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Trustee
royal navy & royal marines children's fund

Job Description

The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Children’s Fund has been supporting children for nearly 200 years.  The Children’s Fund is a benevolent organisation, providing grants to children and families in need, hardship or distress.  The majority of the children supported are bereaved, ill or disabled or have a parent that is ill or disabled.  A significant number of the more complex cases involve special needs and learning disability.

We are seeking a Trustee to join our Main Board and who will also sit on our Welfare Committee who has a background in special needs education.  The Welfare Committee meet in Portsmouth on the first Monday of each month for the morning and assess the more complex cases.  Usually around 7-10 cases at each meeting.  There are also three main Board meetings each year in March, July and October. 

You will have up to date experience of special needs education, preferably as a teacher, to provide additional support and guidance to the board and contribute to decisions and recommendations for cases and the caseworking team. 

Previous experience of being a Trustee is not required.  For an informal discussion about the role please contact Clare Scherer, Director. 

Introduction from Chair:

The Children’s Fund is a unique charity providing direct and indirect support to children of parents serving or ex-serving in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and their Reserves. Originally started as orphanages the charity now provides direct grants to around 2000 children in crisis annually and indirect support through resources and community centres to many more.

The new Trustee will serve on the main Board and on the Welfare Committee which decides on the charity’s support to the more complex cases.  Some of these are from children and families where the need is ongoing and support is required throughout a sustained period.  The charity supports children up to the age of 25, in part because the transition from child to adult care can be difficult for families to negotiate. 

We are in a strong position having recently appointed a new Director and expanded our caseworking team to accommodate the requests for support.  Financially robust with significant investments (from the sale of our original orphanages) and in receipt of some major block grants from funders the charity is in a stable position for the future.  2019 sees an exciting time as we develop our new strategy to prepare for the coming years.

Thank you for your interest in joining our Board and for taking the time to read the information provided.  We hope that you will be inspired and excited about the opportunity that this role presents.

Alistair Sheppard OBE

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