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Happy Days UK Trustee
happydays ministries uk

Job Description

Happy Days UK - Bringing hope to the homeless through community and social enterprise.

Our Vision To see homelessness reduced and vulnerable people empowered to live independent and purposeful lives.

Our Mission To provide safe group accommodation in a community setting that incorporates on-going mentoring and support to bring about sustainable change in people’s lives.

Over the last 4 years we have supported individuals towards independent living through our HappyDays Community  and to help fund this work, offer volunteering opportunities and help improve our communities health & wellbeing we run Social Enterprise schemes:

  • Happydays Cycles - upcycles and sells preloved bicycles, creating opportunity for community integration and profit generation to sustain the enterprise. Our Project Manager and Senior Mechanic work with volunteers to deliver a programme of activities and community events.
  • Happydays Café - Running in partnership with the Bike Shop, it gives the charity a a platform to create awareness and serve the local community, in addition it provides volunteering opportunities for residents.

Our HappyDays Community  Works with socially responsible landlords and provides a unique combination of safe accommodation and long-term support. Residents are given a stable platform from which to grow, increasing their chances of gaining and sustaining independent living. Residents’ personal development is greatly progressed as they start to engage with new groups of people and take on responsibilities that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

An exciting future….We are a small charity with a big vision. We seek to strengthen and grow our Happydays Programme areas by improving our residential spaces and services, expanding our property portfolio, and through our Social Enterprises develop exciting partnerships to bring about real change for our residents and assist our charity to reach financial sustainability.

Who are we looking for? We seek the Happydays Community ethos and approach to be reflected in not only our services but also our strategy, leadership and Board of Trustees.

Innovative thinking is at the heart and we are looking for dynamic individuals who will challenge and help shape our future.

People who want to dedicate time, energy and skills to help us build our foundations and support the delivery of the Happy Days vision.

We aim to maintain a balanced set of experience and expertise on the Board of Trustees in order to deliver strong and effective governance, strategic development and decision making.

To this end Happydays is currently looking for new members of the Board of Trustees under the roles of:

  • Chair of Trustees
  • Trustee for Communities
  • Trustee for Social Enterprise
  • Trustee for PR, Marketing & Communications
  • Trustee for Pastoral Support

A key part of these roles will be to develop the specific Trustee roles in line with the aims and objectives of the charity.

Trustees need to understand our ethos and be willing to learn about how our Community and Social Enterprise programmes operate. We ask new Board members to familiarise themselves with the community and our approach by visiting or helping out with some of our services as part of the trustee recruitment and induction process.

Skills: Happydays is seeking candidates who:

  • Have an interest in improving the lives of people who are homeless or at risk
  • Bring strong governance skills and experience of senior leadership
  • Experienced in confronting challenges and facilitating creative and innovative initiatives.
  • Have a broad range of influencing and enabling skills, display keen judgement, and confident at facilitating strategic transformation.
  • Can uphold a culture of getting stuck in, collaborating, and making stuff happen.
  • Can devote time to carry out responsibilities and encourage others to get involved.

With these responsibilities come the satisfaction and empowerment of knowing that your commitment will make a direct difference to Happydays and ultimately help fight homelessness.

Where: The Board currently meets four times per year at our office in Sowerby Bridge, which includes the Annual General Meeting.

Time: Each meeting will last approximately 3 hours. Some Trustee roles will have the responsibility of co-ordinating sub committees such as a fundraising and client and volunteer advocacy. These groups will meet at different times and locations as set by the Trustee.

Trustees will also be expected to attend related charity events or activities.