Chair of the Board vacancy

Transcription

1 Chair of the Board vacancy 2018 Candidate pack

2 Letter from the Chair Thank you for your interest in joining s board of trustees as our next Chair of the Board. This is a pivotal moment for our organization, the movement we are building, and for the future of young people s social activism in Britain. 5 years ago, united a diverse coalition of the leading charities and social enterprises that support young people to make a positive impact in the lives of people around them. Together we share a powerful vision: to accelerate the transition to an economy and society that is dominated by social purpose by ensuring that social action becomes a normal part of growing up in Britain. To make our vision a reality will require deep-rooted, systemic change in the way that social action activities gets recognised, delivered, and funded in this country. No single organization can achieve this alone but together we can. has created a powerful network offer that has been able to drive behaviour change in the way youth social action programmes are designed, delivered and replicated across the country. By 2020, we will have supported at least 60 youth programmes, in all parts of the UK, to adopt a rigorous impact framework and become our accredited Impact Partners. The evidence, data and best practice developed by our Impact Partners will then be used to support a wider movement of best practice in schools, colleges, youth groups and beyond. This will give thousands of practitioners the tools to run or access excellent youth social action in any youth setting. Our Board of Trustees who have led through a bold start up and initiation phase to secure long-term strategic grant funding and early indicators of sustainable earned income. We are looking for a visionary leader to steer us to new heights. We need a chair who has both the experience to understand and navigate the levers of power, but the also appetite and energy for creating real change, even if it means occasionally defying convention. We are seeking exceptional leaders who are ambitious about helping us achieve systemic change. We look forward to meeting you. Sam Conniff-Allende Interim Chair of the Board 3

3 About was founded by the leaders of youth social action charities as a means of achieving a common mission. That mission was to enact a dramatic, lasting change in the way youth social action is offered to young people in this country. Our partnership of organisations, which includes The Scout Association, NCS and vinspired, supports over 600,000 young people every year to lead social change in their own communities by taking part in voluntary social action. That might include mentoring a peer being bullied, helping an elderly neighbour learn IT, or starting a social enterprise. will then support high quality programmes to collaborate on the ground, so that together they can achieve more than the sum of their parts; and join up the dots across the country quicker, creating a joined up experience for young people. Through this strategy we will create a recognised, continuous pathway for all young people to take part in high quality social action at every stage of growing up. This is how social action becomes mainstream: a staple feature of young people s experience of growing up in Britain. Our goal is to leverage the combined reach of our partnership to achieve a step change in the way social action programmes are funded and delivered in Britain. We have already had a significant impact by collaborating and joining up the dots but now we intend to go further. We have worked with research partners to design a robust impact framework to evidence and improve the outcomes that social action programmes achieve. Over the next 2 years, we will support a critical mass of youth charities to adopt our framework, and build a vibrant learning community to elevate best practice and improve delivery across the UK. In doing so, we can help funders, employers and educators identify the programmes and practices that have the highest impact and potential to scale. 5

4 Context of the vacancy Chair of Trustees vacancy Our founding board of pioneering chief executives and social entrepreneurs created as a sector-led response to the historic challenge of growing participation in quality social action in the UK. In our first three years we built a committed partnership of 18 organisations that has set the agenda with government and led to greater cooperation in delivery. We have now embarked on two strategic projects that give our organisation the means to make dramatic progress towards achieving our mission over the next three to five years. Sam Conniff has recently joined our board as our first independent Chair, someone who does not have a link to one of our Founding Member organisations but is solely focused on s mission on its own terms. We are now seeking skilled trustees who can provide key roles in shaping the organisation s independence and capability for delivering its products and services. You will be joining a board of highly enterprising leaders; who are redefining the nature of youth volunteering in their own charities, and who have successfully led organisational growth that has been out of pace with the wider youth sector. Your focus will be in helping to achieve its aims, supporting our Director, who has been with the organisation since its inception, to lead a small team of paid staff and volunteers from our Member organisations. Our organisation is accountable to our National Steering Committee, a bi-annual meeting of the chief executives of our Founding Members. About is seeking a Chair to lead our board of trustees for the next 3 to 6 years. As Chair, you will join our Board of Directors, and become a registered Trustee of the organisation for a period of 3 years, with the option to renew your post for a second term of a further 3 years. Timeframe Applications close: 30th September 2018 Selection panel: on a rolling basis Start date: September November (negotiable) 2018 End of post (with option to renew): November 2021 Time commitment Approximately 15 hours per month including: Four Board meetings of 2 hours per year, An annual Board Away Day Monthly 1:1 meeting with Director Attending events (at least 2 per year) 7

