It's vital to have the right trustees on your charity's board
Julian Lomas
We are frequently asked to advise charities on board development and particularly on what skills and experience they need amongst their trustees. There are lots of reasons why, but the most common situations we encounter are:
Who should the client ask to be trustees when they are setting up a new charity? Common issues in this scenario include:
The ‘founder’ wants to recruit people they know and trust (often family and friends) because they don’t want to lose ‘control’ over the development of the charity (which was their idea in the first place). This can often result in unheathly dominance, lack of challenge and accountability and significant skills gaps on the board, particularly if the people involved have little or no previous experience of charity governance.
The ‘founder’ is struggling to find people who are suitable for the board of the new charity, which can delay setting up the charity in the first place or, again, it can result in significant skills gaps on the board.
An established charity is struggling with trustee recruitment and lacks capacity and relevant skills at board level.
The Chief Executive (and/or sometimes the Chair) is finding the behaviour of one or more trustees challenging or disruptive (even destructive) and/or the board is either largely disengaged from the work of the charity or inappropriately meddling in operational matters.
There has been a lot of regulatory activity recently around these issues with the Charity Commission for England and Wales first publishing research into a survey of trustee motivation, skills and demographics, and then publishing new guidance on finding and appointing trustees.
The research includes some interesting findings including:
The gender gap on trustee boards is closing (43% of trustees are female compared to 36% in 2017). However, racial diversity remains a concern: only 8% of trustees are from ethnic minority backgrounds competed to 17% of the general population, and there is particular under-representation amongst people of Asian heritage. This reinforces previous research on diversity (e.g. a Directory of Social Change report that highlighted diversity as the weakest area of charity governance).
95% of trustees say they understand their role and 93% feel suitably qualified for the role. Accepting that people who reach out to consultants for support with board development will tend to be from charities where there are issues in this area, we still find this a very surprising result based on our experience and we wonder whether there is some optimism bias (or even self-delusion) at play in these responses.
In its press release, the Commission chose to highlight some areas of the research that we find slightly odd, in particular lack of legal, anti-fraud, campaigning or marketing skills on charity boards. In our experience these skills are not universally needed by charities and, in some cases, legal expertise (in areas other than charity law) can inhibit board effectiveness, something we have explored in a previous blog.
Younger trustees are often motivated to get involved to help them grow and develop professionally, while older trustees want an opportunity to “give back”. This sits interestingly alongside research carried out by the insurance company Ecclesiastical in partnership with the Young Trustees Movement, which found that 40% of 18-24 year olds would consider becoming a trustee, up from 24% five years ago and three quarters said they understand the trustee role compared to only 10% in 2019. That research concluded that the key driver for young people is that they want to feel they are making a difference. A recent report by nfp Research also concluded that volunteering amongst young people is rising, while it is falling amongst older age groups.
80% of trustees say they are likely or very likely to recommend trusteeship to others, suggesting that most find it a rewarding experience.
All of this reinforces our view that great care is needed when recruiting trustees charities should target all sections of society, including (even particularly) young and/or marginalised people. Getting support from specialist agencies like Reach Volunteering can help with this.
It is equally essential to ensure that your board is functioning well so that new people feel welcomed, able to contribute and can see that their involvement is making a difference. The Charity Commission’s new guidance rightly places a strong emphasis on trustee induction and training and making sure all trustee can participate equally, regardless of their experience or circumstances. Having a good chair is essential, as is organising meetings in places/ways and at times that include rather than exclude people.
One area we have been reflecting on recently, is how people new to trusteeship learn about being a trustee. Recently we have worked with several charities (new and established) that have a large proportion of trustees who have never been a trustee before or who lack understanding of the role and the duties that come with it. It’s great to welcome new and different people to trusteeship and we have been pleased to provide training for those boards as part of their board development plan. It is also at least as important that people new to trusteeship are able to learn about what it means to be a trustee and what the role entails by observing (and challenging) more experienced trustees. Therefore, we believe it is essential that every charity board includes enough people with previous experience of trusteeship and a good understanding of the role and its duties. Getting this balance right is critical for any charity, and particularly for start up charities who are often at greatest risk of making honest mistakes due to lack of understanding about what it means to be a charity and the regulatory requirements and duties that come with that.
To find out more about the governance support and training we offer, including help with Trustee and Board development, please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.