Volunteer Board members for practical action on climate change, substainable living and the environment.

What will you be doing?

Have you got the experience or passion to join our board and actively help with our projects, plans and organisational needs? This a great opportunity to help us develop and grow, realise our ambition for a Sustainability Centre for the South West, and develop our innovative outreach work to benefit many more people and communities. The challenges for the Eco Centre are to build its capacity to achieve its main aim of creating a multi-functional sustainability centre of sufficient scale and scope to be a regional visitor attraction, as well as a base, inspiration and income generator for outreach and other initiatives. Our vision is for an eco centre that offers a range of facilities and services for the public, schools, businesses and professionals.    We also want to scale up our outreach work and develop a programme of sustainability events. Not only for the direct benefits they bring, but also as part of a strategy to raise our profile, increase membership, build our reputation, and so develop the partnerships and resources needed for the “Centre” itself. As a hands-on board member, you will have an active role in at least one aspect of our governance tasks, day-to-day operations, or project/programme development and delivery. More about the Eco Centre The Eco Centre is a charitable community benefit society based in the South West. We are not a campaigning organisation, our aim is to enable people and communities to live and work more sustainably through practical action, both individual and collective. We want to make it easier for people and organisations reduce carbon emissions and live or operate more sustainably. In the long-term we also want to provide support for businesses to be operate more sustainably. We have one part time employee at present and are recruiting for a new part-time Outreach Worker. Monthly board meetings are online and we use Office 365/MS Teams to share documents and keep in touch.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for individuals to join a largely new board team with a complementary set of skills and experiences to guide the Eco Centre through the next 3 years of growth & development. It is essential that you have the time, enthusiasm and commitment to not only undertake board/governance duties but also to contribute to the running of organisation and its development, or, its projects and programmes, in a leadership or supportive role, and on a regular basis. All board applicants should have the ability to think strategically and make a positive contribution to developing our operations and planning, and achieving the Eco Centre’s objectives. Environmental/Sustainability qualifications or experience are not a prerequisite, on the whole, we’re looking for more generic skills and experience, as well as a commitment to taking action on climate change/sustainability. Ideally you should live or work in the South West. For exceptional candidates there are a limited number of places for people from elsewhere. The board mainly operates remotely, but we will expect most board members to contribute to events occasionally in the South West or help with outreach projects - currently focused on Somerset (Taunton and Bridgwater). What’s Essential:

That you can spare at least 6-8 hours per month. The ability to use your experience and knowledge to make considered judgements To be able to work as part of a team And experience or skills in one or more of the following areas:

·        Finance/bookkeeping ·        Project development/management ·        Communications/marketing ·        Event management ·        Sustainability projects/programmes/policy ·        Partnership development/stakeholder engagement ·        ICT/programming ·        Fundraising/sponsorship ·        Community development/outreach ·        Volunteer recruitment/management   ·        Lived experience in deprived communities ·        Lived experience and a background from an under-represented community

What difference will you make?

You will play a crucial role in developing and growing the Eco Centre, enabling it to achieve its aims of supporting action on climate change, environmental sustainability and climate resilience, making the sustainability centre a reality, and building on that and our project work to widen and scale up our operations and environmental benefits