Vacancies - Trustee Board
About the role:
Following recent retirements, York Neighbours are seeking accomplished, organised, and passionate people to join our Board of Trustees.
This role involves steering the strategic direction of our charity, as well as overseeing its effective governance and financial health. This is to ensure that our amazing staff and volunteers can continue to meet increasing demand for supporting independent living, reducing loneliness, and tackling isolation for hundreds of York residents aged over 65.
The Board are particularly keen to hear from those with expertise in Adult Social Care or fundraising, but expressions of interest from all walks of life are still actively welcomed.
The Board meets six times a year, with a commitment to occasionally support the charity outside of these meetings also expected.
If you feel that you have the time, energy and skills to help lead our organisation and deliver our social purpose, then we’d love to hear from you.
Overview of our organisation:
York Neighbours is a small, but growing, volunteer-led charity which exists to support independence, reduce loneliness, and tackle isolation for people in York aged over 65.
We do this through forms of “organised neighbourliness” which manifest in the form of help with one-off tasks and errands, regular wellbeing phone calls, and social outings. All of these are delivered by our team of over 60 incredible volunteers and, behind-the-scenes, our team of part-time staff equating to just over 2.1 FTE.
At the time of writing we have 540 registered service users, who we describe as our “Neighbours”. This number has continued to rise since our charity’s establishment in 2015.
The idea to set the charity up came following the success of the informal “Belfrey Neighbours” initiative which supported older members of the community who were at risk of falling through the gaps of pre-existing services.
What being a Board Member for us involves:
- Actively contributing to Board meetings through advice and ideas, supportive scrutiny, constructive debate, and decision-making, to achieve the best interests of York Neighbours and its beneficiaries.
- Overseeing the charity’s work and ensuring alignment with its aims, while upholding high standards of governance, compliance, and legal obligations.
- Occasionally supporting the charity outside of Board meetings. While not an exhaustive list, examples of this might include helping with events, fundraising, and recruitment.
What we’d like applicants to have:
- A passion for supporting older people, volunteering, and tackling the social scourges of loneliness and isolation.
- An understanding of how charities are governed, and a commitment to upholding ethical standards and best practices.
- Good communication, interpersonal, and diplomatic skills.
- Excellent time-management skills and a reliable, trustworthy nature.
- A genuine motivation to actively help York Neighbours continue its success and growth as it passes its tenth birthday.
- And preferably - but not critically - expertise and/or tangible professional experience in either Adult Social Care or fundraising.
To apply:
Please send your CV, together with a short covering letter (one side of A4 maximum) outlining your interest and suitability for the role, along with a completed equal opportunities monitoring form, to info@yorkneighbours.org.uk
If you are considering this role but have some initial questions then we would be very happy to speak with you beforehand. Please contact us on info@yorkneighbours.org.uk or 01904 891 627.