5 Mission statement About the role Lead the Trustees, enabling the Board to fulfil its governance responsibilities and ensure its effectiveness Our mission is to grow the market for youth social action by making it easy for anyone in any setting to adopt, access and recognise best practice in youth social action. Be responsible for the overall governance and strategic direction of, working in partnership with the Director Provide support to the Director in the effective management and delivery of the strategic aims and objectives of Ensure that the values of underpin all of the Board decisions and the charity s activities Planning, setting and chairing the annual cycle of Board meetings and AGM Acting as an ambassador for, acting as a spokesperson at events, in meetings and with the media where appropriate. Application process Please provide your CV along with a covering letter stating: why you wish to work for the organisation, how your skills and background would add value to the board, and any other relevant information. Send to our Director: david.reed@generationchange.org.uk 9

6 Why social action? The Changemaker Generation Young people today have never had so much appetite to do good in the world. They are more likely to volunteer, and they care more about social issues than any other generation before them a trend that is already transforming graduate recruitment and the way that brands seek to engage them as customers. This shift is not an anomaly it s seismic. The old consensus about how the world should work is broken. Citizens have lost faith in the power of consumerism to make the world a better place and it is increasingly clear that social purpose will be what drives economic success in the 21st century. And thank goodness, because the world young people are inheriting is in bad shape. This generation will come of age in a world defined by rising inequality, a deepening crisis of social isolation and loneliness, and the threats of climate change, technological disruption, and economic change. Solving these challenges is where all of the most rewarding jobs and new business will come from in the coming decades. This means we will fail our young people if we do not equip them with change-making skills from an early age. The ability to make a positive difference in the world is no longer a nice to have. We need all young people to be given high quality experiences of taking part in social action. It s a necessity. The double benefit of social action Social action helps to connect young people s enthusiasm and interests to the problems that their communities face. This can give every young person a job to do - acting as a powerful form of work experience. Young people who take part in structured social action programmes are shown to be more successful in interviews and in hard tests of the skills that employers seek most but struggle to recruit for: like teamwork, problem solving and resilience. At the same time, social action programmes have been shown to make a significant impact in an area of high social need, such as reducing the attainment gap in schools, or tackling severe mental health problems. Young people can make a unique impact on these causes above and beyond existing services that might be in place. Younger volunteers form unique relationships with those in need, and bring a unique perspective, energy and idealism to long-standing social problems. 11

7 Why? A Changemaker society We believe the UK should be tapping into this generation s desire to do good by giving every young person a high quality opportunity to address social need in the places where they live. By doing so, we could mobilise millions of extra hands to tackle the problems our communities face in the here and now. At the same time, we can support young people to thrive and develop the skills they will need as adults. And over time, we can build a new culture of citizenship and giving in this country to enrich all our lives. In the UK, hundreds of charities and social enterprises seek to recruit young people into social action and support them to make an impact. These programmes can start as young as the age of 5 and span all the way up until 25 and into adulthood. They take place inside and outside of the classroom, and at all the pivotal transition points in young people s journey. But social action is still not a mainstream part of young people s lives in the same way as sport or music despite there being considerable demand from young people. Our vision is to see social action woven into every stage of growing up in the UK as a high status activity recognised and valued by schools, colleges, universities, and employers. Background In 2012, then Prime Minister David Cameron launched the Decade of Social Action review, stating his aim to grow participation in social action across the ages of 10 and 20 by encouraging volunteering opportunities before and after the newly launched National Citizen Service (NCS) scheme for 16 year olds. Our founding trustees 7 chief executives and entrepreneurs who were redefining the role of social action for young people came together to shape this review by setting out a dramatic vision for how it could succeed. The UK had, at this stage, experienced a troubled history when it came to youth volunteering. David Cameron and his two predecessors had each scrapped a flagship volunteering scheme and set up their own. Youth social action had never become as embedded in UK society as it is in the US, Germany or Canada and we lack a recognised institution like Americorps or similar civic service schemes in other developed countries. The vision our founders presented to Number 10 inspired and then shaped the creation of a multi-million pound, cross sector campaign led by the Prince of Wales the #iwill campaign. They launched during this time as a vehicle for leading collaboration between delivery organisations. 13

