Could you help us make a real difference across Cumbria?

Cumbria CVS offers help, advice, training and support to the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector (VCFSE) throughout Cumbria, offering support to 2,500+ organisations.

We aim to make a real difference across the county in pursuit of our mission to increase Impact, Influence, and Investment in and from Cumbria CVS and the Third Sector.

Be a crucial part of this by volunteering as a trustee and joining our board. This is a diverse and exciting opportunity to shape the organisation and support the third sector of Cumbria.

What is a Trustee?

The role of trustee is vital for holding the organisation to account and ensuring public confidence, for determining the overall direction of the organisation, and providing leadership.

This is achieved through attending meetings and working with our dedicated staff team to assist in the design and delivery of our core services.

Why be a Trustee?

While there is a commitment to volunteer your time, there is so much to gain from being a trustee.

Being a trustee is rewarding – and a great opportunity for professional development. You can gain experience of strategy and leadership, of being a non-executive director, and other key skills including:

• Influencing and negotiation
• Managing risk
• Teamwork
• Time management
• Communication
• Handling difficult conversations
• Decision making

You will be part of a supportive trustee board, sharing your ideas on future CVS projects, and using your knowledge to support change and innovation. You can share your skills to strengthen others, and developing skills that you may not yet have had the opportunity to explore.

We will support you with our team of dedicated staff and offer you a training and development package to assist you on your journey with us.

Could you be a Cumbria CVS Trustee?

Trustees are the backbone of any charity, setting the organisation’s overall direction, and making sure it’s well run.

We’ve already got a strong (and friendly!) Trustee Board, which includes people with a wide range of professional skills. We’d be keen to hear from anyone interested in joining us, but we’re particularly interested in recruiting people:

• Who have hands on experience (as a volunteer or staff member) in a small local voluntary or community sector organisation, and who can help to keep us focussed on the needs of those local organisations
• Who live and/or work in the west or south of Cumbria (as many of our current trustees come from the north Cumbria area)

Click here to view a Trustee Role Description and Person Specification

 

What’s the commitment?

Each year, our trustees are expected to attend:

• 4 half-day Trustee Board meetings (usually in person)
• 4 short committee meetings (either HR or Finance – often online)
• Our AGM

You might find your employer has an employee volunteering policy that will allow you time off work to attend these meetings.

 

What’s the next step?

If you’re interested in becoming a Cumbria CVS Trustee, please get in touch with Carolyn Otley, our Chief Executive, for an initial chat – Carolyno@cumbriacvs.org.uk

And if you’re not interested yourself, can you think of anyone else who might be – perhaps you’ve got a member of staff who’s keen to build their skills and their CV?

You can find the Charity Commission information on what’s involved in being a trustee here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charity-trustee-whats-involved

If you are interested in applying, Click here to download an application form

 

Cumbria CVS Trustee Jo’s story

“First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Jo Crozier, and I became a Trustee of Cumbria CVS in October 2023. My aim is now to persuade you to consider doing the same!

I first encountered the work that CVS does was when I started in my role with Cockermouth Emergency Response Group (CERG) in 2018. Although I had been involved with the recovery effort in our town after the floods of 2015, I had no experience of what formal community resilience meant. That’s when I had to turn to CVS for help and guidance on the things I needed to be thinking about including volunteer training, formal emergency plans, capability reviews etc……I knew little about these things but CVS did and helped me to help our group. The unfailing support, guidance and help in navigating relevant legislation was invaluable.

So, when in turn I was asked by a couple of staff members to consider becoming a Trustee I felt like it was my turn to give back. I had regularly recommended other colleagues to seek help from CVS in the past – so it was only fair really! However, it was quite daunting to think whether or not I had the skills needed to do this role.

I hadn’t been a Trustee before, and nowhere near the same skills as others on the Board of Trustees. CVS runs a Trustee Network which is really helpful and gives great advice (even if you only take advantage of this in your current role), and the other members of the Board were very supportive. There is nothing to be worry about!

I think it’s really important that having been the co-ordinator for a membership organisation I could bring a different and equally valuable point of view for others to consider. It is also equally pertinent that we have a representative point of view from those dealing with the day-to-day problems of small charities and organisations who have concerns like funding, grants, loss of volunteers etc.

You will also develop new skills that you may not use in your day-to-day role – this can help you in your future career for example. Employers are generally supportive of helping those who work with charity roles nowadays so just ask if this is a possibility for you. We definitely want to encourage younger Trustees! If this has encouraged you to become more involved, we are happy to chat if you have more questions.”