Finance Trustee - Powell-Cotton Trust

Next year marks the centenary of the establishment of the Powell-Cotton Trust; it is an opportunity to embed good practice and sector leadership that enable us to secure the success of the next 100+ years of the Trust.

What will you be doing?

The Powell-Cotton Trust (PCT) is looking to recruit a new trustee with a finance specialism, in particular, who has experience and understanding of property and/or investment management.

This is an exciting time to join the board to provide governance and leadership for the Trust during a transformative period.  This began with our reopening for the 2025 season in February with the first instalment of a museum-wide renewal and interpretation project.  The extensive collection of late 19th and early 20th century cultural items from East Africa, and religious artefacts from Ethiopia, have been presented to focus on the people and communities which created and used the objects.  Until recent years, the galleries included object captions and text panels which reflected the interests, experiences, knowledge and perspectives of the Museum’s founder, Victorian explorer and hunter, Percy Powell-Cotton (1866-1940).  Now, the galleries have been completely revitalised with fresh interpretation bringing to the fore the objects themselves, their significance, the stories of their original owners and the communities to which they belonged.

The revitalised displays are the first results of a long-term collaboration between the Trust and its newly formed Community Advisory Group, aiming to bring accuracy and sensitivity to the presentation of the collections, lives, cultures and beliefs of people in communities whose histories and traditions are centuries old. 

Next year marks the centenary of the establishment of the Powell-Cotton Trust.  While the history of the Museum opening to the public dates back earlier than this, the Trust wish to mark this occasion; it is an opportunity to reflect on the past, to learn from the collection and our communities, to embed good practice and sector leadership that enable us to secure the success of the next 100+ years of the Trust.

What are we looking for?

It is essential that trustees should:

• Have the ability to think strategically and creatively, demonstrate objectivity, good judgement and analytical ability.
• Be willing to learn.
• Have good communication, team-working and inter-personal skills.
• Be tactful, diplomatic and able to build relationships.
• Be fair, impartial and open to new ideas.

It is desirable that Trustees have:

• An interest in natural history or ethnography and in museums and heritage.
• Experience of trusteeship/committee membership of a charity or other voluntary organisation.
• Live locally within Thanet or wider Kent.

What difference will you make?

The Board help the organisation achieve its vision to be an inclusive, engaging and collaborative centre of excellence enabling exploration of our world class collections and garden to deliver lifelong learning, research and social impact, locally, nationally and internationally.

To achieve this, we have 3 strategic aims that new Trustees will help support:

1. Financial Sustainability & Governance; we are on the cusp of receiving a significant inheritance that assures our financial future.  That said, we recognise that we can’t solely rely on this and must engage in actively growing our income from both fundraising and commercially based activities;
2. Collection Sustainability & Estate Infrastructure; we must continue to build on the hard work we have already started both in preserving the collection as well as developing the gardens. There needs to be a long-term plan and investment in both, with significant new developments of a Collection, Learning and Research facility;
3. Impact and Inclusion; we must continue to develop how we engage our audiences to ensure that we are relevant, available and inclusive to all, raising awareness of the Trust’s existence, and evaluating the impact we have on our visitors.  We must utilise technology to the fullest extent to make us accessible locally, nationally and internationally.

Before you apply

For an informal discussion with the Chair or a member of the Board, please contact us via the Reach website.

To apply for the post, please send a CV and covering letter explaining how you meet our requirements and why you are interested joining the Board to: Clare Valentine via the Reach website by Monday 19 May 2025.