Trustee - Finance Expertise

Closing date: 15 November 2024

Ref 6869

Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for an individual with finance expertise to join our Board of Trustees.

About Us

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

About the role

We are looking for a Trustee with recent and relevant finance expertise to join our Board of Trustees.

Trustees of Save the Children UK (SCUK) play a unique role in delivery of our mission. They are collectively responsible for the governance of the organisation and for all decisions made by the Board. They set the strategic direction for the organisation, ensuring alignment to our values, and are responsible for setting organisational policy, defining targets, agreeing the financial plan, evaluating performance, and ensuring that strong relationships are maintained between the Trustees and the Executives.

As a Trustee, you'll be required to attend all Board meetings (four Board meetings and one or more Board calls per year). You may also be asked to participate in Board strategy days, telephone conferences, or travel on behalf of SCUK.

As a Trustee of SCUK, you will:

• Act in SCUK's best interests, ensuring the charity complies with its governance responsibilities, charity law, company law and other relevant legislation or regulations, and ensure the effective management of resources and of risk.
• Provide support and constructive challenge to the Chief Executive and Executive Leadership Team to ensure the delivery of SCUK's mission and implementation of its strategic plan.
• Bring personal experience and professional expertise to the Board; contribute to key strategic debates within the organisation and to specific departmental and cross-team initiatives; and help to strengthen Board governance.
• Help ensure that SCUK continues to maintain the highest safeguarding standards in line with legislation, statutory guidance and best practice, and organisation policy and procedure.
• Ensure that safeguarding remains embedded in the culture of SCUK encouraging a safer environment for those we serve, our staff and volunteers.
• Attend quarterly Board meetings at SCUK's Head Office in Farringdon, London as well as any ad hoc Board meetings that arise.
• Represent SCUK at key functions, including fundraising and profile-raising events.

As a Trustee with finance expertise, you will:

• Become a Member of the Finance Committee, which provides oversight of SCUK's financial resources, fundraising and marketing, and attend quarterly meetings.
• Become a member of the Investment & Pensions Committee (IPC), a sub-committee of the Finance Committee, which provides oversight of the investment of SCUK's reserves and the pension arrangements for staff and attend quarterly meetings.

About you

We are seeking to recruit a Trustee who:

• Is engaged with, and excited by, SCUK's vision, mission and values.
• Will work to guarantee the highest standards of integrity and governance and help ensure statutory requirements are met.
• Has Board-level or equivalent experience of financial management of large and complex organisations.
• Has knowledge of charity finance, accounting and governance. Understands the financial risks facing major international development charities, and the financial strategies available to address them.
• Will ensure that key financial issues are clearly communicated to and understood by the Board.
• Is able and willing to devote the necessary time to the role. Trustees are required to attend all Board meetings (four Board meetings and one or more Board calls per year), quarterly Finance Committee meetings and quarterly Investment & Pensions Committee meetings. Trustees may also be asked to participate in Board strategy days, telephone conferences, or travel on behalf of SCUK.
• Has a demonstrable commitment to championing diversity and inclusion, and a clear understanding of power, privilege, and how this affects everyone, particularly the children and communities with which we work.

Highly desirable capabilities:

• Collaborative, with excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strategic thinker: ability to strategically assess financial risks and opportunities, and make informed decisions in line with the organisation's mission.
• A good understanding of the context within which SCUK works, with an appreciation of and strong an interest in international affairs.
• Experience in, or an understanding of, the technology sector, digital development and innovation.
• Willingness to build and use networks to make introductions for Save the Children UK, for example to explore best practice in or facilitate fundraising, or advocacy and campaigning.
• An understanding of, or willingness to learn about, corporate governance issues, especially those that might affect a large international not-for-profit organisation.
• An understanding of, or willingness to learn about, the duties, liabilities and responsibilities of Trustees, and of the difference between governance and management functions.

The knowledge and skills listed above represent “the ideal candidate”. Please do not be deterred from applying if you do not fulfil every highly desirable capability. We warmly welcome applications from people who have not served as Trustees before. To ensure our Board of Trustees represents the wider society we serve, we encourage applications from candidates based in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and regions of England outside London.

Terms of Appointment:

This is a voluntary position, but reasonable expenses will be reimbursed. We want to do what we can to remove barriers for Trustees on low incomes or with little spare. Please let us know during the application process if this could be an issue for you, so that we can explore options together.

Trustees are appointed for an initial term of 2 years, after which Trustees can be reappointed for two further terms of 3 years each, up to a maximum of 8 years.

Visit our website to learn more about our Board of Trustees and to explore our other current Trustee positions

Closing Date: Friday 15th November 2024.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

Save the Children believes in a world that is inclusive, where equal opportunities and outcomes exist for all children, regardless of where they are growing up.

We also apply this to our workforce and Board of Trustees - we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees and Trustees feel a sense of belonging and feel they can be “Free to be Me”. We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group thinking.

We aim to build, develop and retain a talented workforce and Board of Trustees that represents a variety of backgrounds, skills and experiences. We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences - of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability - help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.