Job Description

The National Park City Foundation is looking for several new Trustees to join our board in 2025. Our Trustees volunteer their time and bring their experience and expertise to support our long term grassroots movement for everyone making our cities greener, healthier, and wilder.

The National Park City Foundation (Charity no. 1173267) is a fast growing and dynamic charity and we’re looking for passionate and committed Trustees who share our vision of cities teeming with wildlife, where everyone can benefit from exploring, playing and learning outdoors. 

London became the world’s first National Park City in 2019 and our Charter (co-created with contributions from people in 50 counties) sets out how we collectively share the ambition, responsibility, and power to make our cities places where people and nature are better connected. 

Across London we celebrate and support the work of hundreds of grassroots organisations, and convene our community of volunteer Rangers who lead efforts to connect people and nature in their own neighbourhoods. 

The Foundation actively supports other cities to become National Park Cities including Adelaide in Australia, that joined in 2021, and Breda in the Netherlands, and Chattanooga in the USA who will both become National Park Cities later this year. Our growing global movement encompasses another dozen cities on the journey including Southampton, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast in the UK.

You will be part of an energised Board of Trustees full of ambition, supported by a motivated staff team, hundreds of committed volunteers and growing support from people and organisations around the globe.

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the ongoing development of the National Park City movement, at a time of increasing momentum in London, and rapidly growing interest from other cities in undertaking the journey.

In this round of recruitment we would like to appoint several new Trustees including a new Treasurer who has a relevant mix of financial, legal and / or charity governance experience. We’re interested in people who have experience of building and organising within local communities in London and elsewhere, partnership development and fundraising, along with an interest in nature and biodiversity and working with young people and grassroots organisations.

No recruiters please – direct applications only.

Responsibilities

As a Trustee on our Board you will be passionate about, and believe in, our vision and you will be joining and fully participating in a unique and inspirational community of changemakers and storytellers, active across London and increasingly around the world.

You will be collectively responsible for ensuring that we deliver on our charitable objectives and that we meet and comply with our legal and governance requirements. If you’ve not been a charity Trustee before we recommend you review the government guidance here. 

You do not need to have a university degree or particular qualifications to apply for this role, and we’ll provide you with additional training and mentoring in how to deliver your obligations as a Trustee, especially if this is your first time in such a role.

You'll be expected to attend up to six board meetings a year, either in-person at our central London visitor centre or occasionally online. We estimate that you’d need to spend between 12 and 18 days per year on National Park City Foundation work.

You'll also have the opportunity to participate in and contribute to one or more of our working groups, and occasional task groups, which include Fundraising, Governance and Finance, Movement Building, Research and Learning, Partnerships, and International.

You’ll be expected to work closely with our paid staff team, and support and engage with our volunteers including our amazing Ranger community across London.

We'll look to you for occasional help and guidance between meetings on the subject matter and experience you bring to the board, and there will be ample opportunity to represent the Foundation externally through attendance at events, talks, and networking.

Trustee appointments are usually for two consecutive terms of three years each, with opportunities for short extensions to better manage turnover and continuity.

These roles are unpaid, however we can cover expenses including travel, subsistence, and the costs of childcare to attend meetings. We offer flexibility around your other work or family commitments. 

Trustee Requirements

For this round of recruitment we expect to appoint at least three Trustees with a mix of skills and experience essential for the ongoing development of our charity.

Treasurer

We would like to appoint a Trustee to act as our Treasurer, with significant financial, legal, or charity governance experience. Our Treasurer will be responsible for:

• Overseeing our financial and legal obligations as a charity and supporting work to ensure the board are up to date and engaged with Governance and Financial Matters.
• Chairing our Governance and Finance Committee who meet at least six times per year ahead of each Board meeting.
• Advising and supporting the Executive Director on the overall governance and financial management of the charity.
• Working with our finance team to ensure we prepare accurate and up to date financial reporting including monthly management reports, board reports, and annual accounts.

Movement Building and Grassroots Organising

We would like to appoint at least one Trustee with deep and relevant experience of grassroots organising, community development, and movement building. You’ll contribute by:

• Shaping the growth of our local community partnerships across London and other cities in the UK.
• Supporting our staff team and volunteers in enhancing and improving the value and impact of our Ranger programme and community.
• Bringing connections and understanding in how to grow and engage with active community members in ways that support diversity, inclusivity and equity.
• Sharing your understanding of how to develop a generous, active and supportive community amongst National Park Cities around the world.

Fundraising and Commercial Partnerships

We would like to appoint at least one Trustee who can assist with our partnership development and fundraising from corporate and commercial partners. You will help us by:

• Supporting organisation-wide fundraising efforts, helping to identify and assess potential funding sources;
• Sharing your experience in business development, identifying and framing approaches for potential partnerships;
• Helping us connect with senior stakeholders amongst potential UK and international partners, institutions and representatives of central, regional and local government.

Diversity is key to the success of our movement and we’re keen to hear from people with different perspectives, backgrounds, skills and experience. We believe everyone should have an equal voice in the future of our cities and everyone should benefit from easy access to high-quality urban greenspaces. 

We will seek to reach as many people as possible with this call for Trustees and will review and consider all applications received. We’ll brief our selection panel in best practice recruitment and will set up a check and challenge to counter any discrimination or unconscious bias.

Not sure you tick all the boxes? Please apply anyway as we want to hear from a wide range of potential candidates.

How to Apply

The application deadline is 12 noon on Wednesday 12th March.

We will contact shortlisted applicants by Wednesday 19th March. 

We will carry out initial short interviews online, prior to full interviews in the two weeks following 24th March with a view to appointing at least three candidates by early April.

To apply please send us a copy of your CV, along with a cover letter of no more than two A4 pages outlining your suitability for this role and also please include answers to the following three questions:

1. Considering your own skills and experience which of the Trustee roles are you most suited to and why?
2. How would you explain the benefits of connecting with urban nature to a friend or colleague?
3. Why should more cities seek to become National Park Cities?

We will ask you to please fill out our anonymous Diversity Questionnaire along with your application.

Selection Process

Initial shortlisting will be carried out by our Trustee and staff panel, who will score candidates’ CVs and responses to the application questions and agree a shortlist of candidates for interview.

Interviews will be conducted by a panel of current Trustees, initially via video conference, and then in-person for second round interviews. Unfortunately we may not be unable to provide feedback to all applicants not initially shortlisted.

We will do our best to accommodate any adjustments requested by candidates.

We will keep shortlisted and interviewed candidates up to date throughout the process as we determine how many Trustee roles we expect to fill in this round.

We will run reference / background checks for each of the shortlisted successful candidates with the aim of joining our next scheduled board meeting on 24th April 2025.