Trustees to join arts centre charity - Volunteer in Whitstable

We are seeking new trustees to expand the board at our arts charity - particularly with experience in finance & accounting, marketing & digital media or fundraising - to be part of a team committed to evolving the charity to meet the challenges of the next five years.

What difference will you make? We have developed incredible initiatives that we want to grow further and exciting changes we need to make to the building itself, but we need a broader board if we are going to be able to support our team to deliver them. Our ARTbank is one example, which started as a small project during Covid, but has now become a dedicated space in the centre to enable everyone to take part in the arts, but we have plans to take this nationally as a movement.

As an organisation we have been historically very good at earning revenue through income streams, but that has left our fundraising area with less focus and while progress has been made on developing this, industry experience in this area would make a big difference on the future of the centre going forward. We have a great connection with our community, but our reach to share what we do and the events that take place can sometimes fall short, with a disjointed approach to marketing ourselves and the activities we deliver. A trustee with the right skills has the potential to have a huge impact on the organisation's success and growth.

Underpinning all of our work is an incredible senior management team, but the finance manager only had support at board level from proficient trustees, not any with accounting or deep finance skills for a couple of years now. As we look to develop our revenue portfolio, a trustee skilled in this area would be of incredible support and drive development further.

What are we looking for? As we are seeking to grow the board there is more than a single opportunity available. We are particularly looking for skills in:

• Finance and accounting – we generate revenue through charitable and non-charitable income and have recently had to register for VAT. The board relies heavily on the experience of the finance manager and our accountant and their advice. A trustee with skills that both support the board's decision making process and provides alternative experienced views and challenge would be beneficial.
• Marketing and digital media – we currently engage through printed materials within the centre and town, along with newsletters, social media and limited advertising to promote our activities, but need to develop a broader approach to sharing the work we do. This would cover the positive impacts it has as well as growing our reach to increase audiences and participation. This is quite a blank canvas at the moment, so would benefit from an individual with skills in developing strategies and effective ways to implement with a small staff team.
• Fundraising – We would also welcome those with skills in fundraising. A growth area for our income is in grants as we have previously focused on earned income and whilst we have been successful in this area, we cannot apply it consistently with our small team and would benefit from skills that could develop a strategy for this area and how to most effectively apply limited resources.

What will you be doing? As a trustee, you will be a vital part of our leadership team deciding how we can best meet our objectives and serve our community over the next 3–5 years to ensure we remain a space where everyone can experience creativity. We have been a small board until now but with important decisions to be made on the future direction and funding we are looking to grow the board with skilled trustees. This is a fantastic opportunity to use your professional skills or lived experience to help steer our organisation toward its next chapter.

There are opportunities across our income streams including retail, venue hire, exhibitions, live events and creative activities as well as grant funding, membership and sponsorship. Plus we will be developing our staff team, physical building and broad technology usage. We are actively seeking a treasurer, but are also looking to grow sub-committees and have board members take part in or lead these groups. It is a chance to be part of a passionate, creative team of committed staff, volunteers and board members, that strive to make a major contribution to the cultural life of Whitstable.

We are a small, independent and nimble organisation that is able to quickly respond to changing environments, and we want to grow our ability to do this. The role can be much more than monthly board meetings; join private views, project launches and more. Apply your skills in a new way while gaining experience within the charity sector and our role in the community.