BOARD POSITION

Position: Treasurer and Board Member
Type: board of directors / unpaid
Organization: FLAP Canada
Location: Based in Toronto, Ontario. We are willing to consider candidates who do not live in the area.

Seeking a commitment of 2-3 years with a time commitment of approximately 5-10 hours per month (may be slightly more during peak of audit or annual budget work).

About FLAP Canada

Each year in Canada, more than 25 million migratory birds die as a direct result of colliding with windows or other parts of buildings. Birds already face significant threats from cats, agriculture, climate change, pollution, invasive species and the erosion of habitat due to mass urbanization. To prevent the loss of biodiversity and to preserve the ways that birds benefit ecosystems and human life, it is important to ensure that all buildings are safe for birds.

FLAP Canada is a registered Canadian charity widely recognized as the pre-eminent authority on understanding and preventing bird-building collisions. We are dedicated to safeguarding migratory birds in the built environment through education, policy development, research, rescue, and rehabilitation. For more than 25 years, FLAP Canada and a network of over 100 partners, thousands of supporters, hundreds of volunteers, along with many other nature organizations, have engaged millions of people in the bird collision issue with dozens of campaigns and initiatives around one goal: keep birds safe.

The Position

As a board member, you are joining a small and active board, with other members who have expertise in science, advocacy, environmental law, architecture, business, and fundraising. The board supports, oversees, and contributes to the work of FLAP’s four full-time staff and many volunteers.

As treasurer, you will work with FLAP staff and your fellow board members to oversee full and accurate financial record­keeping for the organization. Oversight, strategy, and communication are the main elements of this role. Routine bookkeeping is done by FLAP’s bookkeeper and Program Manager.

Core responsibilities:

• Work with staff and other board members to develop annual budgets
• Monitor FLAP’s financial progress and internal controls
• Monitor compliance with key legal requirements (e.g. Canada Revenue Agency charity receipting rules and annual T3010 filing)
• Work with staff to prepare short reports for board meetings to communicate financial progress, trends, major variances, and risks
• Help supervise the annual audit, working closely with FLAP staff and FLAP’s external auditor

Additional priorities for the role:

• Work with staff to prepare high-level multi year budgets and risk analyses to help the board make decisions about long-term expenses and strategic direction
• Help to ensure resources are well-allocated to grow fundraising and earned revenue

Board member responsibilities:

• Board meetings approximately once every two months (pre-pandemic held in downtown Toronto, now held online – if you don’t live near Toronto, that’s OK)
• In addition to board meetings, serve as part of one of FLAP’s working groups (in this case, the finance and fundraising working group – FLAP also has an advocacy and communications working group that many board members serve on).
• Proactively look for ways to help FLAP and its mission
• Support FLAP in becoming an organization that reflects the diversity of Toronto and Canada, so that people of all cultural backgrounds and relationships to nature can play a role in protecting birds.
• Stay engaged with volunteers and staff, e.g. attend events where possible

Experience:

• Essential – Experience in financial administration
• Essential – Interest and passion for protecting birds from building collisions
• Ideal - professional accounting background (CPA)
• Ideal – experience with fundraising and donor stewardship (however, direct solicitation is not a requirement of this role)
• Ideal – experience with other non-profit boards or other kinds of volunteer leadership roles

How to apply:

Please fill out the FLAP Canada board application online at https://flap.org/board-and-team/#board-application by March 8 at the latest. Applications will be reviewed as they come in. If you have difficulty with the online application or if it is not accessible for you, please contact flap@flap.org or 416-366-3527 and we will provide you with another way to apply.

Please indicate you saw this posting at GoodWork.

If you want to talk with a current board member to learn more about FLAP Canada before applying, please feel to contact our chair, Ben Coleman, at bcoleman@flap.org .

Other Board Roles

If you don’t have the experience specifically for the Treasurer role, but are still interested in contributing to FLAP, get in touch with us! We are always on the lookout for board members or working group members who can help with technology, social media & communications, and fundraising.