Director At Large, Board of Directors

Are you an energetic community member, passionate about supporting a charity? Does helping wildlife align with your values? If so, this may be the position for you!

Position: Director At Large, Board of Directors
Reports To: Board Chair, Board of Directors, Membership
Average Hours: 10 – 12 hours per month

Organization

WRA Wildlife Rescue Association of BC (WRA) is a charitable non-profit that rehabilitates wildlifeaffected by human activity and provides education to the public on co-existing with urban wildlife.We have a wildlife hospital on the south shore of Burnaby Lake and treat animals from across theLower Mainland, the rest of BC, and further afield.

WRA has steadily evolved and adapted since it started in 1979. More recently, we have worked hardto re-align organizational strengths to accomplish greater mission achievement in response to anever-increasing number of wildlife needing help. This allows WRA to operate one of the busiestwildlife rehabilitation facilities in Canada.

WRA is now looking to recruit Board members to contribute to our renewed growth and relevance.

Board of Directors

The role of the WRA Board of Directors is to:

• Provide leadership and oversight of the organization and its activities
• Represent the interests of its Members and the broader community,
• Ensure broad organizational accountability and transparency; and
• Facilitate active and meaningful external relationships.

Board members are passionate about WRA’s mission and are committed to the organizationalvalues of caring, collaboration, creativity and respect. In addition, as WRA embarks on innovativefund development initiatives moving forward, board members will be working collaboratively withsenior staff to achieve critical philanthropic goals.

The WRA Board of Directors has a governance mandate and develops policies and practices to allowsenior staff to align operations with WRA’s mission, vision and values, as well as strategic objectives.

he Board of Directors meets 10 times per year and oversees the work of Board committees that meet periodically to carry out specific roles. The Board reports annually to the membership and isindividually and severally responsible for ensuring that the bylaws of the organization are followed.Ongoing work includes board recruitment, strategic planning, and performance evaluations ofsenior staff (Co-Executive Directors).

Board Responsibilities

All members of the Board have the following duties:

• Commit to the WRA mission, vision, and values
• Represent and report annually to the WRA membership
• Assisting Chair and Vice Chair with delivery of strategic plan
• Keep Co-Executive Directors and organization accountable for strategic plan execution andupholding identified key performance indicator metrics
• Follow WRA’s Bylaws and best practices in non-profit governance
• Maintain arms-length relationships with each other and third parties
• Practice high standards of confidentiality and avoid conflicts of interest
• Participate in strategic planning and performance review for the organization
• Establish policies and procedures to meet regulatory and other legal requirements
• Develop, review and approve new governance and operational policies
• Attend and participate in all meetings of the Board and membership
• Serve on one or more board committee(s) and actively engage in work
• Participate in the recruitment, management and evaluation of the Co-Executive Director(s)
• Support ongoing activities of the Board, including recruitment and self-evaluation
• Support the organization’s development and culture of philanthropy as a donor
• Represent WRA as an ambassador to professional and personal networks
• Know the community issues relevant to the mission and objectives of WRA
• Other duties as assigned

Board Member Qualifications

Ideal candidates will have the following attributes:

• Ability to actively listen to multiple views and work well as part of a multi-dimensional team
• Skilled at cultivating relationships with staff, other board members, volunteers and donors
• Understands the importance of a healthy board culture and inspirational leadership
• Familiar with meeting Rules of Order, the BC Societies Act and organizational bylaws
• Previous governance-level experience on a non-profit board of directors
• Commitment to follow through on tasks and complete assignments
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills

Board Recruitment

The WRA Board of Directors is currently recruiting for a Director At Large. The Board welcomesapplications from members of the community with demonstrated expertise and/or professional backgrounds in one or more of the following areas:

• Capital planning and facility project development
• Developing business, philanthropic and political relationships
• Political advocacy with municipal and regional governments
• Real estate and property acquisition
• Human resources and or employment law

The Director At Large role renews annually according to the WRA Bylaws, but candidates are askedto consider making a minimum two-year commitment from the time of appointment/election.

Applicants are advised that recruitment is a multistep process that may take a period of months tobe completed. WRA thanks all applicants in advance for their interest, patience and understanding.

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