Chair-designate for the Autism Group (TAG)

Do you have leadership skills and some experience of running or Chairing a committee?
Would you like to join the Board of a highly-valued and well-respected charity in Maidenhead, that works with children and young people from 9 to 25 on the autism spectrum?

About us

The Autism Group is committed to supporting and enhancing the lives of young people on the spectrum, their parents and carers. We provide special interest clubs, workshops and parent support services, some of these managing to continue during the pandemic via Zoom and in virtual environments. As well as such support, we offer a variety of training to care workers, social workers, teaching assistants and similar roles, in all sectors.

Our Board of four trustees has been well-served by our Chair, who has been a trustee since our inception, as well as Chair since 2017, and is now stepping down. Other trustees have extensive experience, which will support our new Chair-designate.

Our turnover in 2019/20 increased to £71.5k, despite having to rapidly then change our face-to-face delivery.

About TAG’s trustees

Trustees’ Annual Report and Annual Accounts, available from the Charity Commission

The role

We are looking for a new trustee to eventually take on the role of Chair, to lead the Board and the charity alongside our existing trustees, assisted by our Charity Manager and other employees. Our expectation is for you to spend three to six months in this ‘designate’ role, to enable you to ascertain if it’s right for you and right for our organisation, to learn how we operate and how you can lead us..

If you have skills and abilities in cooperatively chairing a committee, maybe experience of charity (or corporate) governance, we’d welcome you, although similar experience and transferable skills are as important; we’ll give you support and training as necessary.
This opportunity will become a chance to work with staff and trustees to continue to grow TAG for the future, beyond the pandemic limitations. You don’t need experience of working with children and young people on the autism spectrum, but you must have empathy and a willingness to do so.

We also want to expand the diversity of our Board, in all aspects.

We are a charity not a business, but we want you to help us apply good business principles in governing our organisation. We welcome potential trustees with ideas and expertise from a variety of backgrounds.

The focus of a trustee role is strategic and you don’t need to be directly involved in the organisation’s operations on a day-to-day basis, although we ask that you are occasionally available to visit our clubs when that becomes possible again. The Chair will take on the support & supervision of the Charity Manager in regular meetings.

We ask for about ten hours per month as Chair-designate, rising to approx. fifteen hours per month upon appointment as Chair: this includes induction & training, all meetings, correspondence, communication, etc. This is a voluntary role and reasonable travel expenses may be claimed.

Full induction to our charity is provided, plus specialist support as a trustee including access to external training. You do not necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, as support from other trustees and from our Charity Manager is always available.

What do you get as a volunteer trustee with our organisation?

Some of these you will gain as Chair-designate, some as eventual Chair:

An opportunity to exercise and grow your cooperative leadership skills, possibly in a different environment or context
A chance to augment your experience of charities
A chance to implement strategic change for the organisation
An opportunity to work alongside other committed trustees
The personal reward of giving back to the community
High-quality induction training from us and other charity-support organisations

What do we get?

Your skills, knowledge and leadership experience
Your abilities to help our Board and charity grow in line with our strategic plans
Enhancement to our overall governance and the Board of Trustees; improvement in our charity governance and operational growth
Your participation in our collective decision-making, contributing to all areas of our charity work
Your enthusiasm

What do our beneficiaries get?

The ability to continue our support for children and young people on the autism spectrum, as well as provide information and support for parents, carers and professionals
A well-governed charity, sustainable for the future
A forward-looking and agile organisation, with a well-informed and well-managed Board of trustees

How to apply

This appointment is being managed for us by inVOLve Community Services, a charity-support organisation, who offer a no-obligation discussion by phone or video. A detailed Role Description and Person Specification can be made available to you upon request.

You will need to be eligible to be a charity trustee, which we will explain. 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 TAG’s trustees and Charity Manager and an interview by video offered as soon as mutually convenient.

I need to know more

Contact Mike Allen intrusted@involve.community for more information and arrange to have a no-obligation initial informal discussion (phone, WhatsApp, Teams, Zoom, Meet, etc.)

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The Autism Group (TAG) – Chair-designate

The Autism Group (TAG) – Chair-designate

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