Candidate Pack Trustees
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Candidate Pack Trustees December 2020 Contents: Chair’s Welcome 3 Background Information about the Charity 4 The role and function of a trustee 6 Structure Charts 8 Trustee & Treasurer - Role Description 9 Trustee (Marketing, Communications and Commercial) - Role Description 11 How to Apply 12 2 Candidate Pack for Trustees - RAFSF Thank you for taking the time to consider this opportunity to join the RAF Sports Federation as an Independent Trustee. Established in 2015, the RAF Sports Federation continues to develop and adapt the services it provides to meet the needs of a changing operating environment for sport, and for a changing Royal Air Force. Indeed, at this moment, there is a sense of renewal across the whole of the RAF sports leadership team. We have a new Air Officer Commanding No 22 Group, Air Vice-Marshall Richard Maddison, who also acts as Chair of the RAF Sports Board and our sponsor, and Air Commodore Richard Fogden has very recently been appointed as the new Director of RAF Sport as of 1 December 2020. His immediate task will be to review and update the RAF Strategy for Sport and we, along with our colleagues at the RAF Central Fund, will be supporting him in this effort. As for the RAF Sports Federation, we have a relatively new CEO in David Whittingham, who joined us in October 2019; we have recruited three new ‘uniformed’ trustees in Air Marshal Sue Gray, Air Vice- Marshal Maria Byford and Air Commodore Simon Harper; and I was delighted to accept an invitation to Chair the Board of Trustees last May, having joined the Board in December 2019 as an independent trustee. To balance things up, we now need to recruit two more independent trustees. Sport in the RAF is important. It encourages physical fitness and contributes to military effectiveness through the development of personal qualities such as courage, resilience and esprit de corps. It provides a valuable distraction from the rigours of operational pressure and has a significant positive effect on morale. There is increasing evidence of a positive relationship between participation in physical activity and improved mental and emotional wellbeing, which reinforces the benefit derived by both the individual and the Service. So, we want more of our people to engage in sport. However, as is the case across the Service generally, budgets are tight, and funding is finite. The consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic and the recent Strategic Defence and Security Review are not yet known but are likely to have a negative effect on the availability of resources for sport. Therefore, these need to be harnessed effectively to ensure they are delivered to where they are going to have the greatest impact in terms of delivering measurable increases in participation and holistic wellbeing to those who take part. Therefore, the need for the RAF Sports Federation has never been more critical, as we provide centralised professional services to the 50 RAF sports associations and the assurance to the RAF that they are operating effectively and efficiently in accordance with statutory requirements and the Charity Commission’s Governance Code. All these sports are managed and delivered by hundreds of committed and spirited volunteers who give their time freely above and beyond their primary duties. The RAF Sports Federation seeks to support their endeavours by minimising their administrative and governance burden so that they can focus on what matters most, providing maximum opportunity for those who wish to play their sport simply for the love of doing so and for the obvious health benefits it provides, and to help them to develop and maximise their potential. By doing this, the hope is that general participation in sport will grow exponentially across the whole of the Royal Air Force. There has never been a more exciting time to join the RAF Sports Federation. I hope that you find this opportunity exciting and look forward to receiving your application. Kind regards, Paul Thorogood Chair of Trustees 3 Candidate Pack for Trustees - RAFSF Background Information about the Charity Vision To be recognised and respected as the expert provider of professional services to sport in the RAF and its constituent stakeholders. Mission To provide best in class professional services to the stakeholders of RAF Sport enabling them to focus on the delivery of sport. Values Collaborative, Professional, Trusted, Knowledgeable, Agile Charitable Object The object of the RAF Sports Federation is to promote the efficiency of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces in such charitable ways as the trustees think fit, with particular reference to (a) increasing physical fitness; (b) fostering spirit de corps; and (c) raising the morale of members of the Royal Air Force. In particular, (but not by way of limitation) the trustees may further the object through encouraging and facilitating the playing of, and participation in sport in the Royal Air Force. Who we are Sport in the RAF is