Trustees

Ttrustees - CRIBS International

Trustee openings: Refugee mother-child wellbeing

We're seeking two new trustees with non-profit experience in organization strategy or donor relations/fundraising to lead our charity, which houses, provides food, and provides opportunities for empowerment to refugee women and babies. The role is volunteer and fully remote, requiring 12-15 hours per month, including monthly online board meetings. Between meetings, we use a Slack channel to communicate among trustees. Non-UK residents ARE eligible for this role.

CRIBS International is a UK charity operating in Athens, Greece. We provide housing, casework and community support for refugee women and their babies. Our foremost aim is to alleviate the poverty of these vulnerable families, who often have no other options. We also work to promote the health and wellbeing of mother and child by ensuring they receive prenatal care, have a safe delivery, and pediatric care during the child’s first year of growth and development. We centre women’s development by helping mothers get access to community, education, and work.

Since CRIBS was founded in 2016, we have helped more than 105 families who would otherwise have ended up on the streets or in other unsafe and unstable living situations in Greece.

What You Will Be Doing

Our board is made up of people in the UK who oversee our work on the ground in Athens, Greece. As the resources available to refugees in Greece dwindle, we are operating in a challenging environment. Our main goal at this time is sustainability--to foster partnerships, expand our donor base, and build cash reserves. We need to develop and implement a long-term plan that focuses on finances and also on building and maintaining a resilient organization into the future.

The successful candidate will, collectively with other board members, provide advice and leadership on these matters to CRIBS’ founder/director and the in-country director. There are opportunities for someone with creativity, an ability to see possibilities, and a holistic view of sustainability. Someone with constituent relations/fundraising and active collaboration with partner organizations will also find many opportunities to contribute!

At CRIBS, we value many different perspectives and encourage respectful debate about key decisions. A primary responsibility is to be well-informed and prepared for board meetings to participate fully in collective decision-making. A commitment to promoting dignity, equality, diversity, and inclusion is also necessary.

Note: Before applying for the CRIBS Trustee role, we ask that you read the trustees’ duties and legal responsibilities set out in the Charity Commission guidance on the essential trustee (CC3). The Essential Trustee: 6 main duties provides a helpful synopsis of trustee responsibilities. We've provided the links to these helpful guides with this posting.

What Skills Are We Looking For CRIBS’ board of trustees is a collaborative body, and our expectation of each trustee is that they are comfortable–or even thrive–in collaborating with others and prioritizes the success of the team over individual achievements. Along with the experience, skills and abilities the trustees bring, we also value empathy, eagerness to learn, and the ability to set aside preconceptions about any aspect of the work.

Required experience, skills and abilities: 

● At least 3 years experience in one of the following: 

○ Strategic development and planning 

○ Project or programme management, or 

○ Fundraising research / Bid writing 

● Ability to understand CRIBS’ work and to combine that understanding with your own knowledge, experience, and values to form a sound, considered opinion.

● Ability to listen, challenge ideas constructively, and provide clear feedback.

● Ability to think creatively about serving the needs of CRIBS’ beneficiaries within the limitations of our resources.

● Ability to look strategically into the future, holding the needs of the women and children we serve at the centre of all decision making.

● Ability to work effectively as a member of a friendly, dispersed team.

● Demonstrated cultural competence in leadership and communication, including the ability to relate to the experiences of others, particularly those from marginalized groups, and supporting colleagues.

Preferred experience, skills, and abilities:

● Experience in management or as an employee of a non-profit organization involved in women’s health and human services.

● Lived experience as a refugee from East Asia or Africa.

● Experience in finance or fundraising.

● Ability to make use of professional and personal contacts for fundraising for CRIBS.

Nice to have:

● Knowledge of the last 10 years’ history of refugee movement from East Asia and Africa to Europe.

● Solid understanding of charity law in the UK or Greece.

What Difference Will You Make

We are looking for two trustees, each with different but relevant skills, to join our board. In the coming year, the board will be active in developing new partnerships and helping to foster existing collaborations. As a trustee with skills in identifying and cultivating funding sources, you will find much to do to help expand our donor base and build cash reserves. Or, you can help develop our use of a DRM/CRM system. With strategic thinking and organizational development skills, you get the chance to influence the development and implementation of our long-term plan. All of these activities will help to build and maintain a resilient CRIBS into the future, and impact many more women and their children.

The research and our own experience demonstrate: for children to flourish, their mothers’ health, wellbeing, and access to education, community, and work must be prioritised. These investments have benefits that compound throughout both the mother’s and child's lifetime.

In just 10 years CRIBS has helped 105 such families do better than survive under constantly changing conditions on the ground in Athens. That’s 105 babies, some of whom are now 9 years old, their parents, and their siblings. Trustees can take enormous satisfaction in the knowledge that they have contributed significantly to those lives. Beyond the lives CRIBS impacts directly, we also think about the ripple effect, both on those people and institutions our families will encounter and on future generations.

What’s in it for you

You’ll widen your perspective in working on an international team. You may use skills you don’t presently have a chance to use. As a CRIBS trustee, you will take on a significant responsibility in law, an experience that will make you a better candidate for future leadership roles. If you’ve been in direct service to others, you’ll be able to see how you can have an impact on a larger number of people than you have had on your own. You will learn the stories of the 17 families we currently serve and see their inspiring resilience. You may even want to visit the project in Athens.

And of course, there is a tremendous satisfaction in supporting and shaping this vital work.

Application instructions

To apply, please provide your CV and a letter (or video) of motivation, no more than one side of A4 (or five minutes) in length. Your letter or video should describe what you have to off er to CRIBS specifically, including why you believe you are a good candidate for the role of trustee. If you would like to have an informal discussion ahead of submitting your application, please indicate this in your letter.

11 June is the deadline for receipt of applications. Video interviews will be arranged from 12-19 June

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.