Treasurer for Home-Start Bracknell Forest

Treasurer (trustee) for Home-Start Bracknell Forest

Do you have financial skills and enthusiasm to help an organisation that supports families of young children?
You could be the next Treasurer for Home-Start Bracknell Forest, and help drive our vision.

Set up in 1993, we support families with at least one child under five in Bracknell Forest. We are an independent charity, and although associated with the federation of Home-Start UK, our trustees independently govern our direction and manage our finances. As the cost of living crises impact on families, we’re needed more than ever; our trustees are planning our future, and need good financial governance in order to survive and grow.

Our income in 2024/25 will be ~£140k, so we’re a small charity, with a big impact.

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

Our Board includes people with experience and skills in support for Early Years; we’d expect our new Treasurer to have empathy with our cause and the families we support.

As someone with a professional background in accounting or finance, you’ll use your expertise to help ensure sound fiscal decision-making across all Home-Start Bracknell Forest projects.  We’d strongly welcome your financial or bookkeeping qualifications, although our finances aren’t complex. An understanding of how charity finance works is important, of course, with the ability to communicate financial information clearly, especially to other trustees. Support from our employees is always available, as they will be dealing with the day-to-day finances.

 You don’t necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, as support from local charity-support organisations is always available. Full induction to our organisation will be provided, plus specialist support as a new trustee including access to external training.

We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles to governing our organisation. We are looking for fresh expertise and experience from a variety of backgrounds to our charity. We want to expand the diversity of our Board, and strongly welcome applications from people from less-represented groups. 

The focus of a trustee role is strategic, and trustees will not be expected to get involved in the organisation’s operations on a day-to-day basis; however, contact and liaison with other trustees and employees is expected.   

We ask for about eight hours per month, although that may vary throughout the year, increasing at Year End and AGM, reducing at other times; that includes preparation for and attendance at Board meetings.

You will need access to digital communications, as much of our charity’s business is run that way.

How to apply  

A detailed Role Description and Skills Specification can be made available to you upon request.  Trustee appointments are subject to satisfactory references, to completion of an online Safeguarding course and an Enhanced DBS check. 

Your CV or similar will be read by our existing trustees, and an online 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).