8 Early achievements first coined the double benefit definition of social action, along with 6 quality principles both of which are now ubiquitously used by Government, education, business and voluntary sectors as a central part of the #iwill campaign. We secured 18 of the UK s leading charities that deliver social action to sign up to our Charter of Commitments and pledge staff time to achieving our mission. We worked to advance public understanding of best practice in social action and inform strategic funding for delivery. This meant that we: Shaped the evaluation of an 11 million 2-year Government trials programme Helped write the tendering of grant funding worth a combined 81 million for youth social action delivery Created a best practice guide that consulted over 65 youth organisations and was accessed by over 1200 unique users Launched a manifesto and policy report in parliament in advance of the 2015 general election We facilitated collaboration amongst our Members, involving over 120 members of staff and 4 long term working groups, that resulted in: 12 direct delivery partnerships involving at least two members that created more opportunities for young people. New funding for strategic work to expand youth social action in the care homes setting Over 400 referrals between members for services and programme opportunities Over two thirds of our member chief executives say that their organisation s long term goals can only be achieved through 75% say that staff at their organisation have significantly benefitted from membership 6 Members peer reviewed each other s impact frameworks and 3 adopted new evaluation methods as a result 15

9 Supporters More recent achievements There has been a significant alignment of Government policy with the aims of with progress on each of our 5 manifesto asks made at the 2015 election. We have: Hosted the Minister for Civil Society at an event in Manchester that demonstrated the importance of a joined up social action journey before and after NCS Advocated for increased funding for non NCS delivery, and produced costings research that helped inform the creation of a 40 million fund for social action the #iwill fund. Led a campaign for full time social action to be given a legal status, which has resulted in an independent inquiry. Led coordinated joint responses to key policy announcements, and hosted roundtables with senior figures in Government to shape legislation: e.g. the incorporation of National Citizen Service by Royal Charter The youth social action sector is going from strength to strength Dan Jarvis MP, speaking about Generation Change in Parliament (2017) The Government s commitment to grow National Citizen Service (NCS) for 16 year olds will enable thousands more young people to get a taste of social action. However, many young people are ready to start that journey much earlier, while many more are keen to take on bigger and different challenges once they finish NCS. It s important that we can sustain funding for opportunities that have equally powerful outcomes for young people at different stages and in different situations in life. Rob Wilson MP, Minister for Civil Society, speaking at a event in Manchester (2015) 17

10 Context of the vacancy There are already great charities, leaders and young people who are leading the way (...) But they need more than just warm words and congratulations from a future government., a coalition of leading organisations that support young people to give something back, has set out what actions we need to see from a new government. I agree with them: we need to do much more to embed volunteering and community action within the school system. Lord Blunkett, writing in the Guardian about (2015) I hope continues to play a significant role in improving, connecting and broadening social action opportunities available to young people. Nick Hurd MP, speaking as Minister for Civil Society (2014) Our founding board of pioneering chief executives and social entrepreneurs created as a sector-led response to the historic challenge of growing participation in quality social action in the UK. In our first three years we built a committed partnership of 18 organisations that set the agenda with government and led to greater cooperation in delivery. We then recruited Sam Conniff-Allende as our Interim Chair to lead us out of this innovation stage into a period of organizational development and growth so that we could deliver and scale the solutions we created for the sector. This includes our Impact Accelerator scheme, wider network offer, a digital mapping tool called Horizon, and a rework of our membership model that enables any organization to join our movement by participating in our online and offline learning network. Under Sam s leadership, has developed a compelling, honed business model for achieving systems change. We have a sustainable pipeline of funding for our services, and a team that has developed the processes and management tools to scale our offer across the country. We are now looking for a Board Chair who can champion our mission to stakeholders in government and the private sector, to identify partnership opportunities and avenues for funding that will enable to deliver on its potential as a catalyst for systemic change. 19

