Chair and Trustees x 3

An exciting opportunity to be the next Chair or Trustee of Earth Trust and help champion accessible natural green spaces to help people connect with nature and the environment to inspire climate, biodiversity and well-being.

Time commitment: Chair around 3 days per month and Trustees around 2 days per month.

Who we are

For 40 years Earth Trust has been providing, demonstrating and championing accessible natural green space and running inspiring, award-winning programmes to help people connect with nature and the environment.

Earth Trust’s purpose is to inspire people to address climate, biodiversity and well-being with the power of natural green spaces. Our mission is to champion access and engagement with natural green spaces for everyone so that together we take action for people and the planet.

It has never been more critical to provide access to green space and to engage people deeply with nature – both for their own wellbeing and to inspire action to protect the natural world for the future.

Earth Trust are the guardians of some extremely special places, rich in nature and heritage. We are the owner and farmer of the largest freely accessible natural green space landscape in Oxfordshire – Wittenham Clumps: 500 hectares of farmland, woodlands wildflower meadows and wetlands. We also manage and promote accessible natural green spaces close to where people live including Thrupp Lake in Radley with Tuckwells, and Abbey Fishponds in Abingdon, Wallingford Castle Meadows and Riverside Meadows funded by District Councils.

We are thriving and expanding environmental education programmes, welcoming more than 4,000 school children a year, mainly at the Earth Trust Centre utilising our Earth Lab, a recently constructed award-winning, vision in to a sustainable future. Through our public programme we host a calendar of events and work with communities through funded projects.

In line with our strategy and purpose, we are increasing our influence, working with partners, and becoming bolder as we speak up for people’s access and engagement with green spaces.

Our work has never been more critical than now. In May 2022, we launched our 2022-2027 strategy – Connecting Communities for Change – signalling our commitment to shaping our environmental impact for diverse communities. Our 5-year strategy focuses on movement building, influence and cause-led engagement that seeks to drive real-world change.  Together we have an important role to play in demonstrating, modelling and advocating for green spaces that bring nature and people closer together in the spaces where we all live, work and play.

We seek to do more than ever to ensure we are making a difference where it counts, prioritising our efforts on the big challenges we face, both nationally and regionally. 

We recognise that we need to take more proactive steps to foster greater diversity and are looking to build an inclusive board that can help us achieve this, as well as bring in new skills with a new Chair and Trustees as the organisation develops.

The Board

The Board of Trustees is our governing body and is collectively responsible for ensuring that the charity complies with the governing document and the law, utilising its resources responsibly, and meeting statutory accounting and reporting requirements.

The Board is structured with two sub-committees – Finance and Risk and Health, Safety and Safeguarding. The sub-committees will be reviewed with our new Chair.

There are normally 10 Trustees on the Board but given the organisation’s planned evolution this could be higher. All Trustees have a responsibility to support Earth Trust’s cause and to contribute to transformational change, fundraising and project development activities, using their networks to influence on our behalf.

Trustees contribute to achieving greater impact through the delivery of our ambitious strategy and act as ambassadors, supporting activities and events and be a public face of the charity with the Chief Executive.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for a new Chair and 3 Trustees to bring strategic leadership, commercial awareness, ideas, skills and abilities in a successful ambitious and growing environment to support our development and growth over the next 3-4 years, to become more impactful and financially stable.

Chair:

Our Chair of Trustees will be pivotal to the success of Earth Trust. We are committed to having a stronger and more influential voice, demonstrating green infrastructure that integrates and delivers for people, nature and the climate and working with communities to enable faster change.

Earth Trust is in a period of transition and growth, growing communities to enable change. We have a 5-year development financial model to guide us and we are building our community of supporters and active volunteers, growing our reach through communications and recently launched a new Membership Programme.

Our plans include addressing the infrastructure challenges at our most visited location, the Wittenham Clumps (circa 150,000 visits), and the demonstration of balancing the multiple benefits of access and engagement opportunities of landscape scale and countryside locations. This programme will run as a capital appeal, providing necessary infrastructure, engaging experiences as well as demonstrating food and farming that embraces and trials regenerative agricultural practice –all are fundamental to the success of this programme.

