Chair of Trustees

Role Description 

Remuneration: The role of Chair is unpaid but reasonable travel expenses may be claimed

Location: meetings are usually held either on Zoom or in / near to Gloucester.

Time commitment: the Chair would need to attend:

·      4 board meetings annually, usually held midweek between 11am and 1pm.

·      Regular 1-1 meetings with the Executive Director – usually for approximately one hour every other month

Where there is a specific area of work that requires focus outside of Board meeting, the Chair may also volunteer to join:

·      Working groups or Sub-Committees to advance a time-limited piece of work that requires more focus

·      One of Artlift’s Co-Production groups, which meet for one face-to-face gathering and one more formal review and planning meeting online per annum.

Staff members may contact individual Trustees for advice or input between meetings on matters relating to their areas of expertise.

Term of Office: Trustees serve a 3-year term and can serve for a maximum of 3 terms.

Chair responsibilities:

The statutory duties of any charity trustee are:

·      To ensure the charity complies with its governing document and pursues its defined objectives

·      To contribute actively to giving clear strategic direction, setting overall policy, defining goals and setting targets, and evaluating performance

·      To safeguard the charity’s good name and values

·      To ensure the charity’s effective and efficient administration

·      To ensure the charity’s financial stability, protecting and managing its property and ensuring the proper investment of its funds.

·      To appoint the Chief Executive and monitor his or her performance

The Chair of the Board of Trustees is asked to:

·      Line manage the Executive Director, and scrutinise, be collectively responsible for, and support the work of the charity’s employees and individual Trustees with delegated authority.

·      Contribute to agenda setting for, and to attend and chair, Board meetings, reading papers in advance, focusing on key issues and contributing relevant knowledge, advice and guidance for the benefit of the charity.

·      Ensure that Artlift complies with its governing document, charity law and any other relevant legislation or regulations, and pursues objectives as defined in the Constitution.

·      Ensure financial stability: understand Artlift’s financial position, ensure financial reports are brought before the Board on a regular basis, that funds are appropriately invested, and that the charity applies its resources exclusively in pursuance of its objectives.

·      Ensure legal compliance and best practice policies and procedures, including appropriate levels of insurance, data control, safeguarding processes, incident reporting, inclusion, equality and diversity protocols, etc.

·      Give firm strategic direction to the organisation by setting overall policy, defining goals, setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets.

·      Actively support delivery of income generation plans and profile raising, including attendance at key meetings and events.

·      Keep informed about the charity’s activities and wider issues which affect its work.

·      Champion and support delivery of specific initiatives from time to time, e.g. representation on Co-production Groups, recruitment and interviewing, policy development, bid writing, systems improvements.  

·      Safeguard the good name and values of the organisation.

·      Declare any conflict of interest while carrying out the duties of a trustee.

Trustee - Person specification

The ideal Chair of Trustees for Artlift will have:

·      Commitment to our aims and a willingness to devote the necessary time and effort

·      A keen interest in mental and/or physical health and an understanding of the issues facing vulnerable adults

·      An understanding of good governance and of the Chair, Trustee and Executive Director roles.

·      Understanding of the legal responsibilities and financial liabilities of being a Trustee

·      Appreciation of the challenges and opportunities facing a small charity working cross-sector

·      Sound judgement and effective decision making

·      Good communications skills, tact and diplomacy and an ability to work effectively as a member of a team

·      A willingness to share insights, learning and practices from other sectors and organisations and to share contacts and opportunities

In addition, the new Chair will ideally have:

·      Proven experience and skills in strategic planning and leadership

·      Experience and contacts in the arts and/or health sectors

With a view to diversifying the range of skills and lived / work experience and addressing gaps in representation on Artlift’s Board, we would particularly welcome applications from people with:

·      A minority ethnic background

·      Finance, fundraising and/or marketing experience

We are keen to build a diverse team of people to steer the charity and welcome applications from all sectors of society including those who do not have prior experience of being a Chair of Trustees. We will provide a full induction and on-going support and training to those who are new to the role.

How to apply

Please complete our Trustee Application and Equal Opportunities Monitoring forms, which are downloadable from our website.

If you would like an informal chat about the role in advance of applying and/or would like to apply in a different format, please contact our Executive Director - Cath Wilkins.

Deadline for applications: Monday 2 December 2024.

Please note that we will arrange interviews, at a mutually agreed time and place, as and when applications that meet the person specification are received, so may close the application window if a strong candidate is appointed sooner.

We look forward to receiving your application.