Chair of the Board

What we need from you

As our new Chair or Co-Chairs, you’ll lead the trustee team, helping provide strategic direction, constructive challenge and practical support so Possible can deliver the impact the climate crisis demands.  If this would be your first Chair role, you may find the NCVO’s guide to roles on boards useful.

You’ll work closely with Possible’s Co-Directors, offering focused support and oversight.  One Co-Director acts as Lead Director on a rotating basis to liaise with the board.

You’ll attend quarterly board and committee meetings, read papers in advance, and help shape meeting agendas with the Co-Directors by email.

Between board meetings, the Chair usually has a one-hour fortnightly meeting with the Co-Directors, alongside occasional email updates and questions.  We’re happy to flex this approach around the new Chair’s preferences and availability.

Board meetings are three hours on Tuesday afternoons and currently alternate between in-person and remote.  April and October are usually in person, while July and January are remote.   Meeting times are reviewed by the board and can be discussed once you join.

For in-person meetings, we reimburse expenses, including travel and support for childcare or care of other dependants.  Remote attendance is always available if needed.

You may also be invited to occasional events, working groups or training, depending on your availability.

We expect our Chair to stick with us for a three-year term, which can then be renewed for one further three-year term, before stepping down.

We estimate the Chair role will take 2 to 8 hours per week, depending on what is happening in the organisation.

This includes:

• Preparing for, chairing and following up on four board meetings each year.
• A fortnightly one-hour meeting with the Co-Directors.
• Attendance at committee, working group or review meetings where relevant.
• Occasional emails, events, workshops or training.

Terms of appointment

Duties

As our Chair, it is your responsibility to:

• Lead Possible’s board in its key role to ensure that the organisation carries out its purposes for the public benefit. 
• Lead the board’s role in its work to set the organisational vision, mission and strategy that delivers on our charitable objects, working closely with the Co-Director team. 
• Act as a team leader for the board, working with the Co-Directors to prepare for quarterly board meetings. Chair regular and extraordinary board meetings.
• Act as key liaison between Co-Directors and the board between board meetings, with regular meetings that actively support the Co-Directors to unblock, negotiate, mitigate or resolve issues that are challenging the organisation’s ability to deliver. 
• Oversee annual reviews for Co-Directors, ensuring they are fulfilling their job description and meeting established expectations, and, where necessary, help recruit new Co-Directors.
• Lead the recruitment of Co-Directors, new trustees and future Chair.

Meeting attendance commitments

• Preparing for and chairing four board meetings annually, of which two are currently held remotely and two are held in or near Possible’s Camden office. Board meetings are for half a day on Tuesdays. We aim to do at least one staff/trustee lunch in person, per year.
• Fortnightly 1 hour meeting with Co-Directors.
• If acting as a Co-Chair team, monthly 1 hour meetings with Co-Chair.
• Attending other ad hoc meetings e.g. organisation-wide meetings to which trustees are invited, or trustee away days. 

Committee membership

• The Chair must attend the Finance and Fundraising Committee, which takes place a few days before each board meeting for 1.5 hours. 
• The Chair might be asked to support (or at least be in good communication with) the Operations and Governance Committee. 
• Other time-bound groups might be set up to manage things like trustee recruitment or strategy development, which the Chair must also be in good communication with, or sometimes participate in (particularly for strategy development, for example).

UK charity law stipulates that you must be 18 to act as a trustee. Unless authorised with a waiver from the Charity Commission you cannot act as a trustee under some circumstances, e.g. if you have an unspent conviction for an offence involving dishonesty or deception (such as fraud) or have been removed as a trustee of another charity.  If you're concerned that there may be a reason you would not be allowed to become a trustee, but are interested in joining us - please just get in touch. 

How to apply

Please apply via the portal no later than 9am, September 1st 2026. 

First round interviews will take place online on Wednesday September 23rd, and second round interviews will take place in person at our office in Camden on Friday October 2nd. Interviews will be up to one hour in length.

Offers will be made in time for the successful candidate to be invited to sit in on the Tuesday October 20th board meeting, inducted in November and December, and officially start at the January board meeting.

We’d also appreciate it if you could complete an equal opportunities monitoring form. This will be stored separately to your application and is to help us assess and improve our recruitment processes.

Any further questions?

Current members of the Board and Possible staff are happy to respond to questions, either by email or, if you'd prefer, a longer chat over the phone/video call.

Email Rosie Clarke, Head of Operations and People, in the first instance, with an overview of what you want to know. They will put you in touch with the right person: rosie.clarke@wearepossible.org.

This role is advertised as part of TPP's Free Giving Back Services. This volunteer advertisement copy has been supplied to TPP and applicants apply direct to the organisation. Please contact the organisation directly if you have any questions about this volunteer role.