The Roots Foundation Wales is an award winning charity which empowers young people in care on their transition to independent living and to progressing positively into adulthood.

They also support foster and kinship careers. They achieve this through a creative, innovative, and dynamic service based in Swansea, providing services across the region and advocating in Wales.

In 2017 the charity featured on a BBC1 DIY SOS & Children in Need special and as a result they have a beautiful centre with 3 semi-independent living flats attached.  

Their Transition to Independent Living programme is bespoke and holistic in its approach and aims to teach young people on the cusp of leaving care (16-19 years old) independent living skills to aid a smooth and positive transition into adulthood.

They have a team of youth workers, night staff and volunteers who run groups, activities and clubs throughout term time and school holidays for young people aged 4-25. They hold coffee mornings for carers, a playgroup for young parents and activity groups ranging from crafts club to cookery, youth club and movie nights.

Trustee vacancies:

The Roots Foundation are looking for trustees who have an interest in and who have a commitment to supporting children, young people and adults who are care experienced and their carers.

A message from the Youth Panel:
“Roots is our home from home, it's a place where we can share our personal experiences and always be supported. Building good relationships with the staff and other young people is very important to us. It's important to have staff who are respectful, caring and trustworthy while being able to have fun and enjoy a bit of banter! We need someone who is honest, responsible and appreciative of the fact that Roots is like our family.”

What Roots are looking for
As a small charity they have a committed and enthusiastic team of employees and volunteers on the ground who work to support their young people and their carers. As Roots looks to expand its work and programmes, they are seeking to enhance their board in order to embed a new strategic plan and provide support to the growing number of employees.

They are specifically interested in trustees who have experience in any of the following areas to strengthen their existing skills set.

• Finance,accounts and budgets 
• Campaigning
• Change Management
• Comms and Marketing
• Legislation in relation to the organisation's work and charitable status.
• Monitoring and evaluating performance
• Health and Safety 

The charity is particularly keen this time to recruit Trustees with relevant lived experience, such as care leavers and kinship carers.

They encourage applications from young, disabled or Welsh speakers, and people that live in Swansea and the surrounding areas, as these groups are currently under represented on the Board. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable but not essential. 

They are also particularly interested in recruiting a Treasurer. As the organisation grows and receives more funding, it is important that they have a Trustee experienced in financial management, who can oversee the accounts and budgets as well as advising on the financial implications of the new strategic plan. 

The role of Trustees is:

• To oversee the strategic development and growth of the charity in line with it aims and objectives.
• To support events and be an active and contributing member of the trustee board and its activities.
• To take the lead in agreed areas, working with sub groups that could include employees and feedback to the wider board. 

Commitment required: 
The board of Trustees meets every two months, usually on a Tuesday at 5pm for 2 hours. Trustees will be provided with the relevant papers in advance of meetings, preparation and reading for the meeting usually takes about an hour. There is an expectation that Trustees are available for 80% of these meetings (i.e. 5 per year) and to undertake agreed tasks outside of these times.
Roots are seeking Trustees that will also be visible and engage in activities at certain times of the year, for example celebrating successes, supporting activities such as trips with young people and be public facing where agreed to promote the organisation. Each month one Trustee is expected to visit Roots, for visibility and to help support the staff and young people. 

Click here to download this advert as a PDF

How to apply:

To apply for this position, or for further information about this role, please email the Chair of Trustees, Annie, at [email protected]. Tell Roots about yourself and why you would like to be a Trustee for them. Please also include any relevant experience, personal or professional. You could also send a short video telling them about yourself if you prefer.

Roots are committed to making this process as straightforward as possible, if you require any reasonable adjustments or you are unsure what to include in your application, please contact Annie for an informal chat.

They will be assessing applications on a rolling basis, if you intend to apply for this position please do so as soon as possible. 

Click here to see The Roots Foundation's facebook page