Volunteer Trustee with a facilities-focus, for Wokingham United Charities

What will you be doing?

We are looking for a trustee to join one of our subcommittees, that looks after the provision and future of our Almshouses, as well as participate in our full Board of trustees. As  the oldest charity in England (formed in 1451) we want a new trustee to join our Board, to cooperatively govern our organisation alongside other trustees. Wokingham United Charities has a mission to relieve poverty and enhance the quality of life of those people in need in our community. We do this by our Almshouse accommodation, as well as using our funds to help alleviate financial distress, hardship and poverty. Our usual income per annum is ~£700k, but we’ve been managing funds to help to relieve poverty in the midst of this cost-of-living crisis, and recently our turnover has been ~£1.5m. Of that, some £160k p.a. is income and usual expenditure for our Almshouses.    The role and what we are looking for in a new trustee Trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity. Our Board includes people with experience and skills in governing our charity, and we’d expect our new trustee to have strong empathy with our cause and our beneficiaries. If you can think strategically and plan long-term, you have the primary skills we need. Our Westende subcommittee meets every two months, and we want you to join this group, as well as becoming a trustee and thus joining the Board. The subcommittee devises and analyses plans for the Almshouses, as well as overseeing the operational delivery that is managed by our Westende Manager. You don’t necessarily need prior experience of trusteeship, as full induction to our organisation and operations will be provided, plus specialist support for a new trustee, including access to external training. We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles to governing our organisation. We are looking for people from a variety of backgrounds and we’d like to expand the diversity of our Board, in all meanings, thus strongly welcome applications from people from less-represented groups.  We ask for approx. six hours of your time per month, which includes all meetings, discussions, etc.  You will need access to digital communications, as much of our charity’s business is run that way.

What are we looking for?

Here is some of what we would expect from our trustees. We know that you may also need training and support from employees, from other trustees and from external organisations, as necessary.

Understanding of the needs of our Westende (and other) beneficiaries is desirable; an empathy with them is essential Clear commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, valuing differences to make better decisions and deliver better outcomes, especially for our Westende tenants Skills and ability to analyse the needs of our beneficiaries, the risks and opportunities in our facilities management proposals, taking a balanced approach to all, examining the strategic consequences and making concise recommendations While experience and understanding of charity law and governance can be useful, we strongly welcome people without prior charity trustee experience in order to increase the diversity of our Board Prior or current paid or voluntary work in a facilities-management role, or similar, would be useful but is not a prerequisite Qualification, or knowledge gained by experience in an appropriate field, including facilities’ Risk Management, Health & Safety, Civil Engineering, Architecture or similar would be well-regarded but is not strictly necessary A grasp of appropriate and up-to-date Health & Safety legislation and regulations, plus other legislation and regulations that apply to our Almshouses provision, will be useful Strategic vision; good, independent judgement; ability to think creatively, tempered by pragmatism and reality Ability to cooperatively work with the team of trustees, bringing impartiality and objectivity to decision-making to our Board and to its subcommittees Skills and ability to listen, even to dissenting views Willingness to speak your mind and to challenge other trustees and employees with good intent; able to make unpopular recommendations to the Board, if necessary Secure personal access to digital communication and able to competently use those resources Commitment to the organisation; willingness and ability to devote the necessary time & effort Willingness to be available to employees and volunteers, especially the Westende Manager and any others with facilities-management responsibilities, for advice and enquiries on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis Having appropriate personal and professional contacts & networks, with willingness to draw on those as needed

What difference will you make?

What do we get?   

Your strategic skills, knowledge, understanding or experience, especially in our governance of our Almshouses Your abilities to influence plans for our charity’s future in helping local people in need Enhancement to our overall governance and the Board of trustees; improvement in our charity governance and operational growth    Your participation in our collective decision-making, contributing to all areas of our charity work    Your enthusiasm   

   What do our beneficiaries get?   

The ability to continue our support for people in need in Wokingham, including strategic and future planning for our Almshouses A forward-looking and agile organisation, with a well-informed and well-managed Board of trustees

  What do YOU get as a volunteer trustee with our organisation?   

An opportunity to exercise your strategic planning skills, probably in a different environment or context  An opportunity to influence and collectively-lead an organisation A chance to expand and implement your understanding of our work A chance to augment your experience of charities  A boost to your career and CV, if needed  Satisfaction of helping a charity that supports people in need in Wokingham, thus giving something back to your community  Induction, training, support from us and from charity-support organisations