Treasurer for Bracknell Shopmobility - Volunteer

Do you have financial skills and enthusiasm to help an organisation that supports disabled people?

You could be the next Treasurer for Bracknell Shopmobility.

What difference will you make?

What do you get as a volunteer trustee with our organisation?

• An opportunity to exercise your strategic financial & planning skills, probably in a different context
• An opportunity to influence and collectively-govern an organisation supporting disabled people
• A chance to expand and implement your understanding of our work
• A chance to augment your experience of charities
• A boost to your career and CV, if needed
• Satisfaction of helping an organisation that supports disabled people, thus giving something back to your community

What do we get?

• Your strategic financial management skills, knowledge, understanding or experience
• Your abilities to influence plans for our charity’s financial future
• Enhancement to our overall governance and the Board of trustees; improvement in our charity governance and operational growth
• Your participation in our collective decision-making, contributing to all areas of our charity work
• Your enthusiasm

What do our beneficiaries get?

• The ability to continue our support to disabled people in Bracknell
• A well-governed charity, financially sustainable for the future
• A forward-looking and agile organisation, with a well-informed Board

What are we looking for?

Here is some of what we would want for this Treasurer role. We expect sufficient experience in some of these areas, but also know that you may need training and support from other trustees and from external organisations, and that that will be forthcoming, as necessary, to build on any area.

• Clear commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, valuing differences to make better decisions and deliver better outcomes
• Understanding of the needs of our beneficiaries is desirable; an empathy with them is essential
• Experience and knowledge of managing finances, bookkeeping or similar
• Experience and knowledge of current practice relevant to voluntary and community groups, charities or SME finance would be useful; an outline understanding of the Charities SORP would be welcome but NOT required
• A recognised financial and/or accounting qualification would be highly beneficial but is not a prerequisite
• Ability to clearly communicate financial information, especially to other trustees whose in-depth financial knowledge may be less than yours
• Strategic vision; good, independent judgement; ability to think creatively, tempered by pragmatism and reality
• Secure personal access to digital communication and able to competently use those resources
• Commitment to the organisation; willingness and ability to devote the necessary time & effort
• Experience of committee or similar work, with an understanding of the role of the Treasurer in effective (charity or corporate) governance, would be highly-valued
• Willingness to be available to our bookkeeper and employees/volunteers with financial responsibilities on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis to provide advice and answer enquiries

Hybrid Working

What will you be doing?

Set up in 2004, Bracknell Shopmobility is the independent charity helping local people’s mobility and disability needs, from hire of mobility scooters to advice on disability aids and liaison with Health professionals. We run mobility scooter hire from our shop in central Bracknell, with our community café and fundraising activities, plus contact with professionals who can advise on issues faced by disabled people, their carers and families. We’re a small charity in 2024/25, our income was £52k, and we maintained our Balance Sheet of 2 years’ running costs, whilst we robustly plan for our future growth, advised by our new Treasurer alongside other trustees.

The role and what we are looking for in a new Treasurer

Trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity. Our Board includes people with experience and skills in managing the charity, with some newer trustees. We’d expect our Treasurer to have empathy with our cause and our beneficiaries, as well as good financial acumen. Although we’d welcome your financial qualification, that’s not a prerequisite, as our finances aren’t complex. You also don’t necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, and while an understanding of how charity finance works would be beneficial, of course, the ability to communicate financial information clearly, especially to other trustees, is vital. Full induction to our organisation will be provided, plus specialist support including access to external training. We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles to governing our organisation. We are looking for fresh expertise and experience from a variety of backgrounds to our charity; we want to expand the diversity of our Board, in all meanings, and strongly welcome applications from people from less-represented groups.

The Board meets every two months in Bracknell and although meetings are currently face-to-face, we intend to enable to a hybrid mode; most of your voluntary duties can be carried-out online. We ask for about 8 hours per month; this includes all meetings, correspondence, communication, etc.