Opportunity to join the Surrey VCSE Alliance Leadership Board as a Co-optee

The Surrey VCSE Alliance is inviting expressions of interest from VCSE Chief Executives and senior leaders who would like to join the Surrey VCSE Alliance Leadership Board as co-optees.

This is ahead of full Elections due at the end of next year. We would wish for the Co-optees to start in in September and serve until December 2027.

We are looking for up to five energetic, committed and collaborative leaders who can help shape the next stage of the Alliance’s work and strengthen the voice, influence and impact of Surrey’s voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector.

This is an important opportunity to contribute to key areas of work across Surrey, including:

• shaping future commissioning approaches and strengthening the role of the VCSE sector as a strategic partner;

• supporting the development of an updated Compact and shared principles for partnership working;

• influencing neighbourhood offers and place-based approaches;

• improving effective intelligence sharing between VCSE organisations, statutory partners and communities;

• helping ensure the Alliance reflects the breadth, diversity and strengths of Surrey’s communities.

We are particularly keen to hear from leaders who can bring knowledge, experience or insight in one or more of the following areas:

• SEND offers

• services for children, young people and families

• mental health partnerships and community-based support

• diverse communities, inclusion and tackling inequalities

• local neighbourhood working and community-led solutions

• strategic partnership working across health, care, local government and the VCSE sector

What to expect
Leadership Board members are expected to act in the interests of the Alliance as a whole, bring intelligence and insight from their wider networks, and support collaborative, accountable and generous leadership across the sector.

The time commitment is expected to be around one to two days per month, including Leadership Board meetings, preparation, follow-up actions and contribution to key workstreams. Some backfill costs may be available where the commitment would otherwise be particularly challenging for your organisation.

Select here to download the Terms of reference

We warmly encourage expressions of interest from leaders across the breadth of Surrey’s VCSE sector, including organisations of different sizes, specialisms, geographies and communities of interest. This is a valuable opportunity to help shape the Alliance’s priorities, strengthen sector collaboration, and ensure that the voice of Surrey’s communities is heard clearly in system-wide decision making.

How to apply

If you are interested, please send a supporting statement of no more than one side of A4, setting out why you are interested and what you would bring to the Leadership Board; and your current CV.

Please send these to Maria Mills by 18 September 2026 – maria.mills@activeprospects.org.uk

If you wish for an informal discussion, please contact also contact Maria or Sally Dubery sally.dubery@csva.co.uk