If you’re excited by ideas, motivated by making change, and eager to bring clarity to complexity, you’ll feel right at home here.
IVAR is looking for up to five new trustees to join our Board.
At this critical juncture in our evolution, we are looking for people who can help us deliver an ambitious, collaborative, and cross-sector strategy that truly puts charities in the driving seat of change.
As a trustee, you won’t just oversee governance; you’ll help challenge, champion, and co‑create a funding system built on trust. If you bring sharp thinking, lived expertise, and the confidence to ask brave questions – whether your background is in finance, campaigning, communications, AI ethics or beyond – we welcome your application.
We don’t just tolerate a difference of opinion; we actively seek it. We want a board of different voices and perspectives that will challenge our thinking and push us to be bolder. It is high commitment but low-ego. – Kamna Muralidharan, Chair
Main purpose of the role
As a member of the Board of Trustees you will be responsible for setting IVAR’s strategic goals, priorities and direction. You will use your knowledge, skills and experience to ensure IVAR stays true to its charitable objects. You will represent the interests of all our stakeholders and act as an advocate for the organisation.
The commitment involved
Trustees are expected to attend at least three meetings a year.
In addition to participation in quarterly board meetings, trustees are encouraged to find other points of connection with IVAR staff and their work, such as taking part in programme or topic-specific subgroups; advising on fundraising; reviewing management accounts and setting budgets; and safeguarding.
Over the course of a year, you should expect to commit the equivalent of at least eight days to being a Trustee.
Who we are looking for
If you have an appetite for challenge, a heart for social justice, and a desire to build the conditions for a stronger voluntary sector, I would love for you to join us in our next chapter. – Kamna Muralidharan, Chair
The Board is looking to appoint up to five trustees and will be seeking a blend of skills, expertise and life experiences that complement its current make-up.
We are looking for trustees who:
- Share an affinity with IVAR’s charitable objects and values
- Be proactive, enthusiastic and ambitious in supporting IVAR to achieve its strategic aims
- Have exceptional listening skills as well as an appetite to speak your mind, within a learning culture where this is supported and encouraged
- Direct experience of working in the voluntary sector
- Confidence with numbers, to support financial planning and oversight
- Expertise in the use and ethics of AI
- Expertise in influencing or campaigning
- Networks in the public sector, including direct experience of working with public agencies
- Experience of communications – particularly translating research and evidence into public-facing messages
Being a trustee at IVAR has been inspirational for me. Being able to help guide such important work, and such a talented team, has been endlessly rewarding. It’s given me so much food for thought for my day job working in grant-making. The board is a respectful, insightful place full of incredible people wanting to make a difference – we’re really keen to welcome new thinking into that space.” – Ruth Stephens, IVAR Trustee
If you feel that we are describing you in any of the above, then we’d love to hear from you.
Key dates
Closing date for applications: 21 August
Screening Interviews: 7 – 18 September
Panel Interviews: 5 and 6 October
First meeting: 17 or 18 November
Want to find out more?
For more information about what the role involves, the requirements, and the application process, click here to download the information pack.
If you would like an initial, informal conversation about being a trustee at IVAR, please contact Operations Manager Diana Wray, at diana@ivar.org.uk.