Volunteer Roles

Prison-based volunteers are the backbone of Fine Cell Work (FCW). Supported by the Fine Cell Work programmes team and by other staff at the FCW office, they teach and administer FCW stitching groups in prisons.

Prison volunteers work in teams to organise classes and teach our stitchers, as well as providing groups information to the prison and to the FCW office. The precise mix of skills will vary from prison to prison.

Volunteering in prison for Fine Cell Work requires ideally a good level of needlework skill (or a willingness to learn), some teaching experience and/or experience of working with socially-excluded groups. Volunteers must be patient and non-judgemental in order to work effectively.

This document describes the role of prison volunteering teams as a whole. Individuals who do not have all the skills described below may find a role alongside other volunteers who do.

Finance Volunteer

We’re the MS Society – a community of people living with MS, scientists, campaigners, listeners, organisers, ambassadors and fundraisers. Our volunteers are a key part of achieving our goals and their support is vital. Join us.

About this opportunity
We are looking to recruit a Finance Volunteer for our Moray Group. As a Finance Volunteer, you would be joining a coordinating team of volunteers to plan and deliver services and activities to support people locally.

You will maintain and approve income and expenditure records and explain financial information clearly to other group members. You would ensure our financial requirements and policies are followed, and that money is spent in a cost effective manner.

This is a great opportunity to gain experience with a large charity, develop your existing skills and learn new ones. We need you to get involved and help make positive changes to the lives of people affected by MS.

About you
You’ll have an interest in the MS Society and the work that we do, as well as the enthusiasm to represent both us and our values locally. You will understand the needs of people affected by MS in your area and be sympathetic to the needs and motivations of volunteers. You’ll be comfortable with figures, preferably with an accounting or business background. You will live in the immediate area of the Group, allowing you to meet with other volunteers from the Group.

Apply 

Read through the role description carefully

Please apply online

The MS Society is committed to promoting diversity. We can only offer roles to over 18s.

English Conversation Club Volunteer 

Role Summary:  

We are looking for volunteers to facilitate our new English Conversation Club working in partnership with SAVTE (Sheffield Association for the Voluntary Teaching of English). The Conversation Club will support clients to enhance their English language skills and to understand how to respond to real life situations. Clients who are learning English as a second language will access the Conversation Club to learn and practice words and phrases that will benefit them in their daily lives. Each week you will prepare a relevant topic to discuss with clients. The topics will range from typical daily conversations to more specific housing related interactions.

Our expert partners SAVTE run various Conversation Clubs across the city. SAVTE will provide ongoing training for the role with access to a conversation group volunteers network and insightful events to meet with other peers. Shelter will facilitate the Conversation Club and manage the volunteer roles. This is a great opportunity to work alongside two forward-thinking Charities who are looking at innovative ways to improve people’s lives.

Volunteers must be passionate about helping others to make positive and meaningful changes in their lives. This role is perfect for individuals who have a passion for upskilling others, enjoy facilitating learning in an interactive and enriching environment, and can organise resources that offer purposeful conversation topics for clients.

Suggested Involvement: 2 hrs per week (30 mins preps, 1hr 30 mins session) 

Availability: This volunteering opportunity will take place within our working hours, Monday-Friday, 9-5. 

Location: Shelter Hub

Supervised by: Volunteer Coordinator 

Why volunteer with Shelter? 

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support, and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We're here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own. 

The Conversation Club is a new offer Shelter is delivering in partnership with SATVE. Shelter is aware that people with English as a second language have greater barriers to accessing help, support and acting on their rights. The Conversation Club aims to empower individuals to break down barriers they are facing and tackle discrimination within the housing system. The opportunity will also offer clients the chance to expand their understanding of the English Language and help them integrate into their communities, increase their employment prospects, and have other beneficial factors such as parents supporting children with their homework. This is a fantastic opportunity to offer individuals support to make transformative steps in their lives and join an exciting new initiative.

Main Tasks 

• Initiate and facilitate a weekly Conversation Group with suitable topical discussions, ensuring participants involvement. 

