Trusteeship
Would you consider becoming a Trustee?
Join the start of the next stage of our exciting journey. Over the next few years you can make a significant contribution to developing new initiatives and income streams and thinking creatively about how to maximize our impact in bringing positive change to the area.
Our Project and Services
The Chase and Kings Forest Community Project is a charity and company limited by guarantee which provides support services to community and voluntary sector organisations including charities, social enterprises, community partnerships, equalities and faith groups in the Chase and Kings Forest area. Our most recent tranche of funding which is from the South Gloucestershire Local Strategic Partnership “Our Area Our Future” now funds us to deliver services across the whole Chase and Kings Forest area as well as the priority neighbourhoods of Kingswood, Staple Hill and Cadbury Heath that we formerly focused on.
Our services include organisational health checks, support in governance, finance, staff management, marketing and communications, fundraising and the development of business plans as well as community development. Alongside this we run a volunteer brokerage service, offer membership of our organisation, information bulletins, training, networking meetings and produce a quarterly newsletter.
We contribute to strategic sector work on the South Gloucestershire Voluntary Leader’s Board and are involved in developing initiatives that will strengthen the sector such as a South Gloucestershire sector survey, database and training and the research and establishment of an anchor or anchors for the Kingswood locality where there are two areas without parish councils (Kingswood and Staple Hill).
Why You?
As we move forward, it is important that we have the right people in the team who will enjoy and gain satisfaction from the opportunities and challenges ahead. We are looking for people who have enthusiasm and passion for the work we are or could be delivering, bring a range of skills, knowledge and potential new networks or sectors to the Board.
We are looking for skills in accountancy; law; social enterprise and small businesses; marketing and PR; health and wellbeing; government; equalities groups including younger people, people with disabilities, BME and faith groups etc; and operational management. We are seeking to model best practice as an organisation and represent a range of community interests.
Join the Team
Our Board has the capacity to expand to twelve Trustees. The current members are:
Michael Packer Chair/ Secretary
Retired local resident with experience in community development and Parish Councils. Chair of the Clocktower Association and Kingswood Museum
Anthony Jeffries Trustee
Local business man and Director of an engineering consultancy and experience in IT
Margaret Slucutt Trustee
Local resident and former Wiltshire Council Manager with experience in community development and infrastructure services.
Two Interested Parties
A member of the South Gloucestershire Older People’s Forum
A representative from Avon and Somerset Police
Time Commitment
Board meetings are currently held during the day, once a month for three hours. Future meetings will be held at the most convenient time and day to the majority of the members with the potential to be during the day or evening. As a Trustee would ask you to commit to attending a minimum 60% of the meetings for one year and the annual review which we plan next in January 2012. Meetings will be held within the local area. At this stage we can pay pre agreed out of pocket expenses but cannot yet pay travel expenses until we start generating our own income.
A No Commitment Introduction
Before making any commitments, we would like to invite you to come and meet the existing Trustees to find out more and meet those who you will be working with. For an initial discussion and to arrange to meet the team, please contact Rachel Barfoot, Locality Manger Tel. 0117 960 4186 Mob. 07544563150 Email: rachel.barfoot@cvs-sg.org.uk
Organisational Development
We have operated with a small Board of Trustees and later one part time Community Development Worker funded through South Gloucestershire Council since 1986. In 2009 the project gained funding to employ a part time Volunteer Worker to deliver a service in the local priority neighbourhoods.
In 2011 CVS South Gloucestershire secured an investment of £600,000 through the Local Strategic Partnership (Our Area Our Future) to 2015. Of this Chase and Kings Forest secured a full time Locality Manager who is Rachel Barfoot and is seconded from CVS South Gloucestershire, £25k per annum for a part time Infrastructure Development Worker and £15k per annum for a Volunteer Coordinator, to September 2015.
In addition we have a bid in for a Service Level Agreement from South Gloucestershire Council for the delivery of community development services in the priority neighbourhoods of Kingswood, Staple Hill and Cadbury Heath through a 2 day per week Community Development Worker.
We are also one of nine partners in the forward looking bid for £315k to the national Transforming Local Infrastructure fund for services across South Gloucestershire. If successful we will gain some additional income, funds for two new websites and have access to business development and sector research.
The volunteering element of the project is ripe for development and there is the opportunity to deliver specialist services such as in employment services or to reduce reoffending etc, develop partnerships and potentially set up a high profile volunteer centre.
Another key area of development is the need to generate income streams. Areas of work need to include a review of our membership, introduction of a charging structure for services and the development of marketable skills and expertise across the community voluntary, public and private sectors. We also need to explore the development of project and trading opportunities as well as developing a fundraising strategy. Alongside this we are currently seeking new accommodation to meet our impending expansion.
Staff Team
