Trustee for Youthline

Do you want to support the running of a longstanding, free and highly-effective counselling service for young people?

You could be a trustee for Bracknell-based charity, Youthline.

Set up in 1988, now a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee, we have just celebrated 35 successful years, offering more than 600 counselling hours to young people every month. Demand and complexity of services continue to increase, and we have thus improved space and availability to meet that demand.

Our anniversary year meant a new logo, and in 2023/24, our income was maintained at £220k, with a successful funding bid. Of course, income-generation remains a high priority, as for all charities.

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

Trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity. Our Board includes people with experience and skills in governing a youth counselling charity, and we require new trustees to have empathy with our cause and our beneficiaries. 

You don’t necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, as full induction and guidance from our trustees and staff will be provided, including access to external training, as needed.

We are looking for new trustees with some skills or experience in:

• Income-generation
• Employee & volunteer support/HR
• We also are looking for ‘general’ trustees who are interested in our mission and services

If you are unsure your abilities or experience fit our needs, please ask: we’re flexible how people can contribute to our charity. If you can think strategically and plan long-term, you have the primary skills needed by our trustees; you’ll also need to be able to work collectively with other Board members. Support from our paid employees is always available, as they deal with the day-to-day running of the organisation.

We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles to governing our organisation. We are looking for people from a variety of backgrounds to join our Board, and want to expand the diversity of our board, in all meanings of the word, strongly welcoming applications from people from less-represented groups. 

We ask for up to five hours of your time per month, less at some times of year, which includes all meetings, discussions, etc.  You will need access to digital communications, as some of our charity’s business is run that way, with quarterly Board meetings face-to-face in Bracknell.

How to apply  

This appointment is being managed for us by inVOLve Community Services, a charity-support organisation, who offer a no-obligation discussion by video or phone, and assistance with your application. A detailed Role Description and Person Specification can be made available to you upon request.  

Trustee appointments are subject to satisfactory references and completion of a Safeguarding course. 

Your CV or similar will be read by our existing trustees, and an interview offered as soon as mutually convenient.   

I need to know more   

Contact Mike Allen via Quick Apply below, for more information and arrange to have a no-obligation initial informal discussion (Teams/Zoom/phone)