Visit from the Stork is a family support charity for parents and parents-to-be across Greater Manchester. We have been supporting families since 2014. We are now looking for some new Trustees to join us!!

Our vision is for all families in Greater Manchester to be able to give their children the best possible start in life; no matter their circumstances.

Our mission is to achieve this by creating a family support network across Greater Manchester, offering a welcoming helping hand to those who need it most. Our organisation is a safe space for parents to come to when they need help with anything; providing both practical and emotional support for families at every step of their journey.

We give our clients the tools and resources they need for their family to thrive; we run a baby bank , social stay and play sessions, a family holiday club, infant feeding support and an employment skills course for long-term unemployed parents.

We give practical and emotional support at the time it is needed, for as long as it is needed. Our work focuses on reducing stress, strengthening parent-child relationships and improving family health and wellbeing. We believe long-term, consistent support helps to break down barriers and empowers families to move themselves out of the cycle of deprivation and begin to thrive.
Our services are award-winning, having won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2022 – a lifetime achievement equivalent to an MBE. This is not only for the ongoing work of our wonderful volunteers, but for the amazing contribution they all made during the pandemic, when many other services had to stop or close altogether.
We received Charitable incorporated Organisation (CIO/ registered charity) status on 1st November 2023 and our CEO and founder Trustees worked hard on an initial organisational strategy for 2024-2026 as well as changing everything over from the CIC.

Our CEO went on Maternity Leave in April 2025 and since then the Board has developed their skills, and also identified a number of gaps and the need to diversify for the organisation to grow effectively.

Being a Trustee is a volunteer role and an important one as they are legally responsible for making sure the organisation follows the charitable objectives, delivers activities for the public benefit and manages its finances effectively.

Trustees provide governance to the charity and accept legal authority for it. Our new trustees will be part of the current Board who have been with us for varying periods. They will help the SMT to financially stabilise the organisation and then execute a new 3-year plan for growth.

We are looking for local professionals, parents and service users to get involved and help us. We are looking for Trustees who could spare time to get involved in our projects, advise on operational matters and help with fundraising. Of course, anyone who joins us will be passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of local families.

Trustees may volunteer to help operationally on one of our projects using their specific skills or experience or may already be volunteering within one of the projects. This will mean they can bring specific insights back to the Board and they will really understand that aspect of the business.

We welcome any applications from people in the community wishing to get involved. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive Board of Trustees that reflect the communities we serve. We particularly welcome applications from people from minority ethnic backgrounds as we are underrepresented on our Board. We are currently an all-female Board and would like to achieve better representation across genders.

Ideally Trustees will have the following skills or experience to fill ‘skills gaps’ on our Board.

Charity Law and Regulation – any experience previously working in the charity sector or knowledge of charity law (as opposed to company law) or any knowledge of or even an interest in reading and dissecting Charity Commission guidance, HMRC guidance or any other relevant documents for us!
Fundraising/events management and Income generation – It is our priority to have a Trustee with fundraising experience to be able to advise us regarding our events and campaigns, how to get corporate donors, best practices for raising money and managing donations through individual and corporate giving, and be able to help us grow our fundraising income.
Event management – We hold events throughout the year and would benefit from a Trustee with significant event management and promotion experience to enhance our understanding and output in this area.

Marketing and PR – We would love to hear from anyone with professional comms, PR and marketing experience and can help us with increasing our reach through networks, speaking, writing press releases and helping with media enquiries.
VCSE / Corporate contacts in Manchester or Bury –We have strong connections in Salford and need to strengthen our network in Manchester and Bury boroughs and need Trustees to link us into professional contacts in our sector (council, health, family support, immigration etc) or corporates, funders or philanthropists that might be interested in helping or sponsoring us.
Service users – life experience being a parent in Salford, Manchester or Bury, to hold us to account about our services.

Duties

To provide governance to Visit from the Stork, represents the charity to the community, and accepts the legal authority for the charity,
To ensure that Visit from the Stork exists and takes all necessary steps in the pursuit of the charitable objectives of Visit from the Stork as set out in the CIO Constitution,
To ensure that Visit from the Stork complies with its governing document, charity law and any other relevant legislation or regulations,
To contribute actively to the Management Board’s role in giving firm strategic direction to Visit from the Stork, setting overall policy, defining goals and setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets,
To safeguard the good name and values of Visit from the Stork,
To ensure the effective and efficient administration of Visit from the Stork,
To ensure the financial stability of Visit from the Stork,
To scrutinise Board papers,
To submit items for the agenda of Board meetings if wanting to raise issues,
To participate in discussions as appropriate,
To provide guidance on new initiatives,
To take part in relevant sub committees and lead discussions in which the member has special interest or expertise, such as events/fundraising & finance,
To advise on other issues in which the member has special expertise,
To represent Visit from the Stork at functions, meetings and events,
To represent Visit from the Stork in the media when necessary.

Remuneration: The role of Chair and trustees are not accompanied by financial remuneration but all out of pocket and reasonable expenses can be claimed.

Term of office: All board members will serve a minimum term of up to 12 months, after which time they will be eligible for re-appointment of up to 3 terms of 3 years. Potential Trustees will observe two meetings, before having the chance to be co-opted in at the third meeting. New Trustees from September 2026 will then be officially elected by our members during our AGM in 2027 and have a term of 3 years.

Location: Our main base is at Emmanuel Centre, Langworthy Road, Salford, M6 5PN

Meetings: Meetings are 6-weekly, via Google Meet. We will have at least 2 x Special meetings face to face either in Salford or Manchester, including a meetup at Christmas and a ‘Meet the Trustees’ event for staff and volunteers.

Time commitment:

Currently the Board is meeting every 6 weeks on a Monday evening 6-8pm via a Google Meet call. We will review this in 2027. Trustees will need to read Board reports in preparation for meetings and will be asked to review procedures and policies on a regular basis. If any Trustees have time to commit operationally to advise strategically, help write documents, attend meetings or sub-groups to help make decisions, attend our community events as a representative, then that will be encouraged.

Essential	Very Desirable (for this round of recruitment)	Desirable
Strategic vision – able to see the ‘big picture’ for the charity	Knowledge of the charity sector	Previous management / Board experience
Good independent judgement	Local contacts and knowledge of issues in Manchester, Salford and/or Bury	Committee experience
Able to think creatively	Charity law & Regulation Charity retail	Leadership experience
Able to work effectively in a team	Marketing & PR including writing press releases, public speaking, speaking to the media, ad campaigns (including online and OOH)	knowledge of government welfare / social policy
Good communication skills and able to use IT	Fundraising and income generation including any knowledge or Experience of individual giving, corporate giving, Trusts and Foundations	Qualifications in project management, event management, fundraising
Commitment to the organisation	Knowledge of IT systems and related security issues.	Experience of minute / note taking
Impartiality and ability to respect confidential information	Charity commissioning (GM-wide)	HR / Managing volunteers
Willingness to speak / challenge	Personal experience of parenting/ caring for children
Willingness to devote time and effort necessary
Understand legal liabilities, duties and responsibilities

Interested? Please download the application form and the organisation background form by clicking on the links below and then email the application to recruitment@visitfromthestork.co.uk or if you have any questions, please feel free to email us.

Background of visit from the stork – Trustee 2026

Trustee Recruitment Application form 2026

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