Our independent foundation funds learning and educational opportunities for children and young people. Following a skills audit, we are looking for someone who can bring their experience of supporting teens and older young people.
St Giles & St George Education has recently undertaken a strategic review and we are about to publish our new strategy, so this is a really exciting time to join the charity.
The new strategy embeds our flexible and trust-based approach to grant-making. Our small area of benefit means we work closely with the local voluntary sector and schools.
Our new strategy also recognises the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion and we want to transform the way we fund and challenge the way we work. A key aspect of this is an increased focus on youth voice – initially within the organisations that we fund. Our revised application and assessment process means we will gain a better understanding of how our grantees are approaching this. In the longer term, we would like to think about how young people can be involved within grant-making and decision-making within the charity. We are about to pilot a Youth Empowerment Fund (participatory grant-making by young people) in partnership with another organisation.
Our board consists of eight trustees – four automatically appointed through their roles in the founding churches and four are externally recruited. Many of our trustees have good understanding of our area of benefit and two have particular knowledge of the local primary schools and the challenges faced by children of this age. We are seeking a new trustee who can bring their experience of working with teens and older young people.
We are looking for someone with experience of directly supporting disadvantaged teenagers and young people from inner-London. We want someone who understands how to engage with young people and can help us to understand the challenges that young people currently face.
You might be a youth worker with experience of working with young people in different settings and in different ways ie outreach, youth clubs, group work, and one to one support. Other types of experience would also be appreciated – perhaps someone who has been a mentor or counsellor for several different young people.
In terms of assessing grant applications, it would be desirable if you have experiencing of designing and managing projects or programmes for young people as you will have a greater knowledge of project budgets and appropriate monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
Ideally, you would experience of developing the youth voice within an organisation. This may range from setting up mechanisms to seek feedback from young people through to youth ambassadors programme and even a Youth Board.
We do not expect you to be familiar with Westminster specifically but experience of working with young people in a similar inner-London borough is essential. You may also have lived experience of being a young person in inner-London from a family facing structural injustice.
Our charity is actively seeking to increase the diversity of our Trustees and we very much welcome interest and applications from people from global majority backgrounds.
As part of our Board, you will be involved in making all decisions on grants and your experience will help ensure we fund great projects for young people. Most importantly, you will help us to identify whether there are gaps in what we fund – causes or activities.
This is a vital role, leading our discussion and shaping our work to embed youth voice across the organisation.
Please apply through Reach in the first instance and let us know why you are interested in the role. Interviews will be an informal Zoom chat with other trustees in the New Year.
