20 Head of business development 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.

Founding Director of People, Culture & HR Innovation

Help us fix HR today — and design what HR becomes tomorrow.

We are looking for an experienced HR leader who is ready to do something very different.

Someone who understands HR, but also sees where it has become too bureaucratic, too process-driven and too disconnected from the creativity, ambition and humanity of the people it is supposed to support.

This is not a conventional HR management role.

This is a high-stakes founding opportunity to help rebuild our HR function from the ground up — while working with a team to design an entirely new, people-first way of working that could challenge the status quo.

The opportunity

Our immediate mission is practical: clean up, strengthen and professionalise our existing HR department.

That means looking honestly at what currently exists, identifying what works, what does not, what is missing and what has become unnecessarily complicated — then putting the right structures, policies, processes, governance and people practices in place.

But that is only the beginning.

Alongside fixing today's HR function, you will help us design the blueprint for the next generation of HR: an open-source HR platform and new way of working designed around people, creativity, innovation, development, fairness, accountability and better organisational culture.

We believe HR should be more than policies, procedures and risk management.

People are not processes.

Organisations should be places where people can think, create, challenge, develop, contribute and do meaningful work — while still having strong structures, accountability and professional standards.

We want to explore what HR could look like if we designed it around that principle from the beginning.

Two connected missions

1. Fix and strengthen HR today

You will initially help us:

• Review the existing HR function, structures and practices

• Identify gaps, weaknesses, risks and unnecessary bureaucracy

• Establish appropriate HR policies, procedures and governance

• Strengthen recruitment and onboarding

• Improve employee experience and people support

• Develop better approaches to performance, learning and development

• Ensure appropriate employment practices and HR compliance

• Create systems that can scale as the organisation grows

• Help build a strong people and culture foundation

2. Help invent HR for tomorrow

At the same time, you will work with the founding team to explore and develop:

• A blueprint for a new open-source HR platform

• A people-first approach to organisational design

• New approaches to employee voice and participation

• Better models for creativity, innovation and collaboration

• New approaches to leadership and personal development

• Psychological safety and healthy organisational culture

• Fairness, accountability and transparency

• The appropriate use of technology and AI in HR

• New ways of measuring organisational health and employee experience

• A framework that other organisations could potentially adopt, adapt and build upon

The ambition is not simply to improve HR within one organisation.

It is to ask:

What would HR look like if we were brave enough to redesign it properly?

You will be joining at a stage where there is significant work to do, significant problems to solve and significant things yet to be built.

That is precisely what makes the opportunity different.

For the right person, this could become a paid founding leadership position as the organisation develops, funding is secured and the wider structure is operationalised.

We are looking for someone who sees the potential in that journey rather than simply looking for an established job description and a finished organisation to step into.

This is an opportunity to:

build something.
lead something.
invent something.
leave a legacy.

If you have spent years watching organisations operate in ways that you knew could be better — and quietly thinking “someone should really change this” — this may be your opportunity to actually be one of the people who does.

You will not be doing it alone.

You will have the opportunity to build and work alongside a founding team, bring ideas into reality, test new approaches, learn from what does and does not work, and help shape something that can grow beyond its original founders.

The legacy opportunity

We are particularly interested in people who want their work to mean something beyond another position on a CV.

The long-term ambition is to create something that can be shared, developed and potentially adopted by others.

If successful, the HR model you help create could become part of a much larger body of work — something that demonstrates that organisations can be both high-performing and deeply human.

That is the opportunity.

Not to inherit someone else's HR system.

To help invent a better one.

Who we are looking for

You may be an experienced:

• HR Director

• Head of People

• People & Culture Director

• HR Transformation Leader

• Organisational Development Leader

• Senior HR Consultant

• HR strategist or practitioner

You should have substantial practical HR experience and understand the realities of employment, governance, organisational risk and people management.

But experience alone is not enough.

We want someone who:

• Thinks critically about conventional HR

• Is comfortable challenging established thinking

• Can distinguish between necessary structure and unnecessary bureaucracy

• Is genuinely people-centred

• Understands organisational design and culture

• Can move between strategy and practical implementation

• Has an interest in innovation, technology and AI

• Is capable of building systems rather than simply operating them

• Can work collaboratively with founders and other senior leaders

• Is comfortable working in an environment where not everything has already been figured out

• Wants to create, experiment and improve — not simply maintain the status quo

Most importantly, you should want to build something.

