Volunteer Trustee with legal experience

What will you be doing?

Kennet Furniture Refurbiz Ltd (KFR) is the well-established and award-winning furniture and white goods reuse charity and social enterprise serving the whole of Wiltshire from our warehouse in Devizes. We collect donations from both private individuals and commercial organisations of pre-loved furniture, white goods and small electricals, diverting them from landfill. We make sure that they are fit for purpose, including refurbishing and guaranteeing white goods, and them sell them on, with customers in receipt of a means-tested benefit paying a discounted price or, in many circumstances, not paying at all. During the last three years, we have more than doubled our revenue, tripled the size of our warehouse and engineering facilities to cope with increases in both supply and demand, and expanded our van fleet to match these increases. At our last board skills audit, we identified Legal as an area of expertise which would bring benefits to the charity, particularly as we enter the next phase of the charity's development. We are therefore looking for a new trustee with legal experience to broaden the board's skills. As well as being a critical friend to the organisation and providing general business advice, the principal role of the new trustee will be to provide advice to the board and advice and support to our general manager in legal matters. As the organisation continues to grow and approaches the end of its current lease agreement, we must ensure that our legal framework continues to be both appropriate and robust. Our existing eleven trustees bring a wide range of skills and experience. They are all Wiltshire-based, which means they can be fully engaged in supporting the charity. Whilst in-person board meetings are held every 2 months, all the trustees visit the warehouse from time to time, either to volunteer in the warehouse or to provide advice and support to the general manager. Clearly, remote meetings are do-able when required but we believe there is no substitute for spending time on site on a reasonably regular basis.  This is a voluntary role and carries no remuneration. All trustees are directors of the limited company and also become members of the charity on appointment.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for an experienced legal professional, possibly recently retired and probably living within 25 miles of Devizes. An understanding of charity law whilst not essential would be of particular benefit. More important is the ability to get to the heart of a matter and provide high quality legal advice to the board and to the general manager when the circumstances demand.  All of our trustees are fully engaged in the company, with some also volunteering in the warehouse alongside our staff and volunteers, so interpersonal skills are also important.  Ideally, you would have trustee experience and understand what it means to be a trustee but we are happy to consider as a first-time trustee a candidate who has the skills and knowledge sets to match our needs.

What difference will you make?

This is an important trustee role. The board wants to be sure that KFR’s legal framework is always fit for purpose and provides appropriate protections for the charity as it supports our customers, our stakeholders and our staff. We also want our general manager to have the most appropriate help and advice so far as legal matters are concerned. Through their contribution, the trustee will help to ensure the successful development of the organisation as it reaches out to more customers to provide the help and support they need.