Join the RHoK Australia Board

 

We’ve spent much of the past two years re-imaging how we deliver tech for social good; through design sprints (with Atlassian), internal strategy work, and working through our own customer journey. Times they are a changing! We’re now looking for passionate people who believe in our mission and can help us keep the organisation sustainable and adaptable.

We are now accepting expressions of interest for the RHoK Australia Board. Becoming a Board Member allows you an opportunity to positively impact our growing community of social change makers and our 500+ strong volunteer community. We would love for you to apply if our goals excite you. EOIs are open until Friday, 29th April, 2022 (11:59PM AEST).

Team of four women RHoKsters holding up RHoK t-shirts and laughing

Positively impact the ‘tech for social good’ community and help create a more impactful RHoK Australia, alongside its 500+ strong volunteer community.

Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) Australia is governed by a Board of Directors, responsible for defining and executing RHoK Australia’s vision and strategy.

Goals of the Board :

  • Deliver RHoK Australia’s vision of bringing together skilled designers and technologists to create social impact.

  • Create a long-term sustainable, member-driven organisation, led and supported by a community of passionate volunteers.

  • Support opportunities for social changemakers: entrepreneurs, charities, nonprofits, and volunteers to work together on social impact projects.

  • Build the RHoK Australia community by developing national (and local) events and initiatives, both in-person and online, to serve a wide range of interest groups.

  • Advocate for an inclusive and diverse community of practitioners and experts.

  • Serve as a role model organisation and support and advocate for other similar RHoK associations and organisations around the globe.

  • Be recognised for our expertise in the ‘tech for social good’ sector.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Broadly, we’d love to have people joining the board with experience in the following areas of focus;

  • Social impact

  • Partnerships & fundraising

  • Marketing & communications

  • Innovation & strategy

  • Finances & operations

  • Mentoring (design or tech) for social impact

  • Community engagement & events

  • Facilitation & training

  • Business development

  • Diversity, equity & inclusion 

We’d also love to hear from people with professional backgrounds that aren’t necessarily in social impact, technology, or design. RHoK Australia is not just about coding and building technology solutions. We are focussed on building a more diverse community of technologists, designers, analysts, and we want our board to reflect that. We also strive for diversity in gender representation. 

If you’re reading this and this sounds like you, or someone you’d like to recommend, please get in touch.

Normally, Board nominations must have an existing relationship with the RHoK community, either as a volunteer hacker, a former changemaker, a liaison or partner.

However we also welcome expressions of interest from people who don’t have an existing relationship with RHoK but have served as Board members for other similar ‘social impact’ organisations, and who wish to help shape the future of RHoK Australia.

Under the Association rules, you must also be resident in Australia to participate on the Board, over the age of 18, and be free from any legal or financial issues (warrants, bankruptcy etc).

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

Board positions are voluntary with no remuneration. It’s an opportunity to lead and learn, and ultimately, help shape the future of RHoK Australia, and how it collaborates with our volunteers, our social changemakers, and our technology and community partners.


WHAT DOES JOINING THE RHOK AUSTRALIA BOARD INVOLVE?

The Board provides a strong link between RHoK Australia and the broader community. 

Our Board members are nominally appointed for a two-year term, and approved by organisation voting members. Each Board member is expected to take a leadership role in a particular aspect (or aspects) of RHoK that aligns with their respective expertise and interest; e.g. operations, strategy, governance, finance, partnerships, communications, engagement, marketing, business development, technology platforms.

The Board meets monthly, in addition to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) to review our strategic initiatives and partnerships. Meetings take place either on-line or in-person at RHoK HQ,  at Our Community House in North Melbourne.

In addition to providing expert advice, Board members are expected to hold office bearer positions, according to the RHoK Constitution and our obligations under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012. 

TIME COMMITMENT

Board members are expected to dedicate a minimum of  two hours a week to RHoK Australia, or an equivalent one full day per calendar month. This is on a flexible schedule, and excludes all official meetings.  The period from the 15th of December to the 15th of January are when RHoK is considered to be ‘closed’ for the holiday season. No Board meetings are held during this period.


SPECIFIC GOALS FOR 2022

While more traditional Board roles aren’t typically involved in the day-to-day operations, due to where we are in terms of organisational maturity, this is a “hand’s on” opportunity. Our Board members work relatively closely with core staff.

Here are some things we’re excited about for the coming year:

  • Reinvigorating RHoK Australia with new people and fresh perspectives.

  • Exploring new ideas for what RHoK can do well under the new “COVID normal”.

  • Finding new and meaningful ways to collaborate with changemakers and volunteers.

  • Launching the new RHoK Playbook – a definitive guide for how we RHoK.

  • Launching our Mentoring program.

  • Developing a new organisational–level comms and marketing strategy*

  • Re-building RHoK Australia’s local organising committees.

  • Revisiting the potential for ACNC registration in light of new initiatives.

  • Developing new partnerships with leading design and technology companies.

    *we recently recruited a new Communications & Media Coordinator to manage our socials.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

EOIs will be reviewed by the Board, as we receive them. A shortlist of candidates will go to the RHoK membership for consideration at our Annual General Meeting at the end of February. At this stage we are hoping to appoint three new Board members in 2022, who bring fresh perspectives and new ideas for how we can make RHoK Australia better. If you are completely new to RHoK we may schedule a brief intro meeting beforehand so we can find out a little more about you.

EOIs are open until Sunday, 20th February, 2022 by 11:59PM AEST.

Expression of Interest (EOI)Random Hacks of Kindness