Cloudesley Trustee (Volunteer) Recruitment Pack Are you interested in becoming a Trustee? Would you like to be part of an Islington grant-making charity, helping to make a positive difference to the local community? No previous board or grant-making experience needed Cloudesley is an Islington-based charity which makes grants of around £2 million each year to local people, organisations and churches. We are recruiting for a new Trustee with knowledge of the local voluntary and community sector to start with us from March 2026. To support you in this role, we will offer: • Training • 1:1 support from a Trustee buddy • Expenses to cover any related childcare, carer and travel costs so that you can attend Cloudesley Board and committee meetings. This pack provides more information about Cloudesley, what being a Trustee with us involves, who we are looking for and how to apply. If you have any questions about this role or Cloudesley, please contact the charity’s Director, Melanie Griffiths: melanie.griffiths@cloudesley.org.uk, 020 7832 5803. About Cloudesley Cloudesley is a local charity that makes grants to people, organisations and Church of England churches in Islington. Our grants budget is used in two ways: • Our Health Grants Programme supports local people with health problems and/or who are disabled and who have low or no income • Our Church Grants Programme supports Islington’s Church of England churches to help look after and repair their church buildings In June 2025, Cloudesley had assets of £57 million and our annual income was £1.5 million. The charity currently owns 94 residential properties on the Cloudesley Estate in Barnsbury. A Board of voluntary Trustees are responsible for overseeing the charity and looking after its assets. A small staff team carry out Cloudesley’s day-to-day management and administration. The charity dates back to 1517, when Islington resident Richard Cloudesley wrote his will and left two ‘Stony Fields’ to Trustees. Who are we looking for? We currently have a vacancy for a new London Borough of Islington (LBI) Nominated Trustee. This means that the new Trustee will be nominated by LBI and appointed by Cloudesley’s Board of Trustees. We are keen to appoint someone with experience or knowledge of Islington’s voluntary and community sector. The charity has up to 15 Trustees at any time. Trustees come to us through the following routes: Islington Deanery Synod Nominated Trustees – 4 • LBI Nominated Trustees – 4 • • Elected Trustees – 5 • Archdeacon’s Trustee • Ex-officio Trustee, the Mayor of Islington All our Trustees need to have a link to Islington, either through work, residency or otherwise. To help make sure that the charity’s decision-making is effective and well-informed, Cloudesley is keen to recruit people from a range of backgrounds, and with different expertise, experience and knowledge. We want to make our Board of Trustees more diverse and representative of the groups and people that we support. For details of our current Trustees and Committee Members, please see our website and latest DEI audit report: 2 Cloudesley Trustees and Committee Members DEI audit report 2025 Although half of our grant-making is used to support the Church of England churches in Islington, we welcome applications from all members of the community, from any religious background or none. What’s involved? The new LBI Nominated Trustee will be appointed from mid-March 2026 for a four-year term initially, with the option of reappointment for a further two terms. Cloudesley’s full Board of Trustees usually meets three times each year, early evening mid- week. Extra meetings are arranged occasionally if needed. We also have an Awayday every other year, usually in the early evening. We have a Finance and Endowment Committee and a Grants Committee, and all Trustees are asked to join at least one of these. • The Finance and Endowment Committee oversees the management of the charity’s investments, properties and budget, and other financial matters. Our investment manager and property manager also report to the committee. The Finance and Endowment Committee meets four times a year, usually from 5.30pm to 7.30pm • The Grants Committee makes decisions about health and church grants and our grants policies. Funded organisations often give presentations about their work to the committee. The Grants Committee also meets four times a year, usually from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. A pack of papers is emailed to Trustees a week before each meeting for reading to prepare for the meeting. Trustees are also invited to attend other meetings and events if they would like to/are able to, including visits to local charities, churches and Cloudesley’s residential properties. Training and support To support the new Trustee to carry out this voluntary role, we will: • Provide a pack of background information, which we’ll talk through during an introductory session • Give initial training about Cloudesley, grant-making and charity finance, with further training, updates and support to enable you to fully take part in Board and committee meetings 3 • Link you to a more experienced Cloudesley Trustee who will act as a buddy if you would like. Although this is a voluntary position, we can cover reasonable childcare, carer and travel costs to enable you to attend Cloudesley Board and committee meetings. How to apply To apply, please email the following to info@cloudesley.org.uk by 9am on Monday 19th January 2026: i. An explanation of why you would like to be a Cloudesley Trustee and a brief description of the skills, lived experience and/or knowledge you would bring to the charity. If you have a CV, you are welcome to email that to us as well. ii. A completed recruitment monitoring form (optional). If you complete a monitoring form, we will separate it from your application and it will be used to help us monitor our recruitment practices. Please get in touch with us (info@cloudesley.org.uk) if you would like some support with your application or if you need us to adapt the application process for any reason including disability. We will email you by Monday 26th January to let you know if you have been shortlisted. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to meet with us shortly after this. This meeting will be a chance for you to ask us questions, find out more about the charity and what being a Cloudesley Trustee involves. We would also like to find out more about your experience and the reasons why you are interested in becoming a Trustee. Further information To find out more, please: • See our website at www.cloudesley.org.uk • Join our optional online information session on Wednesday 14th January 2026, 12.30pm – 1.30pm. This will be a chance to meet with Cloudesley staff and Trustees and ask questions about the charity and what being a Cloudesley Trustee involves. For further details and to register for the information session, please email info@cloudesley.org.uk by midday on Monday 12th January. Attendance at this session is optional • Contact Cloudesley’s Director, Melanie Griffiths for an informal discussion: melanie.griffiths@cloudesley.org.uk, 020 7832 5803. 4