Proud to be a Trustee

Proud to be a Trustee

by | Nov 3, 2025 | Infrastructure

What a journey I have had over the last two years. I have always ensured I have given something back to the community I live in and have had several different volunteering roles in the past including being a chair of governors for a primary school and an Ambulance Community First Responder.

My journey into trusteeship began at the CVST AGM in September 2023. A presentation was given about trusteeship and an offer from CVST’s Yvette Wetton to provide more of an insight into what being a trustee entails and to support me in finding an organisation that my skills would align with. Following a very fruitful conversation with Yvette, I went away with a renewed passion and very soon after I applied to be a trustee at the Youth Enquiry Service. Following a successful interview and completing the mandatory Trustee training provided by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) I formally became a trustee in April 2024.

I have found my first 18 months as a trustee very rewarding, working alongside my fellow trustees undertaking a skills audit and enabling each of us to be aligned to a head of section depending on our skills and background. This has been a very supportive way to enable a collaborative approach to the challenges around funding and working differently in this uncertain time across the sector. Being there to support the CEO, offering advice and support and understanding more about the service offerings has provided me with a sense of pride in being part of an amazing organisation which supports one of our most vulnerable cohorts across North East Essex, our young people.

The time commitment as a trustee is flexible, you can give as much or as little as you are able as long as you manage your statutory duties in reviewing board meeting documents such as budget papers, heads of service reports and provide constructive feedback as part of the regular board meetings, which are held bi monthly with an option of face to face and MS teams.

If you ever want to get more involved with a ‘special community voluntary sector faith enterprise group’ in your area please do so – we all have transferable skills that could make a real difference and a greater impact than you could imagine to many people in your community.

Why I became a trustee – and why you should too by Ali Blake

Why I became a trustee – and why you should too by Ali Blake

by | Nov 3, 2025 | Infrastructure, Volunteering

Why I, Alistair Blake, became a Trustee (And why you should consider it too)

Eight years ago, I became a trustee, despite concerns I wasn’t qualified enough or have enough time. Today I chair the board.

How and why, I became a Trustee

My journey with Summit Services began in 2008. Having just finished a multimedia degree and struggling to find work the media sector, I took a receptionist position at what was then called ‘The Advocacy Service’ in Clacton, where I grew up. I didn’t know what advocacy was or have any understanding of mental health services. But I quickly fell in love with the work – largely driven by amazing mentors, the passion of the staff and witnessing first-hand the impact on people’s lives.

Over the next few years, I trained as an advocate and also used my skills in unexpected ways from developing interactive and accessible materials to running music groups and sports teams.

But I still dreamed of working in media, and in late 2011, an opportunity to work for a television company came up which I couldn’t refuse. So, I moved to London and spent the next few years doing exactly what I’d always planned.

Yet something was missing. And as I became more aware of my own mental health, I reflected on how critical Summit’s work was.

That’s when I thought about trusteeship. Despite concerns about what I could offer and whether I’d have enough time, I got in contact, went through the interview process, and was appointed to the board.

What does being a Trustee actually involve?

We meet formally every 6 weeks, with occasional sub-committee work between. Some months it’s just a few hours; others require more time when we’re navigating challenges or establishing new initiatives. But it’s manageable alongside full-time work and family.

As Trustees, we provide governance and strategic direction, ensure financial sustainability, and support the CEO and staff team. It’s not about doing day-to-day work; our excellent staff do that. It’s about acting in the best interest of our beneficiaries and ensuring the organisation can continue its mission effectively.

What Have I Learned?

In eight years as a trustee, now as Chair, I’ve seen enormous change. Leadership transitions, funding and service evolution, staff and trustees moving on. What hasn’t changed is our mission: Advocating Empowerment. Supporting Independence.

Clacton has the second-highest mental health need in the country and seven areas in Tendring are among the most deprived 10% in England. While the statistics are eye-opening, behind every statistic is a person – someone struggling to access support, someone feeling isolated, or someone simply trying to live a fulfilled and independent life. Which is why this work really matters.

