Director; funding & finance - Volunteer

Incredible Edible Leeds is seeking a new director with experience in finance and bid writing to support in finding and writing grant applications and oversee general finances for the organisation.

To have a director who can take responsibility for the funding bids would allow other members of the board to focus on core area their skillset aligns with creating a more well‑rounded board. This will also help if we decide to go for charitable status. As we rely on grant funding, the recent lack of unsuccessful bids due to not having someone focussed on this has meant we have been unable to hire members of staff or support as many new groups as we would have liked.

Your involvement would help create a more sustainable foundation for the business ahead of next years growing season, allowing for more beds, more and happier volunteers, better coordination of events and an increase in visibility should we be in the position to hire a marketing and admin assistant.

Bid writing and financial planning are key skills for this role as well as understanding the third sector and strategic decision making. A love for nature and green spaces, and an interest in home growing is ideal but at the very least an appreciation for the need to support our growing and community based activities and a drive to learn more.

Sometimes we will be working with vulnerable individuals and our volunteers are very diverse, so a non‑judgemental, approachable and compassionate individual is what we hope for.

The board currently consists of 4 voluntary members who have specialist skills in business strategy, tech, diversity, engagement, leadership and management, nutrition and recruitment. We also have an advisor who brings experience running third sector businesses.

A key aim highlighted in our recent strategy day is to have a more consistent income to provide ongoing support to groups and allow for a part time member of staff to manage admin and marketing. As well as better volunteer engagement which we struggle to keep up with due to the admin, finance and general business needs taking priority over our time.

We currently rely on grant funding and donations to support our 20 local groups, cover overheads and develop new locations so strong grant writing skills is a must, as we currently share this responsibility between directors.

In the future we look to introduce membership and/or a corporate offering to provide another income stream which we would welcome your input on.

We meet for 1 hour online every month for a board meeting and try to meet every 3-4 months in person for a strategy day. We also run a 'big get together' with our groups each season to help with knowledge sharing and to celebrate our volunteers and try to have at least 2 of the board at each one.