delivered through a traditional participation pyramid model with the grassroots participation sport feeding upwards to the representative level, and onwards to elite athlete status. The strategy, direction and management of sport in the RAF is led by the Directorate of RAF Sport, a division of the RAF’s 22 Group. The RAF Sports Federation is the provider of professional services to the Directorate of RAF Sport, and the RAF’s 50 sports associations. Each of these associations is a charitable entity in its own right, with a board of trustees and the associated responsibilities and liabilities that charitable status entails. The RAF Sports Federation provides assurance to the Royal Air Force that these associations are being governed and administered in a manner that complies with charitable legislation, regulation and guidance. Over and above its assurance role, the RAF Sports Federation provides a range of professional services that reduce the burden of governing, administering and operating the associations, enabling the dedicated volunteers that deliver sport in the RAF to devote their time to the delivery of sport and its associated positive benefits. These services cover a range of functions, including financial services (bookkeeping, annual accounts preparation, budgeting and forecasting support, payment management); charitable governance advice, support and training; communications and marketing advice and support; commercial development management and support. The RAF Sports Federation continues to adapt and develop its service offer to meet the needs of its beneficiaries. The RAF Sports Federation was created in 2015, when the RAF Sports Board, effectively the governing body for sport in the RAF, was demerged from the RAF Central Fund, the major funder of RAF Sport via its management of the RAF Sports Lottery. It was intended that the RAF Sports Federation would work in close partnership with the RAF Directorate of Sport, and these two organisations would be responsible for the management, funding and governance of sport in the RAF. 4 Candidate Pack for Trustees - RAFSF Sport in the RAF is divided across three parties. The Directorate of RAF Sport is responsible for the conduct of sport as a defence output, specifically the public “on duty” conduct of sport, the policy that governs the public delivery of sport, and assurance of the safe delivery of sport in line with public requirements. The RAF Sports Federation provides centralised professional services to 50 recognised RAF Sports Associations. It also provides assurance to the RAF that RAF Sport is being conducted in a manner that is compliant with charity law and other statutory regulations. The RAF Central Fund is an independent charity that manages the RAF Sports Lottery and capital funds in excess of £30m. It makes charitable grants for the advancement and development of sport and physical activity in the RAF. The working relationship across the three organisations is strong and constructive. A new Director of RAF Sport has been appointed as of 1 December 2020 and will be immediately responsible for reviewing, refreshing and implementing the RAF Sports Strategy. The clarity of purpose and clearly defined strategic objectivesthat the strategy will provide will empower a new collaborative focus and an opportunity to measure the impact of RAF Sport. The RAF Sports Federation is well positioned to enable the delivery of the new strategy through its existing service provision. Our trustees have a clear understanding of the challenges that this will present and are fully engaged with the charity’s efforts to address these challenges to provide maximum service to our beneficiaries. The next three years As indicated in the Chair’s welcome the next three years represent a period of genuine opportunity and excitement for the RAF Sports Federation. The challenge of ever-increasing requirements juxtaposed with ever more constrained resources is ever present, and we are committed to improving our agility to be able to respond to this challenge. Within the next three years the RAF Sports Federation will: • Secure sustainable medium-term funding that enables the delivery of our three-year plan; • Codify and formally agree our relationship with RAF Sport for the provision of services; • Implement an enhanced assurance model and reporting process; • Create an impact focused culture within RAF Sport through the implementation of monitoring, evaluation and learning systems and processes. • Create a grant funding model that is aligned to an impact focused culture to ensure funding is meeting strategic outcomes. 5 Candidate Pack for Trustees - RAFSF The role and function of a trustee The RAF Sports Federation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, constituted and registered with the Commissioner for Charities in England and Wales in 2016. The RAF Sports Federation’s board of trustees comprises six members with an equal split between serving and non-serving personnel. The role of the trustees is defined in the Charity Commission’s guidance CC3: The Essential Trustee.