If you would like to demonstrate your ability to work at a senior level, or make a real difference to peoples lives, this could be the role for you! This is an opportunity to help shape the strategic direction of one of the North Wests oldest and largest care charities, working with the people Together Trust support to provide evidence to help to influence policymakers and make lasting societal change. It is a chance to either make great use of existing leadership and influencing skills, or to gain them through the experience this role has to offer.
Together Trust is a charity that has delivered award winning care, community, special education and family support services in the North West of England for over 150 years, with their central office based in Cheadle.
Together Trust actively encourage applications from people who are Black or a minoritized ethnicity, disabled, LGBTQ+ and/or have varying levels of educational attainment. Together Trust particularly welcome applications from younger people aged 18 to 30 and are also interested in hearing from people with a background or advanced knowledge in:
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Fundraising and/or social value
- Special education
- Lived experience of any specialist area in which Together Trust work
Together Trust would like to expand their Board of Trustees and it is an exciting time to join us. Together Trust are currently shaping their new 5 year plan to deliver even greater impact to the people and families we support, which you will have a key role in shaping and influencing. Together Trust have also embarked on a journey to improve equality, diversity and inclusion across the governance and leadership structure, workforce and services. Together Trust believe they will deliver long lasting social impact when their Board and leadership teams reflects the community of people and families they are here to serve. Improving Board diversity is crucial for Together Trust in terms of their values as an organisation. It means Together Trust are more effective, make better decisions and is key to effective delivery of our mission.
The Board is responsible for agreeing the strategic direction of the charity, setting the budgetary framework and deciding upon major undertakings. Responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the Trust is delegated to Mark Lee, Chief Executive, who reports to the Trustees on a regular basis. You are not expected to have a detailed knowledge of the legislation that governs the work as staff will support you. They do this by meeting regularly throughout the year to monitor progress and analyse various documents detailing the work the charity is undertaking.
Time commitment
Together Trust estimate the role could take up to 2-4 hours depending on whether you also get involved in one of the Subgroups or Governing Bodies. Many of the existing Trustees work full time and can provide advice and guidance about managing balancing your time commitments.
The Board meet six times a year on the first Friday of the month and at the moment these are held during normal office hours. Most meetings last approximately from 9.30am – 1pm and are held virtually or at the charity’s central office in Cheadle.
Location
At the moment, most of the work as a Board is virtual but Together Trust hope to return to face to face meetings in the future. Ideally, when it’s safe to do so, Together Trust would like you to be able to visit their services which are mostly in or around Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas to get to know the staff and the people they support as part of their Trustee Service Visit programme.
Skills/Qualities
As a Trustee you will need:
- A commitment to the vision, mission and values of the Together Trust
- Be willing to meet the minimum time requirement
- Integrity
- Good strategic vision and independent judgement
- Creative thinking skills
- Teamworking skills
- An understanding of the experiences, needs and challenges faced by the people we support (or at least a willingness to learn more)
- Comply to a Code of Conduct and Together Trust policies