What surprised me most about trusteeship is how much my perspective counts. My media and business experience has practical value, but the real contribution is diverse thinking. The board needs people who aren’t necessarily mental health professionals, people who ask different questions and represent the community we serve.

I still don’t feel I give enough time. I still sometimes question what I offer. But I’ve learned that’s okay and what really matters is showing up, having a voice, and bringing genuine commitment.

What do I get out of it?

There’s the satisfaction of contributing to meaningful work, staying connected to advocacy while pursuing my corporate career. But I’ve also developed skills in governance, strategic thinking, and leadership that I would not have gained otherwise. I’ve been part of decisions that genuinely changed outcomes for people in our community.

Why you should consider it

Tendring’s voluntary organisations need trustees. Not just people with medical, legal or financial backgrounds, but people with all kinds of experiences: project management, HR, marketing, IT, lived experience, or simply a passion for the cause and willingness to learn.

If you’re thinking you aren’t qualified or don’t have time – I thought the same. But your doubts probably mean you’re a thoughtful person who’d make a good trustee.

You don’t need to be an expert in the organisation’s field. You need to be willing to ask questions, think strategically, and commit to the mission. The time commitment, while real, is more flexible than traditional volunteering.

If you have skills from work or life, if you care about your community, if you’ve valued local services, or if you want to make tangible difference then trusteeship might be for you.

Summit Services (TMHS) has been here since 1976. Lasting this long requires embracing change, being adaptable and resilient – and that needs fresh perspectives and people willing to contribute.

I never planned to work in mental health advocacy or chair a charity board, but it’s been one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve made. If you’re curious about trusteeship, explore opportunities in Tendring. Reach out to organisations you care about, contact the Community Voluntary Services, or search for trustee vacancies online and ask questions.

Your community needs you, and you might be surprised by what you have to offer and what you have to gain.

Would you like a Safeguarding top-up at our next Trustee Forum?

Would you like a Safeguarding top-up at our next Trustee Forum?

by | Aug 14, 2025 | Infrastructure

If something went wrong in your organisation tomorrow… could you honestly say you’d done everything possible to keep people safe?

For small voluntary and community organisations, it can be easy to assume that safeguarding is “someone else’s job” or only relevant in certain settings. But as a Trustee, you hold ultimate responsibility for ensuring your organisation protects the people it serves, especially those who are vulnerable.

That means more than simply having a safeguarding policy in place. As a Trustee you need to ensure procedures are not just clear and accessible, but also actively followed, from recruitment checks to reporting concerns. It also means creating a culture where people feel safe to speak up, and where safeguarding is embedded in every activity.

Laws, best practice, and risks evolve over time and Trustees have a duty to stay informed, seek training, and regularly review your organisations safeguarding arrangements. Neglecting this could expose your organisation to serious harm both to the individuals you serve and to your reputation and sustainability.

At CVST we want to support Trustees to be able to fulfil their safeguarding obligations. At our next Trustee Forum on the 4th September at 6pm we will be welcoming Alison Clark who is the Head of Safeguarding in Adult Social Care at Essex County Council to talk about the role of  Trustees in making their organisation’s operations safer and provide information about where to go and what to do if you have concerns.

To register to attend – please contact CVST at events@cvstendring.org.uk

 

 

How to show funders you are getting results

How to show funders you are getting results

by | Jul 14, 2025 | Infrastructure

Making Monitoring and Evaluation Count

If your organisations or club is self-funded through memberships and donations then other than any legal reporting requirements then you don’t need to necessarily think about recording information about your activities – although it might still be useful to do so.

However, if you are looking for grants from funders that will support your activities you need to think about how you can evidence that you are also delivering the outcomes that they want to see.

Whilst it can feel onerous at times, getting your monitoring right is essential and if you take some time to think about it you can make your monitoring work for you as well as your funders.

