Chair of Trustees

About Glass Door Homeless Charity

Our vision is a world where no one has to sleep on the streets of London, and we’re working every day to achieve this. By partnering with churches and community centres to provide shelter and support, Glass Door is committed to supporting people get—and stay—off the street. We are open to all, space permitting. We do not require our guests to fill in long, complicated forms or prove they have a local connection to gain access to our services.

What will you be doing?

The Chair leads the board, ensuring that it governs the charity effectively, in service of the charity’s vision and mission.

The Chair leads in an inclusive way, supporting the Board to work together well, and providing support and challenge to the Chief Executive.

The Chair is also an ambassador for the charity.

This role can be done mostly from home, or mostly from the office.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for a new Chair with the following:

• Experience of being a Trustee in the third sector and an understanding of the legal responsibilities and liabilities of a Trustee/director.
• Desirable to have a broad knowledge and understanding of the issues surrounding homelessness and current issues affecting rough sleeping, homelessness and housing.
• A keen sense of strategic purpose and experience of operating at a senior strategic leadership level within an organisation with a track record in supporting growth and success.
• Strong leadership skills able to foster and promote a collaborative team environment and an inclusive and collaborative leadership style: able to inspire and support everyone to participate on an equal footing.
• An ability to facilitate, mediate, influence and respect the confidences of colleagues.
• The ability to listen and engage effectively. You are comfortable with challenge and debate and are able to encourage that in others whilst fostering a collaborative board environment.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills.
• Advocate and ambassador – possess gravitas to lead the organisation and be able and willing to champion Glass Door’s work through personal networks, social media, and other channels.
• Demonstrate a strong and visible passion and commitment to Glass Door’s guests and ensure that the interests of our guests drive the decisions of the Board.
• Desirable to have strong networking capabilities that can be utilised for the benefit of the charity.
• A strong personal commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• A willingness to devote necessary time and effort to your duties as Chair and be available and responsive (e.g. when things sometimes ‘come up’ that require the Chair to advise, support or give consent to).

Glass Door values diversity, promotes equality and encourages applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from people with lived experience of homelessness.

Although Glass Door’s services are often offered within churches or church-owned properties, individuals with connections to a variety of faiths or none work for, volunteer at, and use the services of Glass Door.

What difference will you make?

Our vision is a world where no one has to sleep on the streets of London and we’re working every day to achieve this. Your role as a Chair will offer you an incredibly rewarding experience to use your skills and collaborate with the rest of the Board and staff members for the benefit of people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.

Commitment:

Estimate of time needed: one to three hours per week. 6 Board meetings annually. Please see candidate pack for further details.

How to apply:

Please apply by covering letter and CV or similar (LinkedIn profile, portfolio, etc.) to the TrusteeWorks team. We are keen to make our recruitment process as fair as possible and to reduce bias. All applications will be anonymised for review. Please include the following information in your cover letter:

• Why you are interested in joining our Board
• Your relevant skills and experience (see Who we are looking for)
• How you think you could apply your skills and experience to strengthen our Board in the role of our Chair.

If you have any questions please email the TrusteeWorks team.

Interviews will be held from 9 October 2023.