To be successful as our Chair, you will need to bring the following experience, skills and attributes:

• Willingness to devote the necessary time and commitment to fulfil the duties and responsibilities of Chair with a strong and visible passion and keen interest in Earth Trust, its strategic objectives, cause and values.
• A successful track record and achievements in senior leadership position/s.
• Good understanding of governance, legal duties, liabilities and responsibilities ideally as a charity trustee or non-executive director, with experience in effective chairing of a board, committees or other senior meetings.
• Significant strategic leadership and executive management experience successfully leading an organisation, or major operating division or group, through organisational strategy, change and transformation to secure financial sustainability.
• Promote and support diversity, equality and inclusion as we grow the charity to inspire people to engage with greenspaces and address climate, biodiversity and wellbeing challenges.
• Strong financial acumen, with the ability to interpret complex information, comprehend issues and assess risks, incorporating financial management information such as balance sheets, budgets and management accounts.
• Commercial acumen to consider and support innovative approaches to digital and technology, as well as diversifying income, such as membership strategies, events, programmes, external partnerships and commercial investment. Applicable experience for the charity sector, able to navigate income opportunities towards the Earth Trust’s financial stability.
• Evidence of ambassadorial and networking skills to represent Earth Trust with professionalism and integrity to help build and develop the profile of the Charity through successful partnerships and working relationships with a range of individuals, organisations and stakeholders locally, regionally and nationally.
• Excellent leadership, interpersonal, communication and listening skills which encourages collaboration and participation, with the ability to take a robust approach when necessary to build consensus with tact, diplomacy and sensitivity.
• Commitment to working as part of a team and the ability to motivate and enthuse a wide range of people to deliver Earth Trust’s objectives, mission and vision, to support income generation activities and to encourage a strong fundraising culture across Earth Trust.

Trustees:

We need 3 Trustees with senior professional experience and skills to have special responsibility in the following areas:

• Qualified accountant with strategic business planning
• Green Infrastructure and land management – experience in strategically developing (policy/practice) multi-functional green spaces and environment solutions that deliver sustainable outcomes where people and nature thrive together
• Developing engagement and building communities for change – experience of inclusive cultural change, wider participation programmes campaigns and activities that engages a diversity of communitites.

Overall, we seek the following skills, abilities and personal qualifies in our Trustees:

• Successful track record and achievements in a strategic management position/s.
• Understanding of governance, legal duties, liabilities and responsibilities as a non-executive, and/or a charity trustee, and with experience of working with a board, committees or other senior meetings.
• Financial acumen, with the ability to interpret complex information, comprehend issues and assess risks, incorporating financial management information such as balance sheets, budgets and management accounts.
• Commercial acumen to consider and support innovative approaches to fundraising and diversifying income, digital and technology, membership strategies, external partnerships and commercial investment.
• Evidence of representative and networking skills to represent Earth Trust with professionalism and integrity and to help develop community engagement and building movements for change with a range of individuals, organisations and stakeholders.
• A team player with excellent interpersonal, communication and listening skills which encourages collaboration and participation, with the ability to use independent thought but when necessary, support consensus with tact, diplomacy and sensitivity.
• Enthusiasm and appreciation of the work of Earth Trust with a willingness to devote the necessary time and commitment to fulfil the duties and responsibilities as a Trustee.
• Experience, or willingness, to support and contribute to fundraising activities and advocating on behalf of an organisation to potential funders and partners.
• Promoting and supporting diversity, equality and inclusion.

Time Commitment:

All Trustees are appointed for an initial term of three years and are eligible to re-stand for a subsequent term. Members normally serve for two terms in order to ensure a balance of continuity and refresh.

The Board of Trustees normally meets four times a year and in addition, Trustees are encouraged to take on responsibility and actively participate in sub-committees and task groups, attend events and support the executive and staff with specific experience as appropriate.

The Chair will need to give around 3 days per month and Trustees around 2 days per month.

An exciting opportunity to be the next Chair or Trustee of Earth Trust and help champion accessible natural green spaces to help people connect with nature and the environment to inspire climate, biodiversity and well-being.

Please click 'Apply’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.