Volunteer Trustee for the Mustard Tree | inVOLve Community Services
Join to apply for the Volunteer Trustee for the Mustard Tree | inVOLve Community Services role at involve Community Services
Volunteer Trustee for the Mustard Tree | inVOLve Community Services
1 week ago Be among the first 25 applicants
Join to apply for the Volunteer Trustee for the Mustard Tree | inVOLve Community Services role at involve Community Services
Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features.
Can you help us grow our support for often-marginalised communities, people facing barriers to opportunities? You could be a trustee for the Mustard Tree, a Reading-based Christian charity that reduces health and social inequalities.
What difference will you make?
What do we get? Your strategic skills, knowledge, understanding or experience Your abilities to influence plans for our charity’s future 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 to access opportunities, as we plant hope and cultivate change 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 supporting often-marginalised communities 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 an organisation that supports communities in Reading, thus giving something back to your community Induction training from us; training, support and assistance from local charity-support & advice agencies
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, and that that will be forthcoming, as necessary, to build on any area. Understanding of the needs of our beneficiaries is desirable; an empathy with them is essential As a charity with a Christian ethos, our trustees need to have a Christian faith and participate in prayer Clear commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, valuing differences to make better decisions and deliver better services for our beneficiaries It would be highly beneficial to have some knowledge, skills, understanding or abilities in any of the following Financial management, especially in a charity context A grasp of fundraising strategy An understanding of HR management and compliance Understanding of good practice in recruiting, supporting and retaining volunteers would be welcome 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 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 Skills to analyse proposals, examine their strategic consequences and make concise recommendations 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, including being fully prepared for trustees’ and associated meetings 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; training in those areas can be provided Having appropriate personal and professional contacts & networks, with willingness to draw on those as needed Willingness to be available to employees and volunteers for advice and enquiries on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis
What will you be doing?
As a trustee for the Mustard Tree, a Reading-based Christian charity, you will be helping reduce health and social inequalities, building stronger communities, and giving a voice to the unheard About us Set up in 2003, the Mustard Tree Foundation (Reading), known as The Mustard Tree, is a charity where we are passionate that every individual has the opportunity to thrive. Our vision is to develop the work we do in Reading, identifying unmet needs and innovating and growing projects which support individuals who are marginalised and facing disadvantage, delivering high-impact services to some of Reading’s most underrepresented people. As a charity with a Christian ethos, the projects we generate are inspired by our faith and are thus are designed to serve all sections of our diverse community. We are an incorporated charity, with a financial turnover in 2024 of £335k. Our three focused projects Engage, Rahab and Starting Point, all support different communities, whilst linked to our common vision. 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 our work and we’d expect new trustees to have strong empathy with our cause and with the needs of our beneficiaries. You don’t necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, although that would be welcome. You need to have a Christian faith and participate with us in prayer. We are especially looking for people with skills and understanding of financial management in a not-for-private-profit context; a grasp of fundraising strategy; or understanding of HR management and compliance, but we don’t expect you to have all three of those abilities! If you can think strategically and plan long-term, you have the primary skills needed by our trustees; you’ll also need to be able to work collectively with other Board members. Support from our paid employees is always available, as they will be dealing with the day-to-day running of the organisation. 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 to join our charity. We want to expand the diversity of our board, in all meanings of the word, and strongly welcome applications from people from less-represented groups.
Seniority level
* Seniority level
Not Applicable
Employment type
Job function
* Job function
Marketing, Strategy/Planning, and Management
* Industries
Non-profit Organizations
Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at involve Community Services by 2x
Sign in to set job alerts for “Trustee” roles.
We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
#J-18808-Ljbffr