Trusts officer volunteer volunteer roles in Manchester

Applications close at 9.a.m. Monday 23rd February 2026

Location: Home-based but with regular travel, including to periodic board meetings in London or other locations within the UK

This is an opportunity to chair a charity transforming lives by helping more people experience the positive impact of learning. You can help shape the future of this remarkable charity and lead the Board of Shannon Trust to broaden, deepen and mature what we deliver.

Who we are

Picture this: a person in prison who struggles with literacy and numeracy reads their first sentence, they write their first letter home to their children or completes their first numeracy task. They begin to imagine a future beyond the prison walls.

This is what happens when someone learns with Shannon Trust, and it happens thousands of times each year across prisons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Currently, 65% of people in prison can’t read, or struggle to. Even more struggle with numeracy.

These are not just statistics; they represent people who have been locked out of opportunity, who struggle with daily tasks, such as helping their children with homework or filling out a job application. At Shannon Trust, we believe everyone deserves the chance to learn, and that literacy and numeracy skills help build the foundations upon which people can rebuild their lives.

Where we are now

Shannon Trust has experienced remarkable growth over recent years. We have gone from a team of twelve people to one hundred staff today, supported by a volunteer base that brings us close to 250 people working to change lives through learning. The core of what we do is one-to-one peer mentoring in prisons. In 2025 alone, more than 11,000 learners used our reading and numeracy programmes, with 2,000 new volunteer peer-mentors trained to support them. We work in around one hundred prisons across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, delivering our Turning Pages reading programme and Count Me In numeracy programme. We are increasing our reach into the community, too. This growth is the result of sustained focus, strong relationships with funders who believe in our work, and the proven impact of our peer-led learning model.

What we are looking for

We are looking for a Chair who is strongly motivated by our cause, with a genuine empathy for the people we serve and a commitment to the person-centred language and inclusive thinking which are woven into everything we do. You will bring an engaged and engaging leadership style, have resilience and a personal gravitas.

You will be someone who is comfortable with complexity as we shape our organisation for the next chapter of our development. You will understand the importance of process, culture, and effective operations as the means of delivering a successful strategy and sustaining an organisation.

You will be someone who can help us be better advocates whether that is supporting our Chief Executive to build relationships with policymakers, helping us think through how we position ourselves in the education and criminal justice landscape, or using your own networks to create opportunities for Shannon Trust to influence and inform. We need a Chair who sees advocacy as part of the role.

Most importantly, our new Chair must be a strong partner for our CEO, a mentor, challenger and support.

Please click 'Redirect to recruiter’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.
Applications for this role close at 9.a.m. Monday 23rd February 2026

We are looking for someone who shares our vision of shaping a recognised, valued and inclusive sport and physical activity sector that everyone can be a part of, and who is committed to the highest levels of governance, risk management and assurance.

The Audit and Probity Committee reports directly to CIMSPA’s Board of Trustees and is a crucial part of our governance structure, overseeing our risk landscape.  By ensuring that risk is adequately managed and that the organisation is governed with integrity, the committee guides CIMSPA’s strategic decision-making processes.  Alongside this, the committee provides oversight, challenge and scrutiny across a range of areas, including our internal controls and our financial performance and management. 

Specialisms

Based on the committee’ annual skills review, we have identified the following specialisms as a priority for recruitment:

• Government and policy-making

• Legal and regulatory

Therefore we are seeking to appoint a committee member with significant experience in at least one of these areas.

Core Skills

We also expect all committee members to have significant experience in one or more of the following:

• Finance

• Audit and risk

• Governance and compliance

• Our system interventions (as detailed in our strategy)

• Business and commercial

• Digital

Please note - an in-depth knowledge of the sport and physical activity sector is not essential.

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Ensuring that the committee fulfils its purpose as stated in its Terms of Reference.
• Ensuring that the committee complies with CIMSPA’s Charter and Statutes, charity law, company law and all other relevant legislation/regulations as they relate to the committee.
• Managing CIMSPA’s resources responsibly and honestly, with a duty of prudence.
• Working in partnership with CIMSPA’s CEO or senior leadership team to ensure the strategic aims of the organisation are achieved as they relate to the committee, maintaining a management and oversight role.
• Ensuring that the committee is accountable.

Closing date for applications: Monday 2nd March 2026 at 9am

Provisional date for virtual interviews: Monday 16th March 2026