What we can offer

This is initially a voluntary founding leadership opportunity during Phase 1, as the organisation develops its foundations, structures, funding and operating model.

However, the intention is that the right founding leaders can have the opportunity to progress into substantive paid leadership positions as the organisation grows and the relevant funding and operational capacity are secured.

This is therefore an opportunity to get involved early, have genuine influence over the direction of the organisation and potentially grow with what you help build.

You will have the opportunity to:

• Shape the HR function from an early stage

• Work directly with the founding leadership team

• Influence organisational culture from the beginning

• Help develop an original HR model

• Build a team around the work as the organisation grows

• Contribute to something with potential beyond the organisation itself

• Establish yourself as a founding leader in an emerging model of people and organisational practice

• Progress into a paid founding leadership positionh

Choose to be a Trustee for the Wildlife Trust BCN. Choose the Wild Life.

Choose to give your time to the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants – BCN for short – and you’re choosing to see nature not as a luxury but as the system that keeps us alive. 

Choose to shape a brighter future for nature in our three counties, and you’re choosingto work with an organisation that doesn’t just count its outputs, but measures its actual impact. 

We’re looking for three new Trustees to provide strategic direction and keep our ambitious plans for a wilder future on track.

We want our Board to reflect our community and actively encourage applications from people of all identities and walks of life. We particularly invite applications from groups currently underrepresented within environmental charities including people from ethnic minority backgrounds and those with disabilities. 

In return for your input, we’ll give you fascinating insights into nature and charity operations, lively and respectful debate and field visits with expert staff.

About you

You don’t need to be an expert on wildlife. We only ask that you care deeply about it.

Nor do you need to have had a long career. We only ask that you’re over 18.

And you don’t need to be a member of the Wildlife Trust to apply, although we will ask you to join if you’re appointed.

We’re looking for:

·A passion for nature and a belief in our vision and values.

·The ability to step back from the detail and see the bigger picture.

·An open mind and a commitment to listening, learning and valuing others’ perspectives. 

·The desire to share your experience and expertise.

·A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

·The ability to work collaboratively as part of a team with your fellow Trustees and with charity staff. 

In addition, for two of the three posts, we’re particularly seeking Trustees with experience in:

·fundraising and/or membership

or

·farming, agronomy or land management.

The third post is not sector specific.

Time commitment

You’ll attend up to eight evening meetings per year – 6pm to 8pm. One meeting is in-person at our offices in Cambourne; the others are hybrid. You’ll need to read papers in advance and come ready to contribute to the discussion.

We have an annual strategy away day in the working week and we encourage Trustees to attend our AGM and Members’ Day on a Saturday.

Trustees are appointed for an initial three-year term. 

The Role

As a Flyer Distributor you will play a crucial role in helping to raise awareness about our services and events within the Enfield community. You will be responsible for disseminating promotional materials such as flyers, brochures, and event announcements to various locations within the Enfield area.

• Distribute promotional materials provided by Age UK Enfield to designated locations across the Enfield area. This may include community centers, libraries, local businesses, healthcare facilities, and other relevant locations.
• Engage with members of the public in a friendly and courteous manner while distributing flyers. Answer any questions they may have about Age UK Enfield's services and provide basic information about upcoming events or initiatives.
• Keep accurate records of the locations visited and the quantity of promotional materials distributed. Report back to the supervisor on to provide updates on distribution progress.
• Act as an ambassador for Age UK Enfield by promoting the organisation's mission, values, and services to the community. Help to increase brand recognition and visibility within the local area.

General Key Skills:

• Ability to work independently without constant supervision.
• Comfortable with walking and standing for long periods in various weather conditions.
• Maintaining professionalism and addressing public inquiries effectively.
• Reliable attendance and punctuality, with a strong sense of responsibility.

Time Commitment

2-4 hours Between 10 am - 2 pm (there are other volunteer opportunities available)

Requirements

A DBS Enhanced check will be required. Training to be provided around safeguarding.

Other Information

Please note: It is a unpaid position however travel costs and other volunteering expenses will be covered.