Opportunity to join the Board of Carmichael

Board Member (Trustee & Director) with Finance Experience

About Carmichael 

Carmichael is a registered charity. It was established in 1990 and is Ireland’s first and largest shared facility for community and voluntary groups. The Carmichael Centre consists of around 19,000 square feet of office space located in two buildings in Dublin’s North Inner City. It provides office accommodation, meeting rooms, shared facilities, payroll, IT, training and consultancy support services.   

The Carmichael Centre is home to 42 nonprofit organisations which are based in the Carmichael Centre. Carmichael is committed to building stronger charitable, community and voluntary groups nationwide. Carmichael was founded on the core belief that by co-locating in a shared space and by pooling resources, resident members in the Carmichael Centre can save time, reduce cost, and up-skill and thereby, can focus on delivering quality services to their beneficiaries.   

Carmichael works not only with the 42 resident members based in the Carmichael Centre, but also with hundreds of groups around the country. Carmichael works with boards and management committees on governance issues and in helping them to implement best practice and quality standards.   

Carmichael provides a mentoring service for CEOs of voluntary organisations, a support network for board chairpersons, information seminars and also disseminate articles and practical guides on good governance practice. The Good Governance Awards, the Carmichael Mentoring Programme and the Board Chairs’ Network are some of the examples of Carmichael’s work to provide support and guidance to nonprofit organisations.   

Using Carmichael's quality and cost effective back-office services, its accommodation services and its training/ capacity building services enables nonprofit organisations to:   

• Focus more attention on their core mission activities; 
• Reduce their reporting and compliance costs;   
• Improve the quality of their financial information and meet the reporting requirements of funders and regulators;   
• Improve capacity, competencies and operational efficiencies; and
• Divert the resulting monetary and time savings into furthering and enhancing their frontline service delivery.   

Over the last 5 years, Carmichael has substantially expanded the scope and scale of the training and consulting support it delivers nationwide, to include scheduled training workshops, customised training and eLearning modules. In 2023, 3,679 people were supported through our training and support services and 11,141 people accessed Carmichael Centre.

Carmichael is working to implement our current strategy (2022-25), and aims to utilise and leverage  experience gained over the last 30 years, to implement the necessary actions to ensure that Carmichael has a sustainable business model and that it continues to deliver high quality and value-for-money services that meets real needs of both its resident members and those of nonprofit organisations nationwide. Carmichael will be shortly commencing a process to develop a new Strategy and the new Director will be expected to play an active role in its development.

Carmichael adheres to principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in all appointments including Board appointments.   

About the role 

The Board of Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups (“Carmichael”), in line with its succession plan, is seeking to recruit a new Board member with strong finance experience to join the Board in December 2024. The candidate should currently hold or have previously held a finance related role such as Financial Controller, Financial Accountant, Head of Finance or Auditor. The candidate should also have a very good understanding of, and interest in, the nonprofit sector.   

The Board meets 8 times per year, 4 times online and 4 times in-person in Carmichael House, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7. Board meetings are held 5pm-7pm on a Tuesday.   

The new Board member will also be required to be a member of the Board’s Audit and Finance sub-committee, which meets online 7 times per year. The estimated time commitment of the Board member is 8-10 hours per month. 

The initial term of office for Carmichael Board members is 3 years, with an opportunity to serve a second 3-year term subject to Board approval. 

Carmichael is the leading provider of governance training and supports to nonprofits in Ireland and has an excellent reputation for the quality of the supports it provides.  Carmichael’s Board members have an essential role to play in contributing to good governance, both in Carmichael itself and in the wider nonprofit sector. 

To apply 

Please send a CV of no more than 2 pages and a cover letter of no more than one page through Board Match or directly to diarmaid@carmichaelireland.ie before 20 October. Your application should detail any relevant finance, nonprofit and Board experience as well as what attracted you to this role. Please note that previous Board experience is not an essential requirement for this role. 

Interviews are expected to take place online between 8pm and 9pm on Tuesday November 12th and between 9am and 12pm on Thursday 14 November.

For more information on the board vacancy or Carmichael, please contact the CEO, Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí, at diarmaid@carmichaelireland.ie. 

Carmichael particularly welcomes applications from those who may bring a different perspective to the board in terms of race, age, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics. We recruit, train, and support Board members based on their experience, qualifications and abilities, fostering an inclusive culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging and we respect individuals' dignity and worth. For assistance or accommodation inquiries, please reach out to diarmaid@carmichaelireland.ie.