Volunteer Trustee Treasurer

What will you be doing?

Citizens Advice York is an independent local charity affiliated with the national organisation Citizens Advice. We offer free, confidential and impartial advice on a wide range of issues including benefits and tax credits, debt, housing, employment, and much more. We help people at drop-in sessions in Central York, by telephone and Webchat, and at neighbourhood outreach sessions. We have 30+ volunteers supported by a small professional staff team who run the organisation and provide essential training and supervision. In 2022-23, we helped 3,784 York people with 14,309 issues, plus many more people with quick queries or signposting. The main issues we helped with related to benefits, employment, debt, and housing. However, our ethos is to help everyone whatever the problem, and we also supported people with many other issues. The Trustee Board of around ten people is responsible for oversight and direction of the Charity, supporting the Chief Executive and her team.   We are seeking a Trustee Treasurer to join the Board and assume responsibility for financial oversight.  You will need experience of Financial Management, ideally in the Charity sector:  the Trust employs an experienced chartered accountant on a part time basis to manage the formal and statutory accounting processes, and our Finance Officer is completing her AAT qualifications.   CAY runs a budget of around £500,000 per annum, with City of York Council the main funder, supported by other mainly local business and public funding bodies.   The Board meets about six times a year, mostly in early evenings, while the Finance Committee meets 4-5 times a year to oversee progress of costs and project funding bids, set and monitor budget performance, and ensure that the financial reserves are maintained.  There are also HR and Audit and Risk Committees.   We are seeking applications from people who live locally and who have a commitment to the city to join our Board and take on the role of Treasurer.

What are we looking for?

Good understanding of financial management, ideally within the Charity sector (we are a registered Charity, and also report to Companies House and the Financial Conduct Authority) Commitment to the work that CAY does, and recognition of the pressures this work brings to bear on staff and volunteers Experience of participating in a Trustee Board

What difference will you make?

We are a small Charity, and our focus is in providing help to all who need it.  Even in an apparently 'well off' city like York,  there are significant and increasing numbers of people who need our help. The skill set of our staff and Board is focused on these goals, and we hope and believe that we do a good job, but we recognise that we need to keep close oversight of our finances in an increasingly difficult funding environment, and an experienced Treasurer will be a key part of this. If you are interested in helping, and think you may have the skills and commitment we're looking for, please do contact us.