Trustee Opportunities

Privacy International is looking for new trustees who are passionate about PI’s work and who ideally come with experience in charity or not-for-profit sector governance and/or management.

Privacy International wishes to encourage applicants with diverse experiences, backgrounds and talents. At PI we’ve all followed our unique paths, both on the board and on the staff. PI is built on genuine diversity, and we would encourage you to apply if you think you can meet the criteria based on your life experiences.

Time required is unlikely to exceed 10 hours per month. Board members are expected to regularly attend Board meetings (usually 4 times per year). If appointed to two board subcommittees (Employment or Finance), additional time may be required.

About PI

People at PI are curious about how technologies affects power and shapes the future. You want to oversee an organisation that calls for change with a voice that is both nuanced and engaging. You’ll help an organisation that is always learning. You’ll set strategy for an organisation that works across the world on a tapestry of topics. You’ll govern an organisation that continuously explores multidisciplinary and resourceful methods to achieve meaningful change.

PI is staffed with 25+ people, working in our Central London office, from diverse backgrounds, collaborating, building and learning together. The team is delivering our current multi-year strategic plan to protect democracy and civic spaces from authoritarian tech, defend people’s dignity as they seek access and protection, challenge companies who profit from exploitation, and hold governments accountable for the extraordinary powers they amass.

PI engages stakeholders, institutions, and adversaries with tact and persistence. We support partner organisations as they seek change in their contexts and countries. We target systems-level change and establish safeguards for people across the world so that freedom and privacy will be the foundations of tomorrow’s societies.

If you would wish to apply, please send your CV with a short covering letter saying why you’d like to join and what you could bring by 31 January 2025 to: Antonio Michaelides, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, [email protected].

The Board’s Nominations Committee will hold interviews in February 2025 (dates to be confirmed). We may stagger appointments to the board to ensure a smooth pattern of coverage as we orderly address retirements. Trustee terms are for 3 years (renewable once).

Board of Trustees description

Privacy International is a charity registered in England and Wales. Our charitable objectives are to promote the human right of privacy (as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations conventions and declarations) throughout the world, specifically:

• To raise awareness of, to conduct research about, and to provide educational materials regarding threats to personal privacy
• To monitor and report on surveillance methods and tactics employed against individuals and groups
• To work at national and international levels toward the provision of strong and effective privacy protections
• To monitor the nature, effectiveness and extent of measures to protect privacy, and to seek ways through information technology to protect personal information.

The Board has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that Privacy International maintains its institutional integrity while advancing its mission, values and mandate.

Primary duties:
The primary responsibility of the Board is to provide strategic leadership for the organisation by formulating and regularly reviewing its strategic aims in consultation with the senior staff, setting overall policy, regularly evaluating the charity’s performance and ensuring that it complies with UK law.

As a member of the Board, each individual has responsibilities that include:

• Making and reviewing major policy decisions, especially when they involve significant risks or shifts in direction.
• Providing guidance to the Executive Director as s/he develops PI’s strategic and annual work plans, and ultimately considering and adopting those plans.
• Approving PI’s annual budget, monitoring the financial health and integrity of the organisation by reviewing quarterly financial materials including the budget to actual reports, and audits (including management letters), ensuring that adequate financial controls are in place and approving decisions involving major financial obligations.
• Appointing the Executive Director and assessing his/her annual performance.
• Maintaining constructive relationships with the staff of the organisation, consistent with the general principle that the Executive Director supervises and is responsible for the work of the staff.
• Evaluating the effectiveness and impact of the organisation’s work and ensuring PI’s overall programme is consistent with its mission, values, focus and priorities.

Board members are expected to

• Regularly attend Board meetings
• Review the agenda and supporting materials prior to Board and committee meetings
• Serve as an active member of committees or task forces
• Take on and fulfil special assignments as assigned by the Board and/or the Chair
• Use specific skills, knowledge and expertise to help the board members reach collective sound decisions
• Ensure systematic, open and fair procedures for the recruitment/cooption of Board members and Chair
• Serve as an advocate for the organisation as required, including for specific issues or events
• Work to establish links and access to, and credibility with, key constituencies; introducing staff members to significant individuals and institutions
• Board members will consider PI a philanthropic priority and will be expected to contribute to PI’s fundraising efforts as assigned by the Board.

Privacy International’s Board of Trustees meets four times a year, including one full Away Day. Meetings take place in London and we are occasionally able to cover travel. The Board members based outside of the UK have the option of participating remotely.

The fulfilment of Trustees’ duties is unlikely to exceed 10 hours per month, more if serving on one of the Board’s committees.

Required qualifications:
The Board should be composed of members with:

• Demonstrable commitment to the organization and its aims and objectives.
• Organisational leadership experience or experience of serving on Boards.
• An appropriate and diverse set of skills, including members with experience in strategic planning, budgeting, fundraising, NGO operations, communications and charity law.

Desirable qualifications:

• Knowledge of technology, global diversity, human rights law and civil liberties, consumer policy/protection, working with vulnerable groups, development, as well as entrepreneurship and knowledge of business.