Open Positions

We are going through exciting times at u3a York. Our membership continues to grow, and we are keen to make sure we have enough volunteers to help us keep the wheels turning. We have vacancies (listed below) in the Finance Team, the Membership Team, the Travel Team, and the team that looks after the Groups.

All u3as are run by their members and u3a York is no exception. Guidance tells us that we should aim to have 20% of our members as volunteers. We currently have 11%, so we have some way to go before we get to the 20%. Can you help us get nearer to 20%?

We would appreciate it if you could take the time to read through the open positions to see if there are any opportunities to volunteer that might suit your skills and experience. If you want to know more about any of the vacancies that please contact the person specified below. Remember, there is no obligation, just get in touch.

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Finance Team

If accounts are your cup of tea and you would like to contribute to the smooth running of your u3a we have the following two vacancies.

Treasurer

As Treasurer you will be responsible for u3a York’s finances, ensuring they are in line with good practice and relevant regulation and legislation. Supported by a new team you will provide regular reports to the Board of Trustees on whether the financial resources meet the present and future needs of the charity.  In order to do this you will be responsible for recording income and expenses processed through our Core bank accounts. This is a key role, and we are looking for a qualified accountant who will become a Trustee.  The accounts are cash-based so relatively simple with no profit and loss statements required!

We anticipate that the time taken by the Treasurer’s role would average between 3 and 4 days per month, including u3a attendance at the Board of Trustee meetings.  At peak times, e.g. membership renewals, this may increase to 5-6 days per month.

Joint Group Finance Officer

The Joint Group Finance Officer role is under the supervision of the Treasurer and the Board of Trustees. It involves working with the teams who run two groups which operate externally and maintain their own financial records. The role will involve ensuring consistency of record keeping with the financial records of the charity and that reports are submitted regularly to the Treasurer. Some bookkeeping experience would be useful, but we do need someone who likes numbers and is able to work with spreadsheets as well as being happy to liaise with the group teams.

If you would like to know more about either of these roles in the Finance Team, please contact our Treasurer, Jeff Todd at Treasurer, or our Chair, Karen Sawyer at Chair.

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Membership Team

Assistant Office Coordinator

This role is primarily to assist the office coordinator in the weekly running of the office and standing in for the office coordinator when she is absent. If you like meeting and organising people, this could be for you. For more information, please contact Mo Sandland at Office Coordinator.

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Groups

There are several opportunities to support our groups.

Groups Coordinator

Why do we need a Groups Coordinator? You’ll be pleased to hear that Samantha Triggs isn’t leaving us but, following a review of the role we have realised how much work has been expected of one person, so we have split the role into three. We are very pleased that Samantha will continue but she will be working as the Groups Development Coordinator, helping to establish new groups. We now need someone to continue to maintain the smooth running of existing groups by supporting Group Leaders.

If you have good communication and organisational skills, you could be who we are looking for. If you would like to know more about the role, please contact Karen Sawyer at Chair for further information.

External / Short Course Administrator

We have recently started providing more short courses and external workshops and now need to find someone who can manage the booking system and to keep records of the Short Course activities accurate and up to date.

If you think you could help, please contact Samantha Triggs, the current Groups Coordinator

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Travel Team

Travel Abroad Lead

The Travel Abroad group seeks a new leader. For more details and a discussion about responsibilities, contact the Travel Team.

Travel Team Members

The Travel Team is looking for one or two new members to help keep the monthly day trips running. If you are enthusiastic about travel and visiting new places and can use the internet for research and email for correspondence, then you might find this a rewarding position.

We need someone who will find interesting places for u3a members to visit, within an approximate 2-hour radius of York, and then follow through, via our team meetings, to produce a successful visit for a coachload of about 50 people. You must be able to attend most of our team meetings - two hours on the first Friday afternoon of every second month starting in January - because we share and refine day trip ideas in those meetings. We are a friendly group and would offer you chances to shadow existing members organising a trip before you organise your own trip. Then we would mentor you and support you on any trip that you volunteer for. Note that we have a treasurer and an administrator so you will not be involved with money or keeping records of those who apply for trips.

If you would like to talk about this opportunity, please contact the Travel Team.

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