ROLE DESCRIPTION
POST: Treasurer
LOCATION: Garden Organic is based at Ryton Gardens, CV8 3LG
COMMITTMENT: 4 Council meetings (at weekends)
4 Finance Committee meetings (during week)
Regular liaison with Finance Director (1hr a week)
SALARY:Voluntary position
The Treasurer is a key governance position and the role’s overall purpose is to maintain an overview of the Charity’s financial affairs and support fellow Trustees in ensuring the Charity’s financial viability.
Following the retirement of our current Treasurer (who has been in post for five years), Garden Organic is now seeking a strong leader who will really be able to drive our financial thinking forward, making sure that the organisation is making best use of its assets and is managing its financial affairs in the best possible way.
The Treasurer will chair the Finance Committee, which is made up of around four to six other Garden Organic trustees. He/she will also provide support to the Chief Executive and the staff, especially the Finance Director.
Overall Purpose
To maintain an overview of the Charity’s financial affairs and support fellow Trustees in ensuring the Charity’s financial viability.
Accountability
The Treasurer is a Trustee and is accountable to the Council of Garden Organic.
Responsibilities
In addition to the general responsibilities of Trustees, the Treasurer shall:
- Chair the Finance Committee in order to:
- Advise on the financial implications of the Charity’s strategic plans
- Keep Council informed about its financial duties and responsibilities
- Prepare and present financial reports to the Council
- Work with the Finance Director in order to:
- Oversee financial probity and present budgets, accounts and financial statements
- Ensure that appropriate accounting procedures and controls are in place
- Ensure the Charity has an appropriate investment policy and procedures
- Ensure the Charity’s compliance with financial legislation
- Ensure the Charity has an appropriate reserves policy and procedure
- Ensure that the accounts are prepared and disclosed in the form required by funders and the relevant statutory bodies, e.g. the Charity Commission and/or the Registrar of Companies
- Ensure approriate independent audit and scrutiny of finances, policies and procedures
- Make a formal presentation of the accounts at the Annual General Meeting and draw attention to important points in a coherent and easily understandable way
Delegated Powers
As set out in the Delegated Financial Authority.
Person Specification
In addition to the qualities needed by all Trustees, the Treasurer should possess the following skills/attributes:
- Relevant financial experience at a Senior level
- The skills to analyse proposals and advise on their financial consequences
- Willingness to make robust recommendations to the Council
- Good communication skills, in particular the ability to communicate complex financial matters to a lay audience
- Able to meet the time commitments of Treasurer and Trustee
- Experience of charity finance, fundraising and pension schemes is desirable.
Background
Garden Organic has an annual turnover of around £4m a year, which comes from our 30,000 membership, contracted programmes, trading and through fundraising. We pride ourselves on our innovative work with individuals, communities and schools – helping them to grow and garden in sustainable ways. We are passionate that gardening really matters – for health and well being, for stronger communities, for economic development and to support our environment. Whether we support keen gardeners or food growers, our work is seen by many to be really connecting people with their environment and their food.
Over the last fifty years, we have built up a strong reputation for being experts in our field – and are held in high esteem by many stakeholders for ways in which we demonstrate and example sustainable environmental methods. We focus on effective knowledge exchange, ensuring that not only do we have the best and most relevant skills but that we impart knowledge in the most effective ways. We do this by balancing our focus on plants and on people – we know that the two together is the only way to strive towards sustainable development. And we do so in the language and mind-set of the beneficiary group we work with – whether professional soil scientists, or families in social housing beginning to garden and grow for the first time.
Garden Organic’s Business Plan has been reviewed for 2013 to take account of the on-going clarification of strategy and emerging new ideas. In the final year of the current Business Plan, the thinking in relation to the 2013 Operational Plan includes:
-Recognition that taking a more Social Enterprise approach will be key
-Investment in our two most profitable activities; our Education services (e.g. Continual Professional Development, courses, school programme), and our Volunteer Mentor networks (Master Gardeners and Master composters)
-Continuing our research work through partnership in the Centre for Agro-ecology and Food Security with Coventry University
-Making best use of our physical and intellectual property, especially our Ryton Gardens site.
-Increasing profitability of membership and increasing our supporter development.
-Creation of Garden-Organic-supported Local Communities, one of which will be for Warwickshire.
-Re-vitalising Local Groups activity, based on our member engagement this year.
-An accreditation scheme for greener gardening activity in the retail sector.
-Focus on social media and on-line content.
In 2013, Garden Organic’s Council, the Board of Trustees will approve a new organisational strategy and a new 2014-2016 Business Plan, which will take forward the thinking above. Garden Organic is facing challenges similar to many charities, and we need to make sure that we have full and proper control over our finances in the future.
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For more information on this position, or for an informal discussion, please contact Trish Henderson on or call 024 7630 8207.
Applications are by covering letter and CV. Closing date of 24th May with interviews w/c 10th June 2013.
For more information on our work, please access our Annual Review and our 2012 Annual Report and Accounts at , and visit our website at Please access the role description for a Trustee at Description for a Trustee-Appendix 2 TH.pdf