Role Description
Time Commitment: 2-3 days per month
The core role of our Chair is to provide inclusive leadership to the Board of Trustees and Executive Team, holding accountability for Comic Relief’s mission as much as facilitating engagement and progress. Comic Relief is proud to have a widely recognisable brand with partners across grassroots communities, the third sector, corporate partners, media, and government, and our Chair may at times be expected to carry out some ambassadorial work as appropriate.
Through all levels of Comic Relief, our colleagues have pride in representing our mission and values. As Chair, you will be playing a vital role in a critical conversation – how to achieve a world free from poverty.
Core Responsibilities
- Chair the Board of Comic Relief, ensuring that we achieve maximum impact by the highest standards of integrity and effectiveness and that the Board provides clear guardrails and strategic direction for the Executive Team
- Work effectively with relevant members of staff, particularly our CEO, mentoring, guiding, and holding to account as appropriate, ensuring that Comic Relief is well led
- Along with our CEO, hold responsibility for the effectiveness of the Board, building and guiding the Board agenda as much as encouraging and facilitating positive and constructive Trustee relations
- Promote a culture of inclusion and engagement, where all Trustees are actively encouraged and enabled to participate in important discussions, drawing effectively on their skillsets and insights
- Ensure the Board fulfils its duties in securing sound financial health for the organisation and that we are compliant with charity law, company law, and any other relevant legislation or regulations
- Act as a key representative as appropriate, building and maintaining networks e.g. with our corporate partners
- Safeguard Comic Relief’s brand, making sure that we not only take pride in our legacy but build on it, so that we remain fresh, relevant, and appealing to our audiences
Person Specification
This is a broad and varied role spanning governance, strategic leadership, stakeholder engagement, strategic positioning and, naturally, playing a key role in the fight for a world free from poverty.
We are no longer a young organisation as we go into our 40th year and while the need for an inspiring, open, strong Comic Relief has not changed, the charity landscape has undeniably shifted. As highlighted by our Interim Chair, Tom Shropshire, we have been in the process of evolving ourselves for the past 5 – 7 years, and we now find ourselves at a unique crossroads.
As such, as we approach a future that is different from our past, it will be important for our next Chair to demonstrate not just your experience of our key criteria throughout this process but your ability to connect the dots, to appreciate that Comic Relief can be bigger than the sum of its complex parts.
We’re looking for someone to act as a key steward of Comic Relief, an experienced governance leader to ensure we’re on the right path to achieving our strategic objectives. Previous Chairing experience would be a clear benefit, though we are also open to those who have held senior Board responsibility e.g. Chairing a Committee. We’re also looking for someone values-driven with high levels of emotional intelligence who knows how to bring out the skills and knowledge of those around them. We are open to a variety of sectoral backgrounds and welcome different approaches during this process.
Most importantly, we are looking for a Chair who shares our passion for a world free from poverty, with the strategic skillset to help us get there.
Experience, Abilities, and Characteristics
- An inclusive, engaging, open approach to leadership
- Demonstrable commitment to Comic Relief’s mission of a world free from poverty
- A balance of independent judgement and an ability to work effectively as part of a cohesive Board
- Proven experience of working effectively with a Board, ideally in a context of strategic change, with an ability to make the most of the skillsets around the table
- A proven ability to work effectively with senior external stakeholders such as corporate partners
- Capacity to commit appropriate time to fulfil the duties of the role well, including away days, travel, and events
- A clear understanding of the role of multidisciplinary charities like Comic Relief have to play in society
- We would value sector-agnostic experience of guiding public-facing brands e.g. those that work through entertainment media