• Willing and able to work with participants from diverse cultures and background  

• Manage or facilitate conversations in a group and provide positive guidance and encouragement.

• Refer any safeguarding issues or concerns to Shelter and SAVTE.

• Collect participants feedback and own comments and suggestions to improve sessions. 

• Working with other volunteers to deliver sessions and ideas and resources and best practice. 

Skills and Abilities required:  

• Enthusiasm to support people to learn and empower them to improve their lives. 

• Ability to facilitate discussion and involve the whole group in the conversations. 

• An organised individual who will prepare the conversation topics on a weekly basis. 

• Patience in communicating with individuals who speak English as a second language. 

• Be friendly, welcoming, respectful, and have a positive attitude.

• Capacity to clearly relay information to others and communicate topics effectively.

• Willing to work with other people sharing ideas to enable the groups continued learning.

• Willingness to work with SAVTE to increase your knowledge and learn from other established conversation group volunteers. 

Learning & Development 

To enable you to take part in this opportunity Shelter will: 

• Provide you with a Volunteer Handbook 

• Provide a local induction into your role 

• Provide access to eLearning including Equality & Diversity, Health & Safety, Data Protection, Environmental Awareness and Safeguarding 

• Provide access to our other training appropriate to your role 

Benefits of Volunteering with Shelter 

• Supporting Shelter in our fight against bad housing and homelessness 

• Gain valuable work experience and enhance your CV 

• Be part of a great team 

• Build your confidence and develop transferable skills 

Share Psychotherapy is a long-standing psychotherapy charity providing long term, low cost therapy. We specifically aim to help people who cannot afford or cannot access therapy elsewhere. If you would like to joinn our board and help to guide and grow the charity as we move into our next phase we would like to hear from you!

We are especially interested in hearing from people with clinical, therapeutic or safeguarding experience but are looking for people with experience & skills in any of the following:

• Fundraising 
• Service user involvement 
• Web design and digital marketing
• Management and business systems
• Clinical management - especially in mental health
• High-level psychotherapeutic skills and experience
• Accounting, Budget Management & Financial Risk management  

Share Psychotherapy is one of Sheffield’s leading mental health charities. Established for over 40 years we offer medium to long term therapy at nominal fees, primarily to people on low incomes. This therapy is delivered through a range of psychodynamic & creative modalities. We therefore work at the vital intersection of psychological distress & poverty in the city, providing high quality, long term therapy to people who could not otherwise obtain such help, especially those on low incomes. 

Our clients are often experiencing serious mental and emotional distress, through anxiety, depression, difficulty with relationships or traumatic life events.

We are part way through a change process at Share - developing and strengthening our clinical services, improving our administrative and business systems and strengthening our financial position. We want to build upon our position as a centre of excellence in psychotherapy and make an even bigger contribution to improving mental health in Sheffield.

Would you like to help us in this venture? We are looking for people with specialist skills who are willing to help in a voluntary capacity; either as a trustee on our board, or as a specialist volunteer contributing on a project basis. We are willing to consider a wide range of contributions.

Listening Volunteer - the Wren Project

Remote

Unpaid

Hours - 3 hour voluntary commitment per fortnight, flexible across the working week (shifts are available mornings, afternoons and evenings, Monday - Friday).

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP

The Wren Project offers free, one-to-one listening support for people in distress as a result of their autoimmune disease diagnosis. The service we provide would not be possible without the commitment, empathy and support of our volunteers.

Volunteers at the Wren Project provide emotional listening support to people living with autoimmune disease (our Wrens). We offer a safe, non-judgmental space for Wrens to talk about how autoimmune disease is impacting their life, without giving advice or offering solutions. Volunteers hold and hear distress in each session and through regular, ongoing appointments, build rapport with Wrens.

Volunteers do not need to have any knowledge of experience of autoimmune disease. What we look for is warmth and empathy.

We are the only charity in the UK who provide support for all autoimmune diseases. Our vision is to build support and community for all four million people in the UK diagnosed with autoimmune disease.

