Find your place in the field of good food

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Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Founding Trustee - Good Food Scotland

Feeding Britain
Remote working

Posted: 4 Sep 2024

Deadline: 4 Oct 2024

Compensation: Voluntary/Unpaid

Unpaid Volunteer Remote working

Job description

The Good Food Scotland programme has been developed by Feeding Britain. We are working toward a future where nobody in Scotland goes hungry, through a combination of direct project delivery, the allocation of grants to local partner organisations, and through our parliamentary links which enable us to provide policy recommendations which dovetail with the findings of Feeding Britain's Academic Advisory Group. Good Food Scotland is radically reforming the role, characteristics, and functions of community food provision through the establishment of affordable food clubs, known as Larders and Community Supermarkets, which offer beneficiaries attainable pathways from poverty, and dignified access to low-cost nutritious food, with minimal need for food banks. Expansion has been rapid: following the piloting of our first affordable food club in 2022, we are soon to establish our 10th in Glasgow, with 2,000 households having been supported so far. In late 2023, this work was featured in The Times & Sunday Times Christmas Appeal, and recent analysis suggests that this programme is successfully improving households’ dietary intake, wellbeing, and financial circumstances. Following this period of expansion, we have now reached the stage of seeking to register Good Food Scotland as its own charitable organisation, located within the wider Feeding Britain network, with its own governance, financial, and staffing procedures.     We are recruiting a minimum of three people to our founding board of trustees, and are seeking people with expertise in matters such as community food provision, retail, human resources, accounting, law, and communications. In addition, trustees should have a strong sense of empathy towards our mission to tackle food poverty in innovative and creative ways. The broad duties of a trustee are outlined in guidance by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

We welcome your consideration to become a founding member of our board of trustees. Role Description Responsibilities may include:

• Overseeing the process of reviewing, drafting, and implementing the charity’s strategy (a copy of the existing strategic plan for the Good Food Scotland programme is available upon request)
• Contributing to the development and monitoring of sound policies, practices, and procedures that will govern the charity’s work
• Helping to ensure that proper accounting records are kept, financial resources are properly controlled, invested and economically spent, in line with good governance, legal and regulatory requirements
• Liaising, where applicable, with the appropriate member of staff responsible for different aspects of the organisation’s work
• Acting as a counter signatory on charity cheques and important applications to funders
• Board‐level liaison with the external auditors on specific issues such as the Auditors’ Management Letter and the related board representations.

Essential Person Specifications

• An understanding of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a trustee
• A commitment to devote the necessary time to prepare for, attend, and contribute meaningfully at trustee meetings
• Support for the aims and ethos of Good Food Scotland’s work

Desirable Person Specifications

• Current knowledge of the regulatory and legislative environment in which Good Food Scotland would be operating
• Current knowledge of accountancy, auditing, bookkeeping and financial management practices
• Strategic financial planning, forecasting, and reporting skills
• The ability to analyse complex information and to present and communicate it in an accessible way

Application information

If you would like to be considered for this role, please send to andrew.forsey@feedingbritain.org by Friday 4th October 2024 a current CV and a maximum two-sided covering letter detailing why you feel you are a perfect fit for this role, including examples of how your experience demonstrates ways in which you can support our work. Thank you for your consideration.

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