the media, and the City of London Corporation (the freehold owner of Hampstead Heath and the sole trustee of the Hampstead Heath registered charity), Camden Council (including Hampstead Ward local councillors) and other local or governmental bodies

As required, lead (even if only in  a titular or nominal sense) campaigns run by the Society

Attend and, as required, host Society events, including the New Members Party, the Xmas Party and Society lectures (usually two to three a year)

Maintain relations with other non-governmental bodies with which the Society has regular dealings in matters of common interest, including the Vale of Health Society, the Highgate Society, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Residents Association, the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum,  Heath Hands, the Kenwood Estate, Keats House, Camden History Society, the London Forum and Civic Voice

Identify, and suggest to its editor, items for inclusion in the Society's newsletter