Governance and legal advisor

Governance & Legal Advisor

Hairouna Hounds Foundation Volunteer Opportunity | Remote / UK | Flexible |

Help us build the right foundations from the very beginning.

Hairouna Hounds Foundation is a developing British-Vincentian animal welfare organisation working to create lasting improvements for dogs and communities in St Vincent & the Grenadines.

As Hairouna Hounds develops across the UK and St Vincent & the Grenadines, we want good governance, transparency and accountability to be embedded into the organisation from day one.

We are therefore looking for an experienced Volunteer Governance & Legal Advisor who can provide guidance and practical support as we develop our organisational structures, policies, partnerships and charitable activities.

This is an opportunity to contribute at a formative stage and help ensure that an ambitious international animal welfare organisation grows responsibly.

About Hairouna Hounds

Our vision goes beyond rescue.

Hairouna Hounds is being developed around interconnected areas including:

• Animal welfare and rescue support.
• Responsible dog ownership.
• Training and rehabilitation.
• Community education.
• Children’s and schools programmes.
• International fundraising.
• Corporate partnerships.
• Volunteer programmes.
• Donations of food and essential supplies.
• Collaboration with existing animal welfare organisations.
• Long-term development of animal welfare provision in St Vincent & the Grenadines.

We are developing a UK charitable structure alongside our work and relationships in St Vincent & the Grenadines.

As the organisation grows, we want our governance framework to grow with it.

How you could help

Depending on your professional background, interests and availability, you may provide guidance or practical support with areas such as:

• Charity governance and good-practice frameworks.
• Reviewing governance policies and procedures.
• Supporting the development of trustee and volunteer policies.
• Helping establish appropriate decision-making and delegated-authority processes.
• Conflicts of interest and declarations.
• Codes of conduct.
• Risk management.
• Record keeping and governance documentation.
• Reviewing agreements, policies or organisational documents within your area of competence.
• Identifying when specialist external legal advice should be obtained.
• Supporting appropriate due diligence for partnerships.
• Helping us understand relevant UK charity governance requirements.
• Supporting governance considerations around international charitable activity.
• Helping develop safeguarding, complaints, data-handling and other organisational policies alongside appropriate specialists.
• Advising on good practice around fundraising and corporate partnerships.
• Helping ensure responsibilities between trustees, advisors, volunteers and operational roles remain appropriately defined.

You may also work alongside our trustees and other professional volunteers as Hairouna Hounds develops.

International considerations

One of the particularly interesting aspects of Hairouna Hounds is its international structure.

Our fundraising and charitable development in the UK will support animal welfare objectives connected with St Vincent & the Grenadines.

This creates important governance considerations around areas such as:

• International transfer and use of charitable funds.
• Due diligence.
• Partnership arrangements.
• Appropriate financial controls.
• Overseas projects and beneficiaries.
• Volunteer activities.
• Corporate support and sponsorship.
• Documentation and accountability.
• Demonstrating public benefit and charitable impact.

We don’t expect one volunteer to be an expert in every jurisdiction.

Instead, we are looking for someone who can help us establish strong governance in the areas they know, recognise issues requiring specialist advice and help us ask the right questions as the organisation develops.

Who are we looking for?

This opportunity may particularly suit someone with professional experience in one or more of the following:

• Charity law.
• Charity governance.
• Legal practice.
• Compliance.
• Company or organisational governance.
• Risk and regulatory work.
• Non-profit management.
• International development governance.
• Public or third-sector governance.

Applications are welcome from solicitors, barristers, legal executives, experienced paralegals, governance professionals, compliance professionals and experienced charity-sector professionals.

Current or previous experience with UK charities, trustees or the Charity Commission would be particularly valuable.

What we’re looking for

Ideally, you will be:

• Professional and dependable.
• Comfortable dealing with confidential organisational information.
• Able to explain complex governance or legal concepts clearly.
• Comfortable challenging ideas constructively when necessary.
• Interested in helping a new organisation establish strong systems rather than fixing them later.
• Supportive of collaborative and ethical approaches to animal welfare.
• Able to recognise the boundaries of your own professional expertise.

Most importantly, we are looking for someone who understands that good governance isn’t bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy it protects the organisation, its volunteers, its supporters and ultimately the communities and animals it exists to serve.

Volunteering arrangements

This is a voluntary, unpaid advisory opportunity and not a position of employment.

There are no contracted working hours.

We understand that legal and governance professionals often have significant existing professional commitments, so involvement can be flexible and proportionate to your availability.

The opportunity can be carried out remotely within the UK.

Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses agreed in advance may be reimbursed in accordance with our volunteer arrangements.

The role does not automatically create a solicitor-client relationship or require a volunteer to provide reserved legal services. Where regulated or specialist legal advice is required, Hairouna Hounds will seek appropriately authorised professional advice.

Why join Hairouna Hounds?

There is a unique opportunity in joining an organisation at this stage.

Rather than inheriting years of systems and policies, you’ll have the chance to help us think carefully about how things should work from the beginning.

Your contribution could help us build governance structures capable of supporting:

a UK charity, international fundraising, corporate partnerships, schools programmes, volunteers, overseas animal welfare projects and long-term collaboration in St Vincent & the Grenadines.

For someone interested in governance, charity development or international non-profit work, this provides an opportunity to contribute professional knowledge to a developing organisation with an ambitious long-term mission.

Our approach

Hairouna Hounds believes sustainable animal welfare change comes through education, collaboration and community.

Our guiding principle is:

We educate before we criticise.
We collaborate before we compete.
We build for generations, not for recognition.

If you have governance or legal expertise and would like to use some of that experience to help build an organisation properly from its foundations, we’d love to hear from you.

Together, we rebuild Hairouna.

Pay: £13.00-£15.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Work from home

Work Location: Remote