WHAT VOLUNTEERING FOR US INVOLVES:

Application and training process:

• Send an application form via our website;

• Attend an online one-to-one interview to discuss why you want to volunteer with the Wren Project;

• We assess an applicant’s suitability for the role;

• If successful, applicants participate in a remote, 4-week training programme focusing on listening skills, holding and hearing distress and living with autoimmune disease;

• A final one-to-one assessment of readiness before being matched with a Wren.

The role:

• Join a regular fortnightly shift, whereby you will support two Wrens in two separate, one-to-one sessions of 50 minutes via telephone/video call/online.

• A self-reflective approach to learning and development supported by staff-led reflective practice sessions. Monthly attendance required for the initial six months.

• Attend three additional modules of skill-building training in the first 12 months;

• Access to ongoing support from other volunteers and the Operations team;

• Opportunities to support the charity in a variety of additional roles.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN VOLUNTEERS:

• A desire to support people in times of distress;

• An empathetic and understanding attitude;

• A commitment to offering ongoing support to Wrens and to reflect upon the experience;

• A quiet and private space to conduct appointments;

• Access to a computer, telephone and a reliable internet connection;

• Confidentiality, professionalism and reliability;

• The commitment to volunteer at the Wren Project for at least one year.

WHAT WE OFFER OUR VOLUNTEERS:

• Lifelong skills in deep listening;

• Extensive training in empathetic listening and supporting distress;

• An excellent opportunity to engage in ongoing personal reflection and development in a supportive charity environment;

• A self-reflective approach to learning and development;

• An insight into life with autoimmune disease.

We are looking for new volunteers to join our crew as we prepare to open the world’s first Museum of Homelessness (MoH) to the public in 2024! 

We have a big list of exciting things that we are cracking on with and we are looking for your help!

We are recruiting for different kinds of volunteer activity to help support MoH. Please select as many as you are interested in via the form here: https://forms.gle/LjzdMtcdsB4PpqgZ9

How it will work: Once you have had your induction, we will add you to a WhatsApp group for that crew so you can get the call outs and get involved.

Our shops are a large source of income for Keech Hospice and the bed rock of our shops is the volunteers that give up their time to help run the shops. Keech Hospice uses the income to provide care and support for patients and their families. 

TASKS

To welcome, assist and serve our customers in a warm and friendly way providing a good standard of customer service. To ensure Gift Aid is explained clearly and promoted to all our donors and thanking them for their valuable contribution. To promote public understanding of our work and the importance of raising funds, promoting Hospice events and activities to the public. Help sort, steam, hang and display our donated stock and rotate the stock following the manager's guidelines. Dealing with customer purchases, confidently process the cash handling and accurate operation of the till.

SKILLS & QUALITIES

 Be a Honest, trustworthy and respectful with an enthusiastic positive attitude. Have good communication and numeracy skills. to be a reliable, commited, dependable and flexible. Able to work as part of a team as well as under your own initiative.

Are you looking for a New Year’s resolution that really means something? Would you like to help enrich the life of people with complex needs? Volunteers add real value to Sense, bringing their passion, enthusiasm, and fresh perspectives to the work that we do.Plus, it’s so much fun!

Our amazing team of volunteers help us run over 100 shops across England and Wales.

Every donated item that you sort, prepare and sell helps to raise vital funds to support us in our mission to make sure no one, no matter how complex their disabilities, is isolated, left out, or unable to fulfil their potential. Our shops are at the heart of local communities – sharing the work of Sense, and helping to secure support for our life changing work.

We’re looking for volunteers who are:

• Reliable and friendly
• Respectful of others and their diversity
• Passionate about customer service
• Interested in learning about and supporting the work of Sense

Volunteering in one of our Sense Shops will involve a variety of tasks that you can get involved with. These include:

• Welcoming and assisting customers, providing great customer service and a fantastic shopping experience
• Receiving donated goods from members of the public
• Sorting, steaming, tagging and preparing donated goods for sale
• Creating eye catching window and in-shop displays
• Keeping the shop floor well stocked, tidy, clean and organised
• Processing sales and serving on the till
• Promoting Gift Aid and other Sense fundraising initiatives
• Acting as an ambassador for Sense; promoting the shop and Sense in your local community
• Supporting with the recruitment and training of new volunteers
• Following new health, safety and social distancing measures to ensure the safety of everyone

