Volunteer Plymouth Charity supporting Refugees and Students seeks Trustees

What will you be doing?

What will you be doing? You will be part of a unique organisation supporting both students and refugees, building on their - and our - strengths.  Although initially a casework service for people with leave to remain START developed a range of inclusive activities that remain core to the work of the organisation: Cultural Kitchen; Women’s Group; Allotment. More recently activities have included: Job Club; StartWalking; Training courses and volunteer recruitment. This range of activities ensures that people can access support in whatever way they choose, moving between receiving help and helping others without obstacle. It encourages confidence and community building and gives students experience of working in a variety of settings. START is highly valued as a placement for Social Work students from Plymouth, Esslingen in Germany, Lillehammer in Norway and Rheims in France. Occupational Therapy students are part of the regular workforce and there are learning opportunities for students from Clinical Psychology, Business and Marketing, Youth and Community, Geography and Business Administration - indeed any subject where students can make a positive contribution to the lives of refugees. START trustees meet every 3 months, with additional business meetings as required and an annual strategy day.  Trustee meetings are a mixture of on-line and in person meetings.  Between meetings, trustees are involved at whatever level suits them from volunteering in activities to budget management, fund raising, policy development and staff support. What we are looking for? We are seeking two or three new people who are supportive of the work that we do to join our current board. We particularly need someone who has skills in accountancy and finance and also someone with experience in communications and social media.  Reasonable expenses will be reimbursed

What are we looking for?

We are seeking people who are supportive of the work that we do and have a real interest in both supporting student learning and research and also wish to support refugees to integrate into our local community.  We are particularly looking for someone with a communications background and also someone with a financial background.  Because of work commitments our Communications Trustee has recently resigned and we need someone who can support START board as follows:

To be the main contact for publicity/press enquiries, and a ‘safe pair of hands’ with sensitive, appropriate and timely messaging. To write press releases in consultation with Senior Management Team and Trustees to promote STARTs good work. To manage website content and keep it up to date. To respond to queries on Facebook and Twitter in collaboration with the Senior management Team

Our Finance Trustee will be ending his term of office at the end of September 2024 and we would like to recruit someone who can join our board now to allow a good handover period. This person will have experience of  finance and accountancy and be able to support our senior managers with preparation of budgets and to advise the Board on financial issues.

What difference will you make?

Being a Trustee at START is a hugely rewarding opportunity. You will be part of a group of people that are passionate about improving the lives of refugees in Plymouth and Cornwall and supporting START to develop and deliver projects and activities to achieve this aim.  As a trustee you will have the chance to use your skills to really help enable START to continue to make a positive difference to the lives of refugees.  As explained by one of our Trustees:  “Working with START is always interesting and I really enjoy seeing the way all our different strengths come together to make a difference.  We can learn so much from refugees and students about what is important and how to make things happen”