Chair of Board of Trustees - ECT Charity

As our current Chair stands down from the role after completing 6 years as a trustee and 3 as Chair, we are starting the process of finding someone able to build on his exceptional impact.

What will you be doing?

ECT Charity provides a wide variety of services in the communities where we work - each based on an unmet local need with the aim of making a difference to people's lives.  To us, community transport is not just a matter of getting people from A to B.

Our aim is to make journeys possible for the most vulnerable and isolated people in our communities. Whether it's a GP appointment, a day out with friends, a minibus serving a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school or a simple trip to the shops, we connect people with the services that support them to lead active and independent lives, and when regular transport cannot provide the right solution. 

We've been doing this for more than four decades - ECT Charity started as Ealing Community Transport in 1979, with a founding mission to provide transport for older and disabled people in Ealing, London. From our headquarters in Greenford, west London, we have expanded our operation to depots in Dorset and Cheshire. 

As a leading charity in the community transport sector and one of the largest, we are not only known for the professionalism and commitment of our staff, but also for the innovative contributions we have made to national policy development, including building a sector-leading approach to social value and its measurement.

Estimate of time needed: 0-5 hours / month or 1-3 hours / week. Attendance at 4 Board meetings/yr, 3 committees 3/yr each (optional) an annual off-site and interaction at times when required.

What are we looking for?

We are seeking a dedicated and charismatic leader, with a proven track record of chairing a board or committee, potentially with previous charity Board experience. A full role description is provided in our pack, but the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate: 

• Shared values and a commitment to our mission: The most essential criteria for our new Chair is that they must hold a fundamental belief in our cause and share our values. You will bring enthusiasm, understanding and a passion for our mission - and be committed to work with their fellow Trustees and the CEO to make a positive difference to the lives of our beneficiary community. 
• A passion for good governance: The ideal candidate will bring proven experience of governance and strategy, ensuring that our Trustees make an effective contribution and are engaged, fully involved and invested in the charity in discharging their responsibilities. They will combine these practical governance and oversight skills with strategic and creative vision and strong, independent judgment. They will also reflect ECT Charity's commitment to promoting equality and diversity. 
• A collaborative and thoughtful leader: The ideal candidate will have a way of working in harmony with our values - a compassionate, fair, inclusive and collaborative leadership style - able to offer constructive challenge while maintaining tact, confidentiality and diplomacy. We are also seeking a good team player, willing to make themselves available to staff to provides for advice and answer enquiries on an ad hoc basis. 
• A skilled communicator: Each dimension of the Chair's role is underpinned by the need for great communication skills. Additionally, a strong external presence with a substantial network of contacts and excellent networking abilities would be highly valuable. The successful candidate will need demonstrable experience of building and sustaining relationships with key stakeholders and colleagues to achieve organisational objectives.  
• Taken together, we want a Chair who is dedicated to our cause, curious about how we can do better, compassionate towards our people and collaborative in their approach. They will help us develop and maintain a culture of high performance which is genuinely inclusive. The new Chair will need to take the time to understand the intricacies of our charity, which can be more complex than it first appears. 

What difference will you make?

Our new Chair will find a range of challenges and opportunities - both new and historic - as the organisation develops into the future. 

• We have made significant progress on our governance in recent years and have a solid foundation to build on. The new Chair will ensure that we do not lose momentum. 
• We are making good progress on developing its commercial options - which means developing new skills and pursuing different regulatory structures. The charity will need to ensure both success in these ventures and prevent them distracting from the core mission. 
• In 2024, we have completed a major project to update our sector-leading Social Value toolkit which provides us with opportunities to expand our influence by demonstrating the value of the sector to the sphere of public policy. 
• The desire to influence public policy is shaped by ongoing regulatory uncertainty around our current operations. We have been adroit at navigating these uncertainties over many years, but they continue to factor in our environment. 

We make a positive difference in our communities underpinned by our economic performance as an organisation. Well-run services and sustainable finances enable our social impact with pre-audit figures for 2023/24 revealing our turnover increasing from £5.8m in 2022/23 to £6.4m. Growth has been organic, reflecting our efforts to bring our services to as many people as possible in our current areas of operation.

To ensure we remain a viable, sustainable and impactful organisation, we have been focussing our attention on improving the efficiency of our operations, continuing to upgrade our vehicle fleet and seeking new opportunities for income. You will play a key role in enabling us to achieve our ambitions successfully, remaining focussed on our charitable mission.

Before you apply

Please contact us via Reach for an application form.