11 Current Board We are interested in leaders with an experience in leading systems change or growing social ventures. You will not necessarily need to be a youth charity leader, but will have a strong belief in young people s ability to change the world, and a commitment to our mission. As Chair of our Board you will help to lead the organisation in a critical stage of its development as we undertake ambitious work to transform the way our sector operates. You will help us to build a critical mass of organisations willing to join our movement. You will be joining a board of enterprising leaders; who are redefining the nature of youth volunteering in their own charities, and who have successfully led organisational growth that has been out of pace with wider youth services. And you will take a leading role at the forefront of an exciting area of social transformation that has the backing of government, private businesses and education institutions. Your focus will be in helping to achieve its aims, supporting our Director to lead a small team of paid staff and facilitate a growing and dynamic network of youth practitioners and funders. Sam Conniff Chair of the Board Author, Be More Pirate; Co-Founder, Livity Co-founder and joint CEO for 16 years of youth-led creative network Livity, Sam has recently taken a step back from the hands-on running of Livity, becoming its Chief Purpose Officer, focused on growing opportunities for social impact across the organisation. Sam is an influential figure in the fields of marketing and social enterprise, making regular media appearances on The Politics Show, Sky News, Financial Times, and Radio 4. Sam has been acknowledged as one of the Top 5 of 50 New Radicals by The Observer and was awarded the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the year Award. Sam is a trustee for the Ernst & Young Foundation, and sits on the board for NESTA and The Cabinet Office s 15m Social Action and Innovation investment fund. He is also mentor to dozens of young entrepreneurs. Sam s first book, Be more pirate: a 21st Century survival guide for young leaders, was published in May

12 Sophie Livingstone Trustee Chair, Little Village Sophie co-founded in 2013 and led the organisation as its Co-Chair until September In this role she represented the youth social action sector on the Steering Committee of HRH Prince of Wales #iwill campaign. Sophie is Chair of early years charity Little Village and a trustee of the Royal Voluntary Service. She was also the founding Chief Executive of City Year UK from November 2009 until December While she was Deputy Chief Executive of the Private Equity Foundation, Sophie was introduced to City Year and led efforts to bring the organisation to the UK, raising initial funding and building a range of stakeholder support for City Year s model of full time social action. In 2016 she received the Mayor s Fund for London Individual Award for outstanding achievement and lasting impact in tackling the skills and employment agenda for young Londoners from disadvantaged backgrounds. She was listed in the Debrett s 500 List of top Philanthropists and Activists in Michael Lynas Trustee Chief Executive, The NCS Trust Michael Lynas is Chief Executive of the NCS Trust, the independent body that delivers National Citizen Service (NCS). Michael joined NCS in 2013 from 10 Downing Street where he led on the establishment of National Citizen Service within government. Michael spent two and a half years as Senior Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister where his main work was on civil society, culture and philanthropy. In addition to introducing National Citizen Service, during his time at No.10 he also focussed on increasing rates of giving time and money by making volunteering more engaging and exploiting new technologies; growing levels of social investment including through the world s first social investment bank, Big Society Capital; and increasing engagement and social capital in local neighbourhoods. He also co-ordinated No.10 s Olympic 2012 policy work. Michael has previously worked as a strategy consultant for Bain and Company. He has an MA in politics from Cambridge University, and a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard. 23

