Board Members

Summary

Are you passionate, resourceful and keen to help create a better world by supporting the next generation of social entrepreneurs? Impact Hub King’s Cross is looking for new board members to help us grow our organisation and impact.

Impact Hub King’s Cross provides an inspiring workspace, events and programmes which support ethical businesses to start up or grow. We also provide business support for people from backgrounds facing barriers to entry.

We are in the process of redesigning our board to ensure it is fit for the future and are particularly keen to recruit people who represent our local community, members, programme participants, and those with lived experience of the issues we work with. 

The successful candidates will support the work of Impact Hub King’s Cross, providing leadership and oversight of strategy, supporting the management team to deliver our social and environmental impact. Being a trustee is a great way to build your network, gain experience and make a difference. 

Our Company structure

Our purpose is to “catalyse entrepreneurial ecosystems for a socially inclusive, net-zero economy”.  We do this through our two sister companies:

• The Hub King’s Cross Ltd, trading as Impact Hub King’s Cross, has been operating for almost 14 years, supporting and promoting social entrepreneurship through a collaborative community of like-minded members (mostly social entrepreneurs) in a shared workspace. We offer community events and a range of business support and programmes from early-stage incubation to scaling, delivered by us or in conjunction with partner organisations.
• Impact Hub KC Programmes CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) which provides business support programmes for social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from backgrounds that face barriers to entrepreneurship. We don’t employ any staff, but subcontract the delivery of our programmes to our sister company, The Hub King’s Cross Ltd and to other experts who provide training, mentoring and consultancy support for our entrepreneurs. 

The board of each of our companies meets quarterly to discuss the impact and financial performance, strategy and policies of Impact Hub King’s Cross. The Managing Director of The Hub King’s Cross Ltd sits on the board of Impact Hub KC Programmes CIC and the Chair of Impact Hub KC Programmes CIC is a non-voting member of the board of The Hub King’s Cross Ltd. We also ask our board members to bring their expertise and networks to benefit Impact Hub King’s Cross and its mission.

Impact Hub King’s Cross is part of a global network of over 100 Impact Hubs in 50+ countries worldwide, and one of the founder members of the Impact Hub Association based in Vienna. The mission of Impact Hubs globally is to inspire and support social innovators to realise imaginative initiatives for a better world. Impact Hubs do this by offering flexible membership of highly resourced places for innovators to access space, connections, knowledge and investment.

Impact Hub King’s Cross is experiencing a period of growth. We are currently seeking investment to develop our workspace in several new locations. We aim to provide value to the local communities through high quality social enterprise support and workspace to help them come out of the pandemic and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. As a team we are connected, collaborative and entrepreneurial, acting with our values at the forefront. 

Our current impact priorities are: sustainable food, climate, inclusion and a resilient and innovative economy.

For more information see: http://kingscross.impacthub.net | http://impacthub.net

Board roles

Board members are ultimately accountable for the governance, impact and financial sustainability of each company, agreeing strategy and supporting the management team to succeed in achieving the mission of Impact Hub King’s Cross. You don’t need to have served on a board before. In fact, our mission is to be socially inclusive and we would love to welcome people with new perspectives. 

Beyond the overall responsibilities of all board members, we are seeking to recruit people who can bring specific expertise to each of our boards. It is possible that one person may bring experience that spans more than one of these issues, but most likely we will recruit a number of individuals each with an understanding of one of these areas. If you are unsure whether your expertise might work for us, feel free to reach and discuss it with us. 

Specific expertise we are seeking for the CIC is as follows:

1. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) &  Community Engagement: Up to two board members with either qualifications or lived experience in EDI and/or community engagement who can bring their knowledge and contacts to help us to better understand and serve local people who experience exclusion due to their identity or characteristics. 

We are interested in people with insights into the barriers faced by people with any of the following characteristics: ethnic background, colour, religion, sex, sexuality, gender identity, class, age, caring responsibilities, housing status, employment status, economic status, educational background, mental or physical health, mental or physical ability, criminal record, refugee status or other characteristics that means that there are social or economic barriers to participation in our society or economy.  

We are keen to recruit board members who:

• bring insights into the lived experience, needs and barriers faced by specific excluded or minoritised people (our current focus includes people who have experienced homelessness, young people and people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds). 
• can creatively support our team in developing insightful and pragmatic ways to overcome structural inequalities through (social) entrepreneurship
• have contacts and partnership experience with relevant local community groups, charities and social enterprises, local authorities and other relevant organisations, and are willing to make introductions with a view to jointly developing relevant support activities.
• have fundraising contacts that could support the development of new enterprise or career programmes.

2. Corporate Fundraising/ Consulting: While we have an excellent fundraising team, our expertise is focused on trusts and foundations. Particularly as we expand through STT strategy, we believe there is a lot more scope in corporate fundraising and consultancy. We are particularly seeking someone who:

• has successfully built partnerships with or won contracts with corporates in London who are: interested/experienced in our key themes of inclusion, climate, food and innovation, and can support the programmes and development team. 
• has a strong network of relevant and current contacts in corporates that they are willing to introduce to our fundraising team.
• can advise us how to develop the consulting side of our business, identifying expertise that would be in demand from corporates. 
• identifying potential sources of pro bono sources from corporate or law firms.

