Trustee

Trustees for Surrey Wildlife Trust

Volunteer Role

We are looking for new Trustees with a range of different skills to join our governing body and help guide the Trust's vital work.

We are looking for new Trustees with strategic vision, independent judgement and a willingness to commit to leading the charity in conjunction with the Senior Management Team.

Please do get in touch, if you are passionate about the wildlife of Surrey and nature conservation, work well in a team and have good interpersonal skills plus can commit the necessary time required to add value. Although we welcome a variety of applications, in order to build for the future, we are specifically looking for skills and proven experience in the areas below:

• Education, teaching and youth engagement
• Legal expertise or Business acumen
• Finance background
• Biodiversity and planning, BNG, Green Finance investment
• Community networking or fundraising connections

The Trustees meet 6 times a year, on a Monday evening; winter meetings are via Teams, other meetings are in person at Nower Wood near Leatherhead or Pirbright near Woking and Trustees are also expected to attend the AGM (held on a Saturday in November) plus 2 Trustee away days (mid-week). Further involvement is usually conducted through emails and phone calls or occasional subgroups meetings for those that want to be more involved. Trustees are appointed for three years and may be appointed for two subsequent terms before standing down.

With the invaluable support of volunteers and members Surrey Wildlife Trust cares for over 5,000ha of land for wildlife in Surrey across 60 reserves.

Surrey Wildlife Trust has a very clear mission: to increase the diversity and abundance of native wildlife across our county. As the only organisation with a county-wide focus on that goal, we are working with a huge range of businesses, public bodies, community groups and individuals to make it happen.

Our challenge is to restore Surrey’s nature and maximise climate adaptation and resilience following Lawton’s approach for a bigger, better, more joined up ecological network. We will do this both on our own land holding and by working with other landowners and managers in partnership as we strive towards a target of 30% of land connected and protected for nature by 2030. We have the opportunity to embed a zero carbon, nature-based solution approach within economic recovery and landowner decision-making.

We are committed to having an inclusive and diverse workplace and encourage applications from backgrounds which may be underrepresented in our sector, including people from minority ethnic backgrounds and people with disabilities. Please let us know if you require any adjustment to make our recruitment process more accessible.

Closing Date for Applications: 30th June 2026. There will be an interview process through the Nominations Committee (a subgroup of existing Trustees) conducted in July.