The Foundation for Integrated Transport (FIT) is looking for two new trustees to sit on its board.
Background
The Foundation was established in 2014 by the late Dr Simon Norton, whose vision was a world where humans have a right to get around without a car and where people can travel with minimum impact on other people’s lives and the environment.
In pursuit of these aims, the Foundation provides grants and fellowships and promotes solutions that overcome barriers to getting around, which might be provided through volunteering, social enterprise and other means.
The trust has assets of approximately £6 million, to be spent over 15 years on grants, small grants for volunteer organisations, fellowships and social investments. FIT’s two current areas of interest, which inform its decisions, are transport as a basic human right and climate change.
The role
As a specialist Foundation we are seeking trustees who have a keen interest in transport, but this need not be specialist knowledge. We are interested in finding younger trustees, with more based outside the southeast.
FIT is one of the few sources of charitable funds for sustainable transport, so trustees play a key role. This is also an opportunity to work with leading campaigners for sustainable transport. Campaigning on sustainable transport can be fascinating and can build personal friendships.
Current trustees are:
- Michael Norton, Social entrepreneur
- Stephen Joseph, OBE, Transport policy consultant
- Dr Lynn Sloman, Founder, Transport for Quality of Life Consultancy; Board member, Transport for London
- Jenny Raggett, Transport campaigner
- Roger French, OBE, Former Managing Director, Brighton and Hove Buses
- Chris Crean, Environmental campaigner
- John Stewart, Environmental campaigner
- Alastair Hanton, Secretary, Foundation for Integrated Transport
Quarterly board meetings
The trust deed provides for trustees to be appointed for up to three terms, each of three years. The amount of time needed for the role can be flexible, to fit in with other commitments. Attendance at the quarterly board meetings can be in person or online, but trustees will be required to meet together in person at least once a year, normally in London.
Legal duties of trustees
- Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit
- Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law
- Act in your charity’s best interests
- Manage your charity’s resources responsibly
- Act with reasonable care and skill
- Ensure your charity is accountable
- Attendance in person or on-line at quarterly trust meetings (normally in London)
- Possible membership of the trust’s Social Investment Committee
- Reviewing applications for funding and helping decide which applicants receive funding
- Regularly reviewing the work of the trust and of its grantees, fellows, and social investments
- Overseeing the policy and performance of the trust’s market investments
- Ensuring that the trust’s governance and policies are sound and consistent with the trust’s vision and strategy
The charity’s current strategy is to:
- invest about one third of the trust’s resources in social enterprises consistent with the trust’s vision;
- establish and fund a continuing programme of fellowships absorbing about 15% of the trust’s resources;
- allocate about 5% of its resources to small grants (typically up to £2,000) to local campaigns to complement cost effectively the work of volunteers; and
- devote the rest of the trust’s resources to other grants, key priorities being climate change and a basic human right to live a decent life without the use of cars.
FIT is registered as charity number 1156363.
If you are interested in applying, please send a short covering letter and CV to admin@integratedtransport.co.uk before 31 October 2020.