Introduction
Are you looking to make a real difference by helping one of the most exciting charities in the country to continue our life-saving, life-transforming and life-affirming work.
At Forward Trust we believe in a society where people can achieve their full potential, whatever their past. Through over 70 projects around the country, with over 900 staff and 200 volunteers, we support people affected by drug or alcohol issues, past offending, homelessness, mental health problems, or long term unemployment.
We deliver a diverse range of care and rehabilitation services focused on recovery and rehabilitation, and campaign for equality and compassion for people on the margins of society.
We are proud to have the Patronage of Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales, and a wide network of supporters, donors, and ambassadors, who together support and promote our work.
Like all charities, we have a Board of Trustees who have ultimate legal responsibility for all aspects of the operation of the organisation. We are looking to broaden and diversify our Board’s composition, filling skills gaps, and bringing new perspectives, ideas, and connections to our work. In order to help us to achieve this, we are recruiting several new board members.
Message From the Chair
I have had the privilege to serve as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Forward Trust for more than nine years and am immensely proud of the organisation’s achievements over that time. My fellow Trustees and I have had the good fortune to work with an excellent leadership team, and a committed and diverse workforce of volunteers, trainees, and salaried staff to deliver services that save lives.
We have brought together the incredible work of several charities over this period under the banner of the Forward Trust, and now manage a wide range of services that reach over 20,000 beneficiaries each year. All of these services work to a single mission – to help people who are struggling in life, to give them the belief that a better life is possible, and to provide them with emotional and practical help to achieve it.
As a charity and social enterprise that is primarily funded through public sector contracts (over 90% of our income), we are subject to significant fluctuations in our annual income and expenditure, but I am happy to report that we are today a financially sound organisation with strong governance.
Partly due to this confident position, the Trustees have decided that 2023 is a good time to refresh our Board of Trustees – time to step down for some long-serving colleagues, and time to bring in new ideas and perspectives to keep our leadership fresh, diverse and equipped with the right skills and experience for the future.
I hope that having read more about us; you are sufficiently interested to put your name forward to join our board. And I hope that, if you are invited into the forward Trust family, you find it as stimulating and rewarding as I have.