Trustee

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Job description

Trustee

Responsible to: MCS CF Chair

Hours: Approximately 6-9 days a year.

Term: This is a three-year term with the possibility of re-appointment for a further two terms.

Salary: This is a voluntary role and travel expenses will be reimbursed

Location: Meetings will generally take place online and in London / Warrington offices

Start Date: Q1 2022

Are you a seasoned financial and/or accounting professional looking for an opportunity to apply your experience and skills to combat climate change? If so, we would like to hear from you.

Charity Overview

The MCS Charitable Foundation, founded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), today operates as an independent foundation and is a leading UK not-for-profit organisation advancing decarbonization solutions for the buildings and household sector, a hard-to-decarbonize segment that accounted for 21% of the total UK emissions in 2020.

Core Activities

The MCS Charitable Foundation carries out its work under three core streams of activities:

• National and Local Advocacy: Advocacy at the local and national level, alone and in partnership with other like-minded organisations to undertake research and promote policies that can facilitate the uptake of renewables and low-carbon technologies in the building and household sectors. Those may range from campaigns to reduce VAT on renewables to enabling retail financing to renewable technologies.
• Financing and Scaling-Up Innovations: Via Grants and seed-funding and a range of partnerships we identify and support a number of innovations to decarbonise the building and household sector - for example, in the fields of skills, public education, research and zero carbon delivery programmes. We expect the level of capital deployed to expand significantly in the coming years as we forge partnerships with larger groups and foundations to channel large scale and recurrent funding to our sector.
• Quality and Performance Standards Setting and Enforcement: Setting and enforcing, via its wholly-owned subsidiary MCS Company Services, the national standards for the installation and operation of a wide range of renewables and low-carbon technologies, from solar to heat-pumps. Our certification underpins several national governmental programmes and incentives to promote adoption of renewables and low-carbon technologies.

The Role

This is a high-impact role for individuals keen on working at the forefront of decarbonisation efforts in the UK and contributing their skills and experience to overcoming the many practical challenges of making net-zero emissions a reality.

Due to the forthcoming completion of term of one of our trustees, an exciting opening on our board has arisen. We are looking for candidates with a strong background in financial planning, controls and/or accounting to complement the current skill set of the board. The candidates should be able to demonstrate a substantial track record within the financial or accounting sector. Experience with charities, grant-making foundations, SMEs and/or financial investments would be beneficial. The successful candidate should be able to offer strategic and tactical advice and support to the charity and potentially MCS Service Company which is wholly owned by the Charitable Foundation.

Several of our Trustees are also Trustee representatives on the Board of MCS Service Company which ensures quality and standards of renewable energy installations. It is preferred that the Financial Trustee also has the flexibility to join the company Board. That may require an additional 6 days per year.

What will you be doing

• There are currently 4 Board Meetings a year, and 2 Grant Committee Meetings, these are either standalone or tabled as an agenda item in Board Meetings.
• There are 6 MCS Services Co meetings a year

Key Skills

Essential

• Qualified Accountant / or highly experienced in financial planning, management and controls
• Strong interest in issues of decarbonisation and energy transition
• Availability to serve on Charity Board for at least 1 term (3 years)

Desirable

• Commercial / legal experience
• Experience as partner in accounting firm or equivalent experience
• Availability to also represent Charity on Company Board for at least 1 term (3 years)
• Experience at Board level at private firms and/or charitable organisations
• Experience in organisations with a strong public service orientation

Application Process

• Covering Letter expressing your motivation for the role and how you fit the requirements; and
• CV

The closing date for the receipt of applications is 4 th January 2022.

Interviews will take place with shortlisted candidates during the month of January with a start date planned for Q1 2022.

Full details regarding the interview process will be sent to shortlisted candidates in advance.