Knowetop Board of Trustees

• Knowetop SCIO

• VO103968

We are looking to add to our Board of Trustees, and are especially keen to broaden the diversity of our Board and are also seeking Board members with lived experience of the challenges facing many of our site users and client groups. Skills and experience in any of the main areas of board responsibility (including financial management, charity governance, employment law, health and safety, safeguarding) would be useful, but most important to us is a commitment to the work of the organisation and a willingness to learn new skills.
Our Chair is now into their fifth year in the role and plans to step down from the Board in the autumn of 2026. We are therefore starting the process of preparing for their replacement, and thus we welcome applications from people willing to consider the role into the future.
Background details on Knowetop - Following our 3-year successful pilot on the Knowetop site as part of the larger (Alternatives) charity, we became a separate, standalone charity in our own right in October 2023 – Knowetop SCIO. Based on a 15 acre hilltop in Dumbarton West, Knowetop offers the community a safe space to engage with nature, learn new skills, share in produce grown on site and improve their mental and physical wellbeing through time in a greenspace and engaging with nature. The site is busy, used by many local dog walkers, and we want to manage it to be as good as possible for the local community and for wildlife. We are in the process of converting overlooked, derelict land into productive space growing fruit and vegetables that will be made available to the local community; we are also changing how the space is perceived, and used by the members of the community of all ages.
Our site is managed as a community amenity (volunteering facility; nice place to be; community growing spaces; mindfulness garden); as a horticulture training centre (1 acre market garden; ½ acre community plots; 3/4 acre community orchard) and as a range of wildlife habitats (woodland; hedgerow; pollinator meadow: ponds and ditches); and as a multi-purpose site hosting group visits and holding public events. Our plans include developing the mindfulness garden; continuing to provide volunteering opportunities; carrying on with the horticulture training; developing the community growing spaces; and continuing to develop wider site infrastructure such as paths and seating.
Approximately 300 individuals use the site each year in a variety of ways; both as individuals and as part of local groups, including people in recovery; schools; youth groups; a women's empowerment group; Criminal Justice Community Payback teams and placements; SVQ horticulture students; and corporate volunteering groups. This number includes informal site users who may not specifically attend our activities but use the site and are benefiting from the work we do to enhance its biodiversity and recreational value.
Our free outreach and engagement activities, all with the intention of encouraging connectivity to nature and increased access to greenspace, include running a nature-based out door afterschool club one day a week; holiday activities for primary school aged children; twice-weekly practical volunteering sessions; weekly well-being in nature sessions; and a variety of public events for families and individuals. We will continue to offer therapeutic practical work for people in recovery, or those facing mental health challenges: providing a safe space; meaningful work; a chance to learn new skills at their own pace; a means to put something back into the community; and a way to reduce social isolation.
West Dunbartonshire is 4th overall in Scotland's Index of Multiple Deprivation, and 26% of children within the county are growing up in poverty. We work with a number of partner organisations to address poverty, disadvantage and discrimination; these include Alternatives Community-based Recovery; West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) Criminal Justice Community Payback; Tullochan; The Corra Foundation; and WDC Working4U. We provide access to locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables and are helping to deliver WDC’s Food Growing Strategy. We have also been involved in employability schemes, including those specifically for people dealing with different addiction issues, providing work placements and employability skills to increase both their confidence and chances of employment; we have also hosted 4 paid work placements for individuals from the wider community as a direct result of providing a volunteer placement, as part of WDC’s Working4U SVQ volunteering module.

• About
• Location
• Notes

Restrictions

Minimum age: 18

Volunteers (aged 18-25) taking part in this opportunity are eligible to claim Saltire Awards hours for their activity.
Find out more

This volunteering opportunity is also advertised across West Dunbartonshire.

With a My Volunteer Account you can write private notes on opportunities you are interested in. Sign in or sign up for a My Volunteer Account.