We believe that volunteers enable us to bring people together and provide opportunities for people with complex disabilities to communicate and experience the world. This is why it is important to us that our volunteers feel supported and rewarded. Here is what we can offer you as a volunteer:

• A full induction and ongoing support and guidance from your Shop Manager to make sure you feel confident in your role
• Support to develop new skills, knowledge and experience, in particular of a retail environment, but also skills such as teamwork, customer service, communication and using your initiative
• A reference for other paid or voluntary work (available on request)
• The opportunity to share your existing skills and experience to benefit others
• The chance to meet new people from a wide range of backgrounds and to join a passionate and committed team
• The opportunity to make an invaluable contribution to Sense by raising vital income and raising the profile of Sense in your local community; changing the lives of those who have complex disabilities and are deafblind.

For everyone living with complex disabilities. For everyone who is deafblind. Sense is here to offer personalised support to help people communicate and experience the world. We believe that no one, no matter how complex their disabilities, should be isolated, left out, or unable to fulfil their potential. Our experts offer support that’s tailored to the individual needs of each person, whether that’s at our centres, through our holidays and short breaks, or in people’s own homes. In addition to practical support, we also provide information to families, and campaign for the rights of people with complex disabilities to take part in life.

This New year you could vow to be more active, make more friends, learn a new skill, make more memories, or you can do all of these at once, with the bonus of making a difference in the lives of people with complex needs. You won't regret it! Visit the sense website today and find our list of volunteering roles under “Get involved”.

Healthwatch Advisory Committee Member with Social Work Experience

What is Healthwatch? 

Healthwatch Hounslow is an independent organisation set up to champion the views of health and social care service users. It strives to make sure that health and social care services are meeting local needs and to ensure that the public’s voice is heard regarding how local services are run. Healthwatch also makes sure that the public is informed on any plans to change those services, and in identifying gaps in services.

About the role 

Your Voice in Health and Social Care (YVHSC) are looking for local residents interested in becoming part of Healthwatch. We are looking for people to join our Advisory Committee with local knowledge, experience and passion for promoting better health and social care for local people. 

The committee acts as an advisory group supporting the local staff team with projects and monitoring the progress of the service. The Healthwatch Hounslow Advisory Committee also plays important representational and public relations roles working with local communities and key partners to drive influence and impact, and improve health and social care services for residents. 

Overall governance, responsibility, and all liabilities rest with YVHSC Board of Directors. 

Tasks 

• Oversee delivery of Healthwatch Hounslow projects and services, working with your fellow committee members and the committee chair.

• Attend committee meetings and additional project meetings where required. 

• Contribute to the monitoring and scrutiny of health and social care services in the Borough of Hounslow on behalf of patients, service users, carers and residents. 

• Identify, approve and oversee a range of projects through evaluation of impact and publishing of reports.

• To be involved, as the outward face of Healthwatch Hounslow at community events and strategic meetings, demonstrating leadership and taking an active role in community and stakeholder engagement, and through this work ensuring that Healthwatch is reaching and representing the diverse communities of the borough. 

• Provide appropriate advice, support and challenge to the Healthwatch Hounslow staff. 

• Build and maintain good relationships with key stakeholders, including members of the public, patients, service users, carers, community and voluntary sector organisations, Healthwatch England, Care Quality Commission, NHS funded providers, Integrated Care Board, Health & Wellbeing Board, and the Local Authority. 

• Ensure that Healthwatch Hounslow is represented on the Health and Wellbeing Board and plays a proactive role in decisions relating to the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, planning, commissioning and delivery of health and social care. 

Is this the right role for me? 

Applicants must Live in Hounslow

Requirements of Committee Members: 

• Flexible schedule - Time commitment varies between 3-10 hours a month on a flexible schedule. Committee meetings vary but are roughly once every two months. There may be other events and meetings that you are requested to attend. 

• Experience of the health and social care sector in the Borough of Hounslow, for example medical students & practitioners, third sector workers, those with experience working with the Local Authority or the Integrated Care System at large.. 