Using the information that you collect about what you do can help you to able to look at what you are doing with the resources that you have got, and make decisions about what to continue with and what you might want to stop or pause.

Think about what your organisation was set up to do and what physically happens when your organisations activities are taking place. This might be numbers of counselling sessions provided or numbers of people attending your centre.

Then think about the ‘so what’. If 100 people are coming to your centre – so what? What is the impact that you are looking to make in your community. It is this ‘impact’ that funders generally are looking to fund us in the voluntary and community sector to deliver. Anything from reducing health inequalities, increasing health outcomes, reducing young people engaged in criminal behaviours, increasing the school readiness of children… all huge topics that can feel overwhelming.

So how can a small local Bowls Club for example, provide evidence to a funder that it reduces social isolation or increases the mental wellbeing of older people living in the local community?

Information from their membership form, if they get the permission of their members, can be anonymised and used. Attendance records from their signing in book will give the numbers of people coming in. This information is likely to already be collected and is a quick and easy source of information for monitoring returns.

In addition to this they may have to show a measure of reduced social isolation or better mental health and will need to have some way of measuring this. This is the ‘so what?’ element

Two common ways of doing this are through surveys and case studies.

As part of their membership application form, the club could ask people what they want to get out of joining – meet new people, make new friends, be more active, get out of the house etc. Then the following year when they renew their membership the update form could ask them report back about what being part of the club has meant to them. These two member surveys can provide anonymous data about the wider benefits of membership and the impact on individuals that you can use in your monitoring.

Sometimes a difficult one, but if someone has particularly benefited from being involved with your organisation or club then you could ask them if their story, suitably anonymised, could be provided as a case study. Perhaps they’d like to write a letter or email themselves to say what the impact has been for them and with permission you could share this. Many people are more than happy to share their experiences and contribute to helping a club or organisation who has helped them.

Get ready to write your first funding bid

Get ready to write your first funding bid

by | Jul 7, 2025 | Uncategorized

Getting ready to write your first bid

Check who the funders are who fund the kinds of activities you are looking for support for. Think about how much money you will realistically need – there are a number of funders who will fund sums up to £1,000 which is often enough to get something off the ground. Your local CVS will often know about local sources of small grants available for smaller community groups and will be happy to help you look for other funders.

Check that you are eligible – does the funder fund CICs? Do they have a limit on how much money was raised last year? Really importantly, do they fund activities in your area? With so much information on social media which covers the whole of the UK and beyond, you will see funds being advertised that are only available in the areas that the company operate in, and it is easy to get carried away. Most funders will have information on their websites that you can use to see whether or not to apply.

Check what it is that the funder wants to support. You can write the best bid in the world but if the funder is only interested in rescuing green goats, there is no point in spending time writing about your plans to develop a local community centre. That’s not to say that you cannot be creative but do be realistic about where the match is between what you and the funder want to achieve. Beware of ‘mission drift’ and starting projects because the funding is available rather than concentrating on what it is that your organisation was set up to do and is really good at.

Check whether the fund covers revenue and or capital costs. Revenue costs are the running costs of the specific project e.g. staffing. Capital costs can, put very simply only be spent on ‘things’. There are rules about what is and isn’t ‘capital’ so worth checking this out if you are looking to buy something with the funding. Also check whether the fund will contribute to the core costs of the project e.g. management, finance, HR all the things that you need to keep things ticking over in the background.

Now, turn to the back page of the application form. Check that you have all the relevant documents that you will need to submit alongside your application for funding. Most commonly this will be your last year’s accounts, a bank statement from the past 3 months, or perhaps some of your policies depending on what you are looking to do, for example, a safeguarding policy is often asked for if you want to deliver a project that benefits vulnerable people. Every funder is different but if you have these all ready then it will save the stress of having to dig them out at the last minute when the clock is ticking for the deadline to submit!

Now you can make a start on the application itself!

Check out our Funding Portal for current funding opportunities here Funding portal – CVS Tendring

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