City of Chelmsford Mencap
Trustee of a Learning Disability Charity - Volunteer
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About CCM
CCM supports people with learning disabilities, being a valued part of the local community. We help develop confidence, independence and skills so that students can lead as independent a lifestyle as possible. We currently need new trustees to help implement our long term strategic plan.
What Difference Will You Make?
Our charity has many strengths. It benefits from committed staff, dedicated volunteers, an engaged Board of Trustees, a strong local reputation and ownership of its own premises. Most importantly, it continues to make a significant difference to the lives of the people it supports.
However, the environment in which the organisation operates is changing. Like many charities, CCM faces increasing financial pressures, rising operating costs, growing competition for grants and fundraising income, and uncertainty around future public sector funding. At the same time, demand for support remains strong and expectations around outcomes, governance and organisational resilience continue to increase.
Our work is vital to the local community and also supports global initiatives to raise awareness of, and improve the rights of, all people with disabilities. Our strategic plan aims to elevate us to a level where we can focus on these key objectives.
New trustees will immediately be involved in implementing these plans, each step in the plan strengthening the charity and moving us closer to our long term objectives. Trustees joining now will not be joining a "business as usual" environment, we are committed to change in a way which will improve the lives of our service users and help push the agenda for people living with learning disabilities. All skills and experience will be put to use by involvement in relevant workstreams.
The difference new trustees make will be immediate and apparent.
What Are We Looking For?
Our current board of trustees is diverse in all respects, including skill sets. In fact we regularly find that trustees underestimate the experience and skills they possess, taking for granted knowledge that they assume everyone possesses. Often skills such as change or project management, people management, time management, organisational management, marketing, etc. are overlooked because they are just "part of the job".
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The strategic plan we are undertaking is sufficiently varied that all skills and experience would be useful. Considering the current skill sets of the board, we would be particularly interested in trustees who could bring social media, advertising and marketing experience in addition to strong IT skills. Also with the implementation of our strategic plan, prior experience in project or change management would be helpful.
Maybe the main quality we are looking for in a trustee is enthusiasm. All our service users approach every task with energy and enthusiasm and seeing these same qualities in their board is the least they can expect.
There is a mix amongst the trustees of people who have personal experience of learning disabilities, usually through family members, some have professional experience through their work and some with no prior, close links to learning disabilities. What is clear amongst all trustees is that the desire to help people whose circumstances are less fortunate than their own is a key driver. Whether this drive simply comes from within or from experience is irrelevant, the willingness to help is all important.
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What Will You Be Doing?
We currently have a very strong senior management team who take responsibility for the day to day operation of the charity. The board of trustees ensure we are approachable when required and have set up sub-committees so that the team know where to direct queries.
Like many small charities, a large focus is on short term finances. We are looking to become more strategic and implement a 5 year plan which will enable us to focus on taking the charity forward by raising awareness of the organisation, strengthening partnerships, improving communications and social media activity, increasing community engagement and positioning the charity to respond to future opportunities arising from Local Government Reorganisation and wider system change. The plan has a number of phases as follows:
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Stabilisation: This includes addressing immediate financial pressures, reviewing service sustainability, exploring opportunities to increase income and utilisation, and considering how organisational assets can best support future resilience.
Strengthening the organisation: Through improved systems, stronger governance, clearer outcomes and a more diversified funding base.
Growth, influence and long-term sustainability: Ensuring that the charity is well positioned to respond to future opportunities and challenges whilst remaining true to its values and community roots.
By 2031, the ambition is for City of Chelmsford Mencap to be:
- Financially sustainable and less reliant on subsidy.
- Supported by diverse and resilient income streams.
- Recognised for the quality and impact of its services.
- Strongly governed and less dependent on individual people.
- A trusted partner across the voluntary, health and social care sectors.
- An influential voice for people with learning disabilities and their families.
- A thriving community organisation with people with lived experience at the heart of decision making.
The work involved in implementing this plan will involve numerous workstreams covering many different areas. We need additional trustees to oversee these workstreams ensuring the charity maintains the standard of day to day operations whilst building towards a better future. Trustees will provide guidance and support to ensure the work remains on track.
The diversity of the work involved in implementing our strategy means that almost any experience or skill set that a trustee might bring with them will be useful. It will be a question of allocating oversight of the workstreams efficiently between the board.
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