• Must be good at working as part of a collaborative team. 

• Must be willing to commit to self-development – Committee members are encouraged to identify personal training and development needs, and seek opportunities for development, attending training events as required.

• Diligence and attention to detail - Committee members are expected to prepare adequately for meetings they attend, making sure they read through reports and other documents. 

Benefits of volunteering 

• Enjoy the experience of volunteering as part of a friendly team and meeting new people 

• Increase your confidence and learn new skills 

• Use your experience with Healthwatch Hounslow to develop your CV and seek work in health and social care or other fields of employment 

• In-house training opportunities including call handling and safeguarding. 

• Reasonable travel and expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with our Volunteer Policy 

Line manager: Senior Clinical Administrator

Location: Across Croydon, Bromley, Lewisham, Lambeth, Southwark

DBS Level: Enhanced

Age: 18+

Why we need your help

St Christopher’s Community Palliative Care Team provides skilled and compassionate care to patients with any life limiting illness within their homes or place or residence. The team consists of nurses, doctors, heath care assistants, social workers, occupational therapists, complementary therapists and physiotherapists.

We need a team of volunteers, who are comfortable with driving, to support us with collections and deliveries. Volunteers will need to agree to be part of a WhatsApp group for volunteer drivers. Staff will message this group if they need help with a delivery or collection to see if anyone is available to help. If you are available and willing to help with that call for help then the nurse/doctor will talk to you and make all the necessary arrangements.

What specific activities will you in involved in?

· Driving to the home of a current patient or a recently deceased patient and picking up any medical equipment which belongs to St Christopher’s such as Syringe Drivers and bringing them back to St Christopher’s

· Dropping off medication to patients - directly from the team at St Christopher’s or picking up prescriptions from a chemist first.

· Dropping off other resources such as ‘Just In Case’ boxes to patients.

· There may be some simple admin tasks to complete in between collection and delivery requests for those volunteering at weekends

What you can gain from volunteering in this role

• Join an enthusiastic team, meet new people and get more involved in your local community

• Use and develop your skills, enhancing your CV if that is important to you

• Know you are helping dying people in your local community have access to care and support, whenever and wherever they need it.

Training and support provided

• Specific training for the role from a member of staff

• A half day induction for all new staff and volunteers which includes all mandatory training

• Support from the Volunteering team including weekly e-newsletter

• Volunteer handbook and volunteer workbook

• Regular updates and training through MyImpact

What we are looking for

• You must be 18 years old or over to do this role

• Confident in using initiative and undertaking the role without a great deal of direction but also recognising when to ask for help or seek support

• Compassionate listener and clear communicator

• Emotional resilience in the face of the difficult circumstances that can affect people at the end of life

• Ability to respect others’ differences and choices

• Ability to follow our policies and procedures to keep you, patients and families and staff safe

• Ability to maintain professional boundaries and confidentiality.

• Ability to represent St Christopher’s and our values positively

• Willingness to learn, adapt and embrace change when needed

• Ability to follow our policies and procedures to keep you, our staff, our patients and their families safe

Anything else you need to know

• You must provide evidence of a full and clean driver’s license, appropriate car insurance and have access to your own car

• There is a short settling in period to see if the role is right for you

• This role will require pre-volunteering checks, which may include a DBS Check. Having a criminal conviction will not necessarily prevent you from volunteering with us. We assess each situation on an individual basis

• At St Christopher’s we believe that no volunteer should be out of pocket because of their volunteering. The reimbursement of reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred whilst volunteering will help ensure volunteering is accessible to all.

Commitment to volunteering

Signing up to be a volunteer with St Christopher’s Hospice is a big commitment and requires lots of training and support from the organisation. With this in mind, ideally you would be able to volunteer with us for a minimum of a year. We would also ask that you to inform your manager if you are unable to attend your shift with as much notice as possible.

Equality and diversity

St Christopher’s recognises the qualities and strengths that a diverse group of volunteers bring to the organisation and we therefore particularly welcome applications from underrepresented groups within the local communities and from a range of different cultures and backgrounds.

