The Gannochy Trust - Trustees

Welcome

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your interest in applying to be a Trustee of The Gannochy Trust.

The Trust’s agenda is driven by the ambitions of our founder AK Bell, expressed in the Trust Deed, which we have the responsibility of putting into a modern-day context.

Because of our wide remit, the role is a very interesting and rewarding one. As well as our grant awards made throughout Scotland and close work with our beneficiaries, we also manage a beautiful housing estate in Perth of 282 homes with affordable rents, a woodland park and a wider agricultural estate of nearly 700 acres. The Trust also manages a significant endowment to support these activities. This makes the role exciting, but also demanding.

This diversity is reflected in our current strategy and its five pillars: Striving for excellence, improving lives, enhancing the environment, building resilience and sustainability and helping Perth and Kinross to recover and thrive.

Our position gives us significant convening power, allowing us to bring people and charities together to make a big difference to those we most wish to help, especially those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged.

We have an engaged and able Board, currently of 7 Trustees, who meet formally around 5 times per year with the Chief Executive and key staff. We also have occasional away days and Board sub-group or committee meetings. We are currently looking for a Trustee to replace an existing Board member who will retire later this year.

The time commitment is comparatively high for a Charity Board at around 8-12 days per annum. One reason is the complexity of the Trust. Another is the way we handle grant applications, where we ask a Trustee to lead on a number of applications at our regular grant meetings.

On this occasion, due to the experience of the retiring Trustee and the range of skills required across the Board, it will be essential for the applicant to have knowledge, qualifications and/or experience of investment management and financial markets. The Trust has a significant investment portfolio and employs external investment consultants to advise on the most appropriate strategy to meet the Trust’s objectives. It is therefore important that the Board contains Trustees with the skills and knowledge to work with these advisors and the staff team on investment matters.

We encourage applications from everyone, and particularly welcome applications from areas of current under-representation on our Board including people from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and people under the age of fifty.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Roland Bean
Chair