Volunteer Treasurer and Trustee with Planning / Surveying / Farming / Land Mangement experience needed for children's farm in Surrey

What will you be doing?

We would like two skilled, energetic Board members to help us achieve our ambitious goal. It's a huge task but we are excited about it. We have a small Board of Trustees and are looking to build our team to support us to find a new site for our care farm, deliver a successful capital fundraising campaign and suppoprt us to develop and provide new services to more children and young people. We want to increase our range of collective skills and also the diversity of the Board.  We are searching for a new site for our children and young people's farm and have to deliver a successful capital fundraising campaign to pay for the costs of this in terms of acquisition, set up and development. We have a tight timeline so need people with some experience, time and passion to hit the ground running. We are small but provide an important service to children and young people from Surrey and Hampshire with special needs who are struggling to maintain their school place or who have already lost it. Our attendees tell us what a huge difference coming to Change of Scene makes to their lives and we have a long waiting list for our service. A new site will give us the chance to expand and develop our services, extending our reach into the community We are looking for Board members who can commit to meetings every two months (maximum) which are in the evening, last around two hours and are usually virtual or could be in person in Surrey. We would also like them to commit to being on a Working Group or a sub-committee to help keep us focused and on target. We would like volunteers who have time to support the part time CEO, perhaps by joining her on important visits and meetings or being an ambassador for the charity throughout the campaign. But most importantly, we want your ideas, connections and enthusiasm. 

What are we looking for?

Our ideal volunteer would be someone who has some relevant experience, some spare time and feels committed to helping children and young people with complex social, emotional or behavioural issues. Support can be remote or in person. In terms of qualities, we would really welcome people who are honest, reliable and a good communicator. The Board is small and a mixture of some new Trustees and some that have served for a number of years.  We really need people who have the skills and experience to support us with any or all of the following: Finance - to help us improve our practice and remain compliant Governance - we may need to make changes to our governing documents as part of our planned service growth and development Health and Safety - we work in a very risky environment so any support to identify and mitigate risk would be helpful Surveying - we may need support with identifying and setting up our new site Planning - advice and support to get permission for the infrastructure we need Social Care - we would love to have more expertise in developing and managing services for children and young people with SEND or mental health issues to support our future planning  

What difference will you make?

If we are not successful, we are at risk of closure. This would be devastating for our children and young people, volunteers and staff. We have a waiting list of vulnerable children and young people who need our services but our lease runs out in December 2024 If we can set ourselves up on a new site, we will be able to support more children and young people aged 8-18 years from Surrey and Hampshire. These will mainly be children and young people with complex social, emotional and behavioural issues. This will allow us to increase our income, cover our expenditure and meet increased demand. We will be able to develop a "Job Ready" service for young people aged 18+ who need a supported environment to gain skills and experience to help them to seek paid employment. This will raise additional income and provide a much needed service which is not available elsewhere. We will be able to make relationships with the local third sector to establish what access their service users need to an environment like ours and share it to maximise wellbeing in their communities. In these post COVID times, it has been hard to have such a wealth of natural resources such as a poly tunnel, pond, raised beds, animals and not be able to share them with local people in need. We want to change that. Your help could be just what we are looking for!