Across the UK, our 270 local groups play a vital part in supporting people affected by MS. They provide sense of belonging, unity and friendship. And they deliver services and support for their local MS community.

We are looking to recruit a Fundraising Volunteer for the Dudley Group. As our Fundraising Volunteer you’ll support your Group Coordinator to organise local fundraising activities and events throughout the year.

In this role you’ll be able to develop your organisation, communication and team working skills.Most importantly you’ll inspire your local community to raise funds that help make sure no one has to face MS alone.

Time Commitment

We estimate this role will need around 2 hours a week. Our roles are flexible and aim to fit around you. Time commitments for this role may vary depending on your activities. This is an ongoing role.

This is a great opportunity to gain experience within a large charity and develop your existing skills and learn new ones. We need you to get involved and help make positive changes to the lives of people affected by MS.

About you

You’ll have an interest in the MS Society and the work that we do, as well as the enthusiasm to represent both us and our values locally. You will understand the needs of people affected by MS in your area and be sympathetic to the needs and motivations of volunteers. You’ll be confident using Microsoft Office, the internet and email. You’ll be able to apply disability, equality and inclusion practices and understand and apply our risk management system. Ideally you’ll understand the local area and organisations that provide local services.

You will be reliable and easy to contact and you need to live in or near the area the group to carry out this role.

Apply 

1. Read through the role description carefully

2. Please apply online

The MS Society is committed to promoting diversity. We can only offer roles to over 18s.

Voluntary Trained Observer Healthwatch Hounslow

What is Healthwatch?  

Healthwatch Hounslow is an independent organisation set up to champion the views of health and social care service users. It strives to make sure that health and social care services are meeting local needs and to ensure that the public’s voice is heard regarding how local services are run.

About the Role  

Healthwatch services have a statutory function to carry out Enter & View visits to health and care services to review services at the point of delivery. This involves visiting with a team of representatives to observe the service, view the premises, and talk to both staff, patients/residents, carers, and relatives. Visits involve using all the senses and going through questions and surveys. Enter & View visits often take place at care homes but can cover a range of services such as hospital wards, community clinics, and support groups. 

You will receive full training on how to perform an Enter & View visit. 

Tasks 

• Visiting and scrutinizing health and care facilities (remotely and in person) through 2–4-hour visits. 

• Talking with patients, residents, carers, relatives, and staff and gathering their feedback and views through in person interviews, surveys, and questionnaires and gathering these through emails and phone calls 

• Attending planning and debriefing meetings

• Writing up notes and helping to draft the Enter & View report 

• Examining the feedback and findings and offering an analysis of these to inform recommendations 

• Presenting reports and findings at external meetings 

Is this role right for me?  

What we are looking for: 

• Tact and diplomacy 

• Observational skills coupled with a desire to improve the quality of services 

Would be a bonus: 

• Experience working with vulnerable, disadvantaged people and those with long-term health and care needs 

• An understanding of the role of Healthwatch 

• An understanding of the role of ‘Enter & View’ within Healthwatch Hounslow 

Time Commitment 

• Enter & Views are formal, structured visits that happen approximately once every 2 months. During the lead-up to, and the actual visit itself, a half to full day is required each week for a short period (approx. 3-4 weeks).

• Typically, we carry out a minimum of 6 visits each year. 

• Skills and experience of Enter & View build during each visit. We suggest E&V volunteers are committed to long-term involvement in Healthwatch Hounslow to benefit from what this role has to offer. 

Travel Commitment 

• Visits can happen to services across the borough of Hounslow. You must be willing and able to travel across the borough–sometimes this could be up to 1.5 hours. 

• Other aspects of the role (e.g. writing up notes) can be done from the office or home. 

Job Description

A contracted Ministry of Justice Approved Premises and Housing Charity working with released offenders on prison licenses and ex-offenders, to break the revolving door of re-offending, homelessness, and prison. Trustees will use their knowledge, experience, and skills in an environment they may not have previously encountered.

What will you be doing?