3. Local or National Government: As our Hubs are intended to be rooted in their local communities, and as we spread across new parts of London, we see benefit in partnering more closely with local authorities. This has already proven fruitful in Islington, and increasingly with the GLA. However, we believe there is a lot more scope for developing relationships that could give rise to affordable workspace, local partnerships, community insights and funding. We would value a board member who:

• has experience of building partnerships between local authorities and local charities or social enterprises for the benefit of local communities.
• understands the priorities faced by local and London-wide governments, particularly economic development, regeneration or inclusive economy teams.
• has contacts in local government at a borough or London level and can facilitate partnership and fundraising conversations.

4. Impact Measurement and Social Value: While our impact measurement has improved greatly in the past three years, we would value an expert who can take this to the next level. We would appreciate a specialist who could support us to:

• add sustainability measures to our social measures.
• translate our measures to social value using the national TOMS framework.
• pick out key measures to communicate to stakeholders and funders.
• understand the additionality of our activities.

Specific expertise we are seeking for The Hub King’s Cross Ltd is as follows:

1. Investment: An experienced (social) investor, investment advisor or entrepreneur to support our growth and investment raise through providing insights, planning and contacts, particularly to support our growth activity, but also potentially to help us offer investment opportunities to our social entrepreneurs. We would value a board member who has:

• a good understanding of the social enterprise or charity sector in the UK. 
• up to date knowledge of the social investment market and trends.
• a network of contacts in the social investment sector in London/UK.
• experience of raising or supporting the raising of over £1m for a social enterprise or charity within the past 2 years. 
• an understanding of social enterprise governance. 
• an understanding of the responsibilities of non-executive directors of social enterprises in relation to investment and financial risk and reward. 

2. Property / workspace: We have ambitious growth plans for workspaces across London. We are therefore seeking a board member who would add their experience to ours within workspace provision, including:

• insights into the impacts of Covid-19 on flexible / hybrid - working, best practice and innovation in this sphere and how other providers are responding locally and globally.
• an understanding of the main players in the workspace market in London/UK.
• knowledge of local/national government policies around affordable workspace and flexible working, such as local authority strategies or the Mayor of London’s Recovery Missions and High Streets Strategy.
• experience of the fit-out of new workspaces, creating places that are both inspiring and functional.
• procurement experience that is rooted in ethics (social and environmental).
• experience of delivering workspace operations that ensure happy and productive members and staff.

3. PR and Marketing: We believe that we punch below our weight in terms of our PR.  A board member with this expertise could bring much-needed expertise and contacts to help us improve our PR and profile. The appointment would be timely as we extend our reach and launch our new workspaces. We would value a board member who:

• is able to advise on our ideal PR strategy, including how to get in front of larger audiences at events, online or using our partnerships.
• has a ‘little black book’ of journalist and blogger contacts within the charity, social enterprise or social innovation fields.
• has run successful PR campaigns, ideally in the social sector, and can advise our team on best practice.
• is able to develop clear and motivating messaging for complex, multi-faceted organisations that recognises our key stakeholders.
• is motivated by our growth vision and is willing to put time into supporting our Covid recovery and launching new spaces.

4. Legal or HR: We would value a board member who could bring legal experience to our organisation. We are particularly interested in property law or commercial contract law. 

Ideal candidates

We are seeking board members who between them bring a range of these personal characteristics and experience:

• Increase the diversity of our board members, including a mix of backgrounds, gender, age, ethnicity, ability and education levels. We are seeking experience, but we value lived experience as well as qualifications. We do not expect board candidates to have served on a board before. 
• Have representation on our boards from IHKX members and programme participants, who have experienced our services. 
• Include those with links to our local area - living, working or having other strong connections within LB Camden or Islington.

Skills: 

• Strategy development: the ability assimilate complex information, adapt experience and knowledge to new contexts and make high-quality decisions.
• Great communication skills, including advocating for IHKX with others.
• An understanding of and commitment to the fiduciary and financial duties of a company director including risk management for IHKX - please note, we offer an onboarding process that will equip you if you have never served on a board before.
• Skills and experience relevant to the outlined roles above. 

What we ask from you:

Commitment: We are seeking board members willing to actively contribute to:

• half-day quarterly board meetings.
• one or two strategy days each year across the whole of IHKX.
• provide up to half a day a month of their time to supporting the IHKX management team.

Term: Board members will serve for 3 years. The Hub King’s Cross Ltd board members can renew their term for two further terms. Impact Hub KX Programmes CIC board members can renew their term one further time, which may be extended to cover any gaps in future recruitment. 

Remuneration:
CIC: As the CIC is a not for profit organisation, its board members are unpaid. 
THKCL: Board members will receive a small stipend relative to the work undertaken

For board members from either board, where any more substantial project is undertaken, an agreed day rate will be established.  

How to apply:

If you would like to have a conversation with a current board member before applying, please email devi.clark@impacthub.net.  

To apply, please email kingscross.recruitment@impacthub.net with the subject line ‘Board Member’ and include: 

1. Your CV or a link to your LinkedIn profile
2. A cover letter or short video (no more than 3 minutes, please) sharing why you are interested in being an IHKX board member. Please also signpost in your cover letter/video which role/expertise you can bring to the board. 

Deadline: 9am on Monday 14th June.

If you are selected as a board member, IHKX will run an onboarding process to welcome you and ensure you understand the organisation and its current strategy. We are keen to support candidates who have lived experience but who have not previously been on a board, so we will also ensure you understand the role and responsibilities of board members.