Recruitment of voluntary sector member trustee July 2026
communityfoundation.org.uk
Welcome
Community Foundation North East is a charity that since 1988 has guided effective giving to support causes across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and the wider region. Since we were founded, we’ve awarded over £190m in funding – £9.2m of that in 2025-26 alone.
There are 1,800 community foundations across the globe. Of 47 in the UK, we are the most successful, having built an endowment of over £110 million which ensures our work can benefit communities for generations to come.
We have a membership comprising individuals, businesses, public bodies and voluntary organisations. Our Board of trustees is made up of people drawn from all four groups, plus cooptees. We currently have a vacancy for a voluntary sector member and are inviting nominations from and of eligible candidates.
What we do
Our mission is to build a thriving, generous and inclusive North East today and for generations to come by inspiring philanthropy, investing in communities and influencing change.
We have five impact areas :
• Tackle poverty
• Widen access to opportunity
• Improve health and community safety
• Strengthen culture and community life
• Sustain our environment
To achieve our mission and impact, we:
• Inspire philanthropy by engaging more people and businesses in giving money, time and expertise, and in - creasing focus on areas where current and future donors can have the most impact
• Invest in communities by harnessing more funding and support to have a long-term impact on the challeng - es facing our region’s communities.
• Influence change by shining a light on our region’s challenges and using our knowledge and networks to champion actions which better address them.
In 2025-26
1,169 grants totalling £9,231,582 were made 589 organisations and 93 individuals were supported
£1.5m of our funding for organisations was entirely unrestricted and another £3.2m supported core running costs
We funded across all our impact areas, with widening access to opportunity and strengthening culture and community life receiving the most support.
Our values
We seek to make a difference by: sharing our love for North East England and wanting it to thrive; believing in the importance of giving and philanthropy; backing the brilliant work of local charities; championing disadvantaged people and less well supported causes.
We earn the trust of our donors and
grantees by:
starting where they are and encouraging
their ambitions; being respectful, reliable and
responsive; building lifelong relationships; applying sound judgement and knowing our stuff; staying independent and accountable.
We make sure we keep getting better by: sparking off and challenging each other across our organisation; taking personal and collective responsibility; learning from our successes and mistakes; using outside knowledge and insights; embracing diversity and treating people fairly; having a healthy workplace and positive balance in our lives; taking our work seriously but not ourselves.
What we’re looking for
At the Community Foundation, we share a love for, and strong connection with, North East England, and we’re passionate about the work of small, local charities and making a difference through charitable giving and philanthropy.
To be eligible, you must be a leader or manager (including a trustee) of a voluntary organisation which is currently a Community Foundation North East member, or which is willing to join.
If you are not already, your organisation can become a member, and you can then be nominated for the vacancy – information about joining is here: www.communityfoundation.org. uk/about-us/membership/
You don’t need to have been a trustee of a charity before as we can give you induction and training. But you will need the time and flexibility to take up the role and the ability to commit to a minimum three-year term, and ideally six years.
Organisations that have applied for or received grants from us are welcome to nominate. Joining the Board will not affect any current or future funding as such matters are managed under our conflict of interest and grant-making policies.
We’re keen to hear from people with a wide range of experience. But we’re especially looking for someone in a current leadership role in a frontline charity or community organisation tackling poverty in our area. In addition, we’re ideally looking for someone who could bring one or more of the following.
• Wider networks in the region’s voluntary sector.
• Connections in Gateshead, Sunderland or South Tyneside.
Diversity and inclusion
Community Foundation North East strives to be diverse and inclusive, with a Board and staff that broadly reflects people and places we serve. In line with our diversity benchmarks, we encourage nominations of: men; people from Black, Asian or other non-White ethnic backgrounds; disabled people; and lesbian, gay and bisexual people. For more information on our diversity benchmarking, go to:
www.communityfoundation.org.uk/about-us/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/
What’s involved
The Board acts collectively to govern Community Foundation North East, ensuring we fulfil our charitable purpose and mission, and that we are accountable to our stakeholders and regulators.
Trustees set and review the Community Foundation’s strategy, safeguard our reputation, and ensure we’re well run, financially stable, and that our funds are properly invested. They also uphold our values and policies and are advocates for what we do, usually setting an example by being supporters of the Community Foundation in line with their wishes and means.
The full Board meets four times a year in March, June, September and December. Meetings are usually early evening from 5-7.15pm with refreshments beforehand. Board meetings are in-person, but trustees can join remotely if they would otherwise need to give apologies. In addition, we have an annual in-person Board away day, normally in January.
Trustees usually join at least one sub-committee or task group which may meet online. They are asked to read papers in advance and respond to occasional matters by email outside meetings. We also encourage Trustees to attend events during the year. On average, we estimate the role takes up around half a day to a day a month.
Who you’ll be working with
Our trustees come from backgrounds in business, charities and the public sector. They are:
• Phil Moorhouse (chair): non-executive director and business investor (co-opted member)
• Jill Baker: (deputy chair) Strategic Adviser: Communities and Place, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales (co-opted member)
• Paul Farquhar (treasurer): retired company director and accountant (co-opted member)
• Lucia Bridgeman: Partner, Fallodon Estate; Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland (individual member)
• Michael Brodie: Chief Executive, NHS Business Services Authority (public sector member)
• Dawn Creighton: Head of Customer Strategy and Experience, Northumbrian Water (business member)
• Sarah Glendinning: Director of Business Partnerships, Northumbria University (co-opted member)
• Colin Hewitt: Client Relationship Director, Ward Hadaway (business member)
• Claire Malcolm: Chief Executive, New Writing North (voluntary sector member)
• Pam Smith: Chief Executive, Newcastle City Council (public sector member)
• Fiona Standfield: Chief Operating Officer, Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle (co-opted member)
• Laura Warwick: Senior Service Designer, NHS Business Services Authority (individual member)
An expert team of 25 staff, led by our CEO, Rob Williamson, delivers our work day to day, with accountability back to the Board.
What we’ll offer you
• The opportunity to be part of leading a successful charity whose governance and operations are quality assured and which is independently triple-A rated as a funder.
• Full induction and continuing development and learning opportunities, including access to national seminars, conferences and networks.
• The chance to support our grant-making through visits and sitting on funding panels
• A values-led culture with excellent morale and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
How to nominate
You can nominate yourself by emailing Rob Williamson rw@communityfoundation.org.uk. Please include a supporting statement of no more than 250 words telling us a bit about who you are and what skills and knowledge you’ll bring to our Board. Alternatively, you can nominate someone else in your membership group – but they must be willing and able to serve. Nominations must be seconded by another member in the voluntary sector group – please contact Rob for a list.
The Nominations Committee of our Board will consider which eligible nominees meet our criteria. The Committee may wish to speak to nominees as part of this. If the Committee decides that there is more than one suitable candidate, there may be an election among our members in the relevant group to determine who gets appointed.
The deadline for nominations is 12 noon on Thursday 3 September 2026. Nominees will be contacted week commencing 7 September 2026 to confirm next steps. The successful nominee will formally join the Board from our AGM in October.
If you have any questions about nominations, please contact Rob using the above details.
More information
For more information about us visit www.communityfoundation.org.uk. Our registered charity number is 700501. Our limited company number is 2273708. We are also registered with the Fundraising Regulator.
We encourage you to read the Charity Commission’s trustee guide: www.gov.uk/government/ publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3 and the Governance Code for Charities www.charitygovernancecode.org