Trustee Opportunities- up to 3 roles available

Job Description

Our Vision
To become a national leader in children’s community respite care, offering families with children diagnosed with heart defects or feeding issues a dedicated place of support, empowering them to thrive alongside their loved ones.

Our Mission
To bridge the gap between hospital and home, guiding families through the challenging transition with compassion and expertise. We are dedicated to delivering high-quality support that empowers parents and fosters resilience in the face of adversity.

Our Values

Our values underpin everything we do. They shape how we lead, how we care and how we support one another and the families we serve.

We are passionate about our mission, driven by a shared commitment to improving the lives of children, young people and families. We show resilience in the face of challenge, understanding that our work is often complex, emotional and demanding, yet deeply meaningful.

We act with strong integrity and transparency, ensuring trust, honesty and accountability guide every decision we make. Clear, compassionate communication is central to how we work, enabling strong relationships, accurate information sharing and effective collaboration across teams and with families.

Above all, we lead with empathy, recognising the needs of our workforce and the families who rely on us.

By living these values every day, we create a culture of respect, professionalism and continuous improvement, ensuring high-quality care and support remains at the heart of Lagan’s Foundation.

The Opportunity

We operate in a complex and challenging care environment, responding to workforce shortages, commissioning pressures and rising demand. Alongside this, we are building a sustainable, values-led model of commercial respite that enables us to reinvest surpluses directly into the families and communities we serve.

As a founder-led charity entering an exciting new phase, this is a unique opportunity for individuals who share our values, bring strong leadership, and offer skills that will help strengthen our Board, support our CEO and guide the charity towards long-term sustainability.

The Role of a Trustee

As a Trustee, you will:

• Help shape the strategic direction of the charity
• Provide constructive support and challenge to the executive team
• Ensure good governance, safeguarding and financial oversight
• Act in the best interests of the children and families we serve
• Uphold and champion our values

Trustees are not involved in day-to-day operations but play a vital role in guiding and supporting the organisation.

About You

We are ideally seeking individuals who are,

• Experienced Board members looking to give back
• Experienced professionals looking to give back
• Individuals with relevant expertise seeking their first trustee role
• People motivated by impact, values-led decision-making and collaboration

You do not need prior trustee experience. We provide a supportive induction and ongoing guidance.

We are seeking to build a well-balanced Board, bringing together a range of skills, perspectives and lived experience. While no one individual is expected to bring everything, we have identified the following priority areas where additional expertise would be particularly valuable:

Priority skills we are keen to appoint:

• Commissioning expertise, particularly experience of working with or within Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and/or Local Authorities, across children’s and adult services
• Legal expertise, with a particular focus on contract law and HR/employment law with the ability to draw on wider legal knowledge as required
• Safeguarding expertise, with a strong understanding of safeguarding frameworks and best practice within health, care or community settings

Additional skills and experience of interest include:

• Charity governance and risk management
• Healthcare or clinical expertise
• Marketing, PR and communications
• Fundraising and income generation
• Digital, IT and systems
• Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

Lived experience of caring for a child with complex needs would be very welcome but is not essential.

Time Commitment

• 4–6 Board meetings per year (approximately 3 hours each)
• Optional involvement in specific areas aligned to your interests and capacity
• Trustee role is voluntary; reasonable expenses are covered

Our Commitment to Inclusion

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and warmly encourage applications from individuals from under-represented backgrounds. Lived experience is welcomed but not required.

Our Board Culture

Our Board is collaborative, supportive and constructive. We value open communication, empathy, thoughtful challenge and we are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all Trustees.

How to Apply

If you are motivated by values-led leadership, collaborative working and the opportunity to support a charity at a pivotal moment, we would love to hear from you. Please email a CV and a cover letter answering the following questions to applications@lagans.org.uk

Cover Letter Questions:

1. Why Lagan’s Foundation and why now?
2. What perspectives, skills of experience would you bring?
3. How do you approach challenge, support and collaboration?