13 Tessy Ojo Trustee Chief Executive, The Diana Award Tessy Ojo is the Chief Executive of The Diana Award the only charity that bears the name of Diana, Princess of Wales. The charity benefits from the support of The Royal Highnesses, Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as the UK Prime Minister as a Patron. Tessy is an inspirational speaker and regularly consults and comments on issues around youth participation, charity growth, diversity, women in leadership and other social issues affecting young people. Prior to joining The Diana Award, Tessy worked in the corporate sector for over 10 years and helped to implement the robust operational planning systems for IBM UK, Borders UK and more. Today, alongside leading The Diana Award, Tessy is on the boards of two charities and sits on the governing board of a chain of academies in London. Tessy is a recipient of various Awards recognizing her outstanding contribution to the wellbeing of young people including an Excellence Award from Eva Longoria s Global Gift Foundation. Jennie Butterworth Trustee Chief Executive, Envision Jennie is a co-founder of and Chief Executive of the charity Envision. In a previous life Jennie was a Director of Policy and Public Affairs for a large national youth charity, Fairbridge, and has led on a wide range of policy issues seeking to benefit the most disadvantaged young people in our society. Jennie was on the original group convened by David Cameron to develop the concept of a National Citizen Service. Prior to this, Jennie had 12 years experience of working in alternative education. She previously developed a programme to engage pupils from 50 schools in setting up community orchards, and secured over 1 million to get it started. She has also led several in-school youth empowerment programmes, including a 6 million project to enable young people to enhance their school grounds. Jennie has a wider experience of community volunteering. Her recruitment campaign to revitalise the image of volunteering for Women s Voluntary Service won the Institute of Public Relations Sword of Excellence (the first time it was awarded to a charity against stiff competition from the commercial sector). 25

14 Chair of Trustees vacancy Person specification Peter Askew Trustee Director of Innovation, GoodBrand Peter Askew is the Director of Innovation at GoodBrand, a certified B corporation who track their own social impact, and pursue impact-led innovation through helping businesses combine commercial and social value creation. He has been working there for 10 years to demonstrate the case for change, provoke and inspire the right kinds of clients and scale GoodBrand s approach to make it more accessible to visionary brand owners. He has designed and delivered new models to help change maker organisations compete and win, sustainably. Prior to, Peter was also a trustee for seven years for the Royal Voluntary Service, who support and enable older people to live fulfilled and independent lives. A passion and belief in the power of young people to change the world is a must. You will have a commitment to and understanding of social action, and you yourself will have a prior background in philanthropy, social entrepreneurship or service in public life. We expect our ideal candidate to have a career background from outside of the youth / volunteering sector, such as another charity field, a commercial sector or from a background of entrepreneurship. You will have extensive professional experience, with significant executive leadership accomplishments in business, government, philanthropy, or the non-profit sector. You will have a particular insight and passion for systems change in your field, with experience and success in managing multi stakeholder relationships. In your career you will have had worked to deliver strong partnerships, new ventures or game changing products and services. You will have proven diplomatic skills and a natural affinity for cultivating relationships, and persuading, convening and facilitating consensus among diverse individuals. Personal qualities of integrity, credibility and a passion for improving the lives of young people. We are also seeking applicants that have an interest or background in applying new forms of digital technology, although this is not a must have. Service on s board of trustees is without 27

15 remuneration, except in rare cases for travel and personal costs incurred in relation to board members duties. Board terms s Chair (and board members) serve a three-year term to be eligible for re-appointment for one additional term. Board meetings will be held quarterly. Job role As a partner to the other trustees, the Chair will provide leadership to as it transitions from a new start up organization into a sustainable national body. The Board Chair will work with the Director to support and sustain the work of and will provide leadership over governance and strategic fundraising support. Specific responsibilities include: Leadership Being a trusted advisor to the Director as they develop and implement s strategic plan. Developing and managing relationships with: funders, partners, and other key stakeholders Coordinating an annual performance review of the Director. Acting as an ambassador for the organization. Governance As a board member, approving s annual budget, audit reports, and material business decisions; being informed of, and meeting all, legal and fiduciary responsibilities. Reviewing outcomes and metrics created by Generation Change for evaluating its progress and impact, and regularly measuring its performance and effectiveness. Assisting the trustees in recruiting board members, as well as consulting with other trustees on their roles and helping them assess their performance. Chairing and facilitating board meetings; partnering with the Director to ensure that board resolutions are carried out. Ensuring s board decisions reflect the strategic direction, leadership and counsel of our National Forum. Fundraising In collaboration with the Director, generating sufficient annual revenue to meet our strategic goals and fostering s overall financial health. Application process Please provide your CV along with a covering letter stating: why you wish to work for the organisation, how your skills and background would add value to the board, and any other relevant information. Send to our Director: david.reed@generationchange.org.uk 29

16 Contact Us Contact our Director, David Reed using the details below. Phone: Find out more about at: 31

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