About the organisation
We are a small and friendly deaf organisation, and our Vision is to be the deaf-led organisation that: promotes and encourages the experience and education of deaf children in order to thrive; protects sign language and the deaf community.
We aim to support deaf children who mostly attend /attended mainstream education, often without deaf peers in their school so they do not have positive role models or understand their deafness. As we are all deaf we know the need to be with others like oneself is a powerful need so that we can belong to our own identity group. Therefore, our staff facilitates events and opportunities for deaf young people to meet socially once monthly in the West Yorkshire area and to be actively involved in planning their programmes and projects. Their events include learning sessions as well as being fun, geared to the deaf young people who participate. We outreach regularly and widely to find this notoriously hard-to-reach group.
DEX also provides advocacy and sign posting to information for those who require our support, and have assisted with a wide range of issues: i.e. employment and careers, housing, benefits, mental and physical health and other disabilities.
We also ensure that deaf young members are able to communicate with each other with BSL/English interpreters' support, since most deaf children are not given access to BSL so they do not have a common language. This is a challenge which we deal with at all our events and meetings. Only 4,000 deaf children throughout the UK are learning BSL. Because of this DEX has researched the status of BSL, published in 2016, and found it is an endangered language. This is the basis for our campaign to protect BSL, currently low-key due to lack of resources.
About the role
Deaf Experience Ltd (DEX) is a small, growing charity, and it needs a Treasurer, which Is an ongoing voluntary role. Your skills on our Board will help us ensure our finance procedures are robust and provide us with a foundation to build on. The Treasurer will lead the Board’s duty to ensure proper accounting records are kept; oversee budgeting processes; liaise with the accounting firm and its external auditor.
Currently all Income and transactions are recorded via an Excel spreadsheet which is being updated by a community accounting service and which will move us on to QuickBooks in due course. If you have experience with this digital platform It would be most helpful but we can support with appropriate training In order to help us with the transition.
The Treasurer's role requires attending four meetings per annum in Leeds centre, usually held face to face on a Saturday, as well as leading the Finance Subcommittee meetings as agreed, which are usually held online.
We anticipate a slightly higher initial time investment for the first three months which would reduce to less frequent Board and finance meetings once the move to QuickBooks has taken place and staff and trustees are confident in its usage.
We are looking for someone to:
prepare a brief paper in advance to be shared, discussed and approved during meetings, and contribute to Board discussions using your experience of how to ensure financial sustainability
work with the Operations Manager on monitoring the projects' budgets, and meet (face to face or Zoom at a time to suit you) to review progress against budget
advise and oversee our the making of Gift Aid claims, where we can claim tax back and other charity expenditure legislation
support with gathering and submitting information to the external auditor for our annual accounts
be a co-signatory for our bank and building accounts.
Our ideal candidate
Our ideal candidate's essential skills would be to have experience with managing accounts and in understanding charity finances and fundraising. Also to be flexible and willing to learn about the organisation and deaf culture, which is a fascinating one and which we consider, will be a great learning experience.
We are not specifically looking for a treasurer with lived deaf experience, although this would be an advantage. Knowledge of British Sign Language is not essential as we have BSL/English interpreters at meetings but we actively encourage people to learn our beautiful language if interested.
Our ideal candidate would also have:
strong team working skills
passion for continuous improvement
ability to lead, coach and explain concepts to a variety of different audiences e.g. to deaf, people who have English as a second language via a British Sign Language interpreter
understanding of the constraints, challenges but most importantly rewards of working with a small charity
the finance skills, experience and confidence to suggest best working practice
a resilient and proactive attitude.
If you have an interest or passion in working with the deaf community and have British Sign Language skills this would be a great asset for DEX, and chance for you to practice your language skills.
What’s in it for you
By joining our team of trustees and staff and contributing your skills to help us share the duties and roles, your contribution will make a significant difference to deaf young people's lives, by sustaining DEX on a day-to-day basis and towards extending our range of services.
Most deaf young people leave education disadvantaged by lower academic achievement, higher mental and physical Ill health and lack of appropriate transition support. The deaf community nationally is struggling with the closure of deaf schools, deaf educational resource bases and deaf centres meaning our spaces to mix and learn from each other are being lost. We know from research that belonging with those who share the same life experiences is fundamental to self-identity, esteem, confidence and improved life outcomes.
Our project work and advocacy changes lives and through being involved you will see the impact our services have. We aim to be a beacon of hope and working model for others across the country to learn from and network with. Your support can help to make a difference to the deaf community nationally.
If you have no experience of deafness, it is a golden opportunity to learn about inclusivity which will enhance your personal and professional skills and open up a community of people with whom you would not have had the opportunity to mix.
If you are deaf yourself, it is an opportunity to work alongside like-minded deaf people who care about the urgent endangerment to BSL and Its language community and culture, and to assist in Its protection.
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