Trustee of an Independent Children's Charity

We wish to recruit individuals to join our motivated Board of Trustees, to volunteer their time, knowledge, and skills, to support us in achieving our vision of creating positive beginnings for young children and families.

As a Trustee of Cirencester Opportunity Group, you would become part of an organisation that was originally started by a small, passionate, and determined group of parents and professionals in 1973. A small group that has grown from strength to strength over the past 50 years and now works with over 80 families each year. We are the only group of its kind in Cirencester and the surrounding area, and we are so proud that we make a lasting and real difference to the lives of vulnerable children and their families.

We are keen to welcome new Trustees that are willing to work as part of a team to oversee and support the future development of Cirencester Opportunity Group (COG), an independent charity, supporting young children and their families. We feel that individuals who would approach this vital work with professionalism, integrity, and openness, would be best suited to leading our charity into the future.

We are committed to ensuring that our Board of Trustees remains refreshed, by adhering to the recommended time limits for Directors. Therefore, we are now in a position where we wish to recruit several new trustees and we are seeking individuals with relevant and varied life experiences, as well as skills and professional experience within any of the following areas:

Business Development, Human Resources, Legal, Governance, Finance, IT, Income Generation, Marketing/Communications, Early Years and Education.

We expect our Trustees to have a strong commitment to our organisation, with a willingness to attend and positively/actively contribute to six Trustee meetings per year, as well as our annual AGM. Our Trustee meetings usually take place on a mutually agreed evening and are held at our purpose-built Family Centre in Cirencester, with the ability to join virtually also offered on occasion. We also expect our Trustees to complete the necessary paperwork to complete the Enhanced DBS and Ofsted registration processes, as well as attending essential training, such as Safeguarding for example.

What are we looking for?

We welcome applications from all ages and backgrounds, whether you are an experienced Trustee or wanting to embark on your first Trustee role. We also feel that it is important that our Trustees should have:

•A commitment to our organisation and its objectives

•An understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of Trusteeship

•A willingness to devote the necessary time and effort to their duties as a Trustee

•Strategic vision

•Good, independent judgement

•An ability to think creatively

•A willingness to contribute to the work of our organisation actively and positively

•An ability to work effectively as a member of a team

It is important that our Trustees choose to become involved in projects to further support the work of our charity. This occasional project work is invaluable in strengthening our charity and we feel also makes the best use of the individual skills, expertise/experience of each of our Trustees.

What difference will you make?

The invaluable work of our Trustees truly enables us to continue to make a difference to the lives of children, by providing strong leadership and ensuring that our organisation is in the best position to fulfil our vision by working on our long-term strategy. Our Trustees know that it is extremely important that COG remains financially viable as a charity, to enable us to continue our varied and vital work with families, whilst continuing to increase our profile within our local community.