Trustees meet every two months with the Senior Management Team (SMT) at the Charity offices to monitor activities, finances, and development of the organisation, giving advice to the SMT and making such decisions as required to ensure the organisation is acting appropriately to meet the requirements of our stakeholders; Ministry of Justice, National Probation Service, Leeds Local Authority and within Charity Commission regulations. 

The Organisation has grown rapidly, and it is essential that the Board of Trustees develops to meet the broad needs of this Charity. 

New Trustees will contribute to the stability and support, advice, and opportunity that the Charity provides to enable vulnerable ex-offenders to do things differently and by offering their experience and specialist knowledge in the areas identified will add depth and breadth to the existing Board of Trustees.

Additional time and specialist advice given as and when required, will enable the SMT to respond effectively to new challenges and external changes as they occur whilst the SMT concentrate on the day-to-day work of the Charity and its staff.

New Trustees must want to make a difference to individual lives and wider society by supporting the SMT and staff to help those vulnerable ex-offenders with very specific and high-risk offending histories, who are being released from long or repeated prison sentences, to believe that they can live positive fulfilling lifestyles.  It is essential that Trustees can view our service users with an open mind.

What are we looking for?

New Trustees are being sought with experience of Accounting and Auditing, Housing and Private Letting Legislation, accessing Funding opportunities, Police or Probation work, Mental Health, or Substance misuse fields.

It is vital that new Trustees have an affinity with the aims of the Charity and appreciate the value of giving individuals a chance to change their future and leave their offending lifestyle behind and the important role that stable accommodation plays in enabling individuals to turn their goals into reality. 

Not all skills need to be specialist and an understanding of the barriers to prison release re-settlement, housing, employment, and stable relationships that many disadvantaged or vulnerable people in society face on a day-to-day basis is helpful.   

Being able to work within a small team of Trustees and provide good interpersonal, supportive, and positive contributions is important.

If you feel you have valuable experience and skills to contribute and would like a new challenge, we'd love to hear from you.

What difference will you make?

The development and success of the organisation needs to be supported by maintaining the number of trustees and the range of expertise available to provide effective and sustainable governance going forward.  In an environment where government policies and funding strategies are susceptible to change, a robust Board of Trustees will help to maintain the Charity's ability to provide and sustain an effective service. 

This will thereby continue to increase the availability of stable accommodation with support; service user's ability to secure and maintain stable employment; build new relationships and increase access to healthcare and wellbeing support.  As a result, this can lead to reduced reoffending, reduced prison population and cost to the taxpayer and therefore has potential to actively achieve public protection, reduce the impact of offending on victims, families and children of both victims and perpetrators and local communities.

Before you apply

Previous experience of Charity Governance would be useful but not necessary.  Please contact us via Reach with any questions you may have, and we will be pleased to discuss the opportunity on offer.

Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre (CBDC) is looking to recruit an Independent Chair to lead the CBDC Advisory Group. The Independent Chair role is new and will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the new Advisory Group with the assistance of the CBDC team. The CBDC Advisory Group is made of individuals and representatives of a range of organisations who all have an interest in biological data in Cumbria and who provide guidance to the CBDC team.  It is estimated that the role will take seven days per year, split across the year but has the potential to evolve as the Advisory Group develops further. A small honorarium is available for expenses associated with this role.

Person specification:

Essential:

- Previous chairing experience and a willingness to develop these skills further
- Experience of developing business plans and strategic planning
- Financial planning
- Evidence of advocacy or willingness to become an advocate for CBDC
- Interest and awareness of biodiversity, particularly Cumbrian wildlife and landscape
- Understanding of data management
- Approachable manner
- Proven decision-making capability

Desirable:

- Experience of working with or collecting biodiversity data
- Awareness of nature recovery and associated approaches and legislation
- Experience of managing a small business
- Cumbrian based (for in-person meetings)

More information is available in the role description. To apply, please send a covering letter outlining how you meet the person specification and your relevant experience along with a brief CV by 10am on Friday 5th April 2024. If you meet the specifications outlined, you will be invited to a short interview which will take place online and then be invited to meet the CBDC team and Advisory Group members. If you have any questions about the role, please contact Rebecca Slack at CBDC.