We’re recruiting: Trustees
Unremunerated, reasonable expenses paid
Quarterly meetings plus one annual away day
Manchester/hybrid
This is a great opportunity to sit on the board of Trustees for The Centre for local Economic Strategies (CLES). Our work is about helping places to do economies differently.
About CLES
CLES is the national organisation for local economies and the UK centre for excellence on community wealth building. We are a charity and company limited by guarantee and have been operating across the UK and beyond from our base in Manchester since 1986.
We are looking for new Trustees to help us fulfil our mission – to work with people across the UK and internationally to create better economies for people, places and the planet. In particular, we support local areas to develop new solutions to the economic and social justice challenges we face at the current time.
About our Trustees
Our board of Trustees plays an integral role in setting our strategic direction, shaping our future and ensuring that we have a meaningful impact in the places where we work.
We are now looking for two new Trustees to help guide CLES’s work in the coming years. You will share our commitment to hetrodox economics and will have experience of delivering change in local government, the NHS or in civil society. You will be someone really understands the reality of the challenges and complexities facing local economies today, for example, the environmental crisis, public sector finances, health inequalities, the cost of living crisis and the devolution agenda.
This is an exciting opportunity to help us continue to work with our partners across the UK and beyond to think creatively and provide alternatives to the orthodoxy of traditional economic development. You can find out more about our recent work on our website here and you can read about our highlights of 2024 in this blog.
CLES board meetings are well attended and are held four times a year plus one annual away day (usually held in person in Manchester). We operate a hybrid working arrangement and so Trustees have the option to join meetings remotely.
You can find more details on who we’re looking for and what you’ll be doing here.
Working at CLES
We acknowledge that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented in research and policy making and we’re committed to doing what we can to correct this. We are particularly keen to receive applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic people; people with disabilities; people who identify as being LGTBQIA; people who have a mental health condition; and people who identify as working class or have done so in the past. We are also aware that many highly capable prospective candidates nonetheless rule themselves out because they underestimate their own ability to do the role. With this in mind, we strongly encourage applications from anyone who is prepared to learn and grow on the job and would like to stress that past experience of working in think tanks is not required.
We are a disability confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone who self-certifies as disabled who meets the criteria for the role. Please indicate if this applies to you in your cover letter.
How to apply
- You can apply for the role by submitting a cover letter (maximum one page) and a CV.
- You should use the letter to explain what attracts you to the role and your suitability based on the document outlining what we’re looking for and what you’d be doing in the role.
- To learn more about the opportunity and our work, we would encourage you to speak with our Chair, Professor Carolyn Wilkins OBE or Chief Executive, Dr Sarah Longlands. To arrange an informal discussion, please contact siandykins@cles.org.uk.
- Please ensure you complete our equal opportunities monitoring formbefore submitting your application.
- Please send your application to info@cles.org.ukwith the role you are applying for included in the subject line.
- The deadline for applications is 5pm 24 March 2025
- Interviews will be held in April and May 2025
