Vice Chair

Join the Board of World Book Day, a charity with a hugely popular and enduring brand loved by millions of children and families, as they enter a new chapter in their development.

Applications close at Monday 18th November.

Who we are.

World Book Day changes lives through a love of books and reading. Our mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own

Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income, so we promote reading for pleasure and offer every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own, regardless of their background or income.

We have an opportunity for an equally passionate individual to join the Board and help us reach more children from all backgrounds to develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure.

The first World Book Day in the UK and Ireland took place in 1997. Throughout its history, World Book Day has achieved significant reach and profile.

Our Strategy 2023 – 2027 shows how World Book Day intends to encourage even more children from all backgrounds to benefit from the improved life chances that reading for pleasure brings.

About the role.

World Book Day is about to enter a period of growth as we look into developing, transforming and diversifying what we do as a charity to achieve our mission. Reading for enjoyment has never been more vital for children and young people and we are aiming to deliver greater reach and impact, building on the reputation and recognition of the World Book Day annual campaign and brand. We are looking for a new Vice Chair who can support and challenge us, and bring a new and fresh approach. Our new Vice Chair will be passionate about ensuring that reading is accessible to all children of all ages, backgrounds and incomes.

Working in partnership with the Chair, Emma Scott, the wider board and the CEO, our new Board Member will support our development, make influential decisions whilst bringing new ideas to the Board as our new Vice Chair.

You will ideally have senior leadership experience with an established track record of governance experience. We are looking for someone who will bring strategic leadership experience with strong stakeholder experience. We are also interested in bringing experience of strategic education and/or literacy expertise either as an educator, academic or other expert role to the board.

Above all, our new Vice Chair will be committed to our vision and values and eager to contribute to positive changes to improve the lives of children and young people across the country through the power of reading.

We want to ensure our Board continues to develop and grow and represents our society as a whole. We want to bring differences to our Board that will support us to think differently and creatively.

Time commitment

Our Board meets quarterly for c.3 hours in Central London. We also hold an annual strategy away day.

In total, we expect the time commitment to be the equivalent of up to a day a month, which will include reading board papers, ad hoc conversations with board members and staff, email exchanges, and, of course, around World Book Day itself, involvement in campaign events and fundraising activities.

Please click 'Apply via website’ 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 Monday 18th November.