Volunteer Telford

As a Secretary, you will be responsible for sending invites to our members for events (excluding Management Meetings), being the first point of contact for the charity, assisting other volunteers and the trustee’s with any tasks that may need completing, and to represent the charity at events, meetings etc. These tasks will not be made difficult for the post holder in anyway, and support is always available to all our volunteers when needed.

Necessary volunteer expenses available. Please note that we don’t have our own premises, so all our volunteers work from home. However, you will receive support from experienced volunteers and main point of contacts within the charity.

In return we can give you a reference if you’re looking for paid work. If you are passionate about helping people of all ages with a disability and/or carers, then you will find this role very rewarding.

Bicycle repair

Ironbridge Coracle Trust is a small, registered CIO (Charity No. 1161685) focused on telling the story of the Ironbridge Coracle and its relevance to the wonderful World Heritage Site of the Ironbridge Gorge.  The Trust was established in 2015 and now has a strong core of 8 Trustees with varying skills that they bring to the board.

In 2019 the Trust was successful in securing National Lottery Heritage Funding and the project will be completed by the end of October 2022. The project has enabled the Trust to restore the Old Coracle Shed, create a Coracle Man Sculpture, and a New Shed which is now a visitor attraction telling the story of Coracles in Ironbridge, and run a varied programme of community focused events.

As the project comes to an end, we need to look at sustainability of the Trust without the financial support of the Heritage Fund. This can only be achieved by growing our fundraising. Therefore, we are looking a new Trustee with Charity or Heritage Sector Fundraising experience to ensure our resilience post project.

The Role of the Trustee

Ironbridge Coracle Trustees share ultimate responsibility for governing the charity and directing how it is managed and run.

As a Trustee you will help develop and set the strategic aims, objectives, and direction of the charity. The skills and knowledge you bring will enhance the Board and support the Trust.

There is a core of Trustees who are very active in the delivery of events and organisational tasks, whilst others play a more strategic and guiding role.  All have something to offer the Trust.

Summary of Role: Ironbridge Coracle Trust (the Trust) is looking to appoint a new trustee with a professional background in charity fundraising to join Ironbridge Coracle’s Board of Trustees

Commitment: Flexible, initially we envisage more hours to help set up a fundraising strategy, but after this it may only take a few hours a month.

Fundraising Strategy

Once the project finishes at the end of October 22 the Trust will have no paid staff.  The Trust is currently clarifying its liabilities and developing a business plan for post project. The annual running costs are in the region of £7.5k- £10K with additional funding needing to be secured for discrete projects.

The Trust currently fundraises through a ‘mixed economy’ approach

- Sales of merchandise- (currently very limited)

- Sponsorship/ support from a local business

- Donations

- Events and activities including the annual Ironbridge Coracle Regatta

- Grants: four of the Trustees have experience in writing funding bids and as a small charity the Trust has been successful in raising funds this way.

We are a Christian charity that collects unwanted usable tools, refurbishes them, sorts them into trade tool kits and sends them to the developing world for livelihood creation.

The main role of a Community Ambassador is to speak publicly on behalf of TWAM and be our public face in their locality. This will mean receiving invitations from a variety of groups wanting a volunteer speaker to talk about TWAM.

Talks can be from 10 minutes to 40 minutes long and may include a Q&A session. Please don’t worry as we will not ask you to speak at a meeting you are not confident to attend.

What are we looking for?

This is a great role for a confident speaker who wants to share our passion to transform lives through skills training and tools. You’ll need access to transport, and if you use your car, legally we will also need to check you have adequate motor insurance and your car has an MOT.

What will you be doing?

Groups such as Rotary, U3A, and WI ask for talks about TWAM. We also work with many Churches who ask us to speak at Church Services and Mid-week meetings (we will only ask a Christian comfortable with this setting to speak at Churches).

We will provide talks and presentations that you can use, and for our busiest Community Ambassadors, we can also provide projectors and screens.

We ask our Ambassadors to try and get their own meetings as well as waiting for those referred by us. An email or phone call to a local group will often lead to an invitation.

What difference will you make?

This is an incredibly rewarding role as you get to meet lots of people and excite and enthuse them with the work of TWAM. Your enthusiasm will also help TWAM raise vital funds, gain the tools we need to operate, and gain new volunteers. This is a great difference to make!

Volunteer benefits.

You’ll join our Speaker Network with lots of support, resources, ideas and opportunities for training. You receive a Speaker Pack, TWAM polo-shirt and fleece. You’ll be invited to Volunteer Days and Open Days.