Alice Yevko – Audit Senior, Godfrey Wilson

The Harbour is a small Bristol-based charity working to provide expert counselling sessions for people in Bristol facing death, dying and bereavement.

Grief can be a scary and isolating experience, and our role is to provide a space safe for people to explore these often-complex feelings through a team of professional therapists.

I have been a trustee of The Harbour since July 2023. I am the Treasurer and Chair of the Finance and HR Committee. My main responsibility is to enhance our understanding of how the charity uses resources, human and financial, and empower decision-making through financial confidence. I have supported the Chair in establishing governance sub-committees, worked alongside the CEO to fine-tune management reports, and will be providing finance training to the board and team.

I would recommend volunteering on a charity board to anyone – everyone has unique skills to bring to the table. It’s a real privilege to use my experience as a qualified accountant to help the charity provide a professional service in an area close to my heart. In turn, I have learned so much from the charity’s staff and fellow board members, and gained invaluable knowledge about the operational and strategic realities of running a charity that I bring back to my day job as an Audit Senior and which I draw on in the service I provide my own clients.

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Alison Godfrey – Director, Godfrey Wilson

St Peter’s Hospice is a charity that provides care and support to adults who are living with a progressive life-limiting illness in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

People often think of hospices as the place people go to die, but a hospice is so much more than this. The majority of our care is carried out in the community, in people’s homes. We support people with a wide range of conditions and take a holistic approach to care: looking after patients and their loved ones physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually. Our aim is to support people to live well until the end of their life.

I have been a Trustee of St Peter’s Hospice for almost 2 years. I am the charity’s Treasurer, and I also chair the Resources Committee and the Audit Committee. I also work closely with the Finance Director, having monthly 1:1s to provide support and a sounding board for issues and ideas. During my time as Trustee, I have helped to shape the charity’s reserves policy, fine tune its strategic aims and develop a 5 year financial plan. I have also assisted with recruitment of senior leadership posts and liaised with the external auditors.

It has been a privilege to work alongside such a dedicated board of trustees and a talented Executive Team. I have learnt a huge amount from my colleagues at the hospice. In my day job as an Audit Director, I regularly deal with charity trustees, and being a trustee myself has given me a different perspective and the ability to understand the experience from the other side of the table!

Ultimately, I find it really rewarding that my skills and expertise are helping to support such amazing work and would recommend becoming a trustee to anyone.

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Jennie Dickinson – Audit Senior, Godfrey Wilson

For-Ethiopia is a small charity based in Bristol. We work in partnership with communities in rural areas of Ethiopia, supporting schools, health centres, community water projects. Our approach is truly participatory – we listen to what the local community identifies as their needs and we work with them to achieve their goals. One of our major projects is supporting girls from rural areas to meet their potential through provision of educational opportunity via our Underhill Scholarships Scheme.

I joined the charity as a trustee in July 2023. The charity is entering its 20th year, and it has been an exciting time to join. Two major building projects are near completion, including a training centre and two brand new classrooms for disabled pupils at the local school.

It’s very much a “kitchen table charity” with a large part of the UK-based work taking place at the monthly trustee meetings, which gives an incredible sense of involvement in the work being delivered and the impact it creates.

As Treasurer, I hope to support the charity by providing greater insight into our performance against objectives and to give greater clarity on the financial position and what we can commit to as we make plans for the years ahead.

My day job involves auditing charities and reporting the audit findings back to trustee boards. It has been really useful to gain experience as a trustee because it gives me greater insight into the governance side of charities, and offers a different perspective for my audit work.

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Laura Richards – Audit Manager, Godfrey Wilson

I have volunteered with Hope For Life Katanga (HfL) for over 7 years, first as a finance volunteer and then joining the Board as Treasurer in 2016. HfL works to improve the lives of families living in the Katanga community in Kampala, Uganda. The charity supports the whole family to become self-sufficient, providing education, vocational training, emergency support and healthcare.

My role as Treasurer involves overseeing the finances and record-keeping – making sure donations raised in the UK go to where they are needed. I have been involved in lots of projects, including migrating the finance system to cloud-based software. This has improved access to information for fellow trustees and the staff team in Uganda.

Over the last year I have had the pleasure of training one of our Ugandan staff to use this system. This gives the local team much more control and oversight of their available funds and a better understanding of what reporting we need to do here in the UK.

It has been hugely rewarding to upskill our staff to do more. It is incredible how sharing your knowledge can empower others – even just an hour of your time can make such a difference! Being a trustee has also been really useful for my role as Audit Manager. I have a much better understanding of the strategic and operational context of running a charity, and this definitely enhanced the service I provide to my clients.

I would, and do, recommend others to take on a volunteering or trustee role, your skills are so valuable!

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