Trustees’ Week 4-8 November 2024.

Every year, National Trustees Week is celebrated in the first week of November celebrating the individual talents, viewpoints and experiences each trustee brings to their board and their collective decision making. Trustees are vital to the running of charities - be it financial oversight, strategic development, risk management or ambassadorial roles for the causes they champion. Charities make a huge and positive impact on society and are dedicated to an enormous variety of good causes. It is important for charities to have trustees with the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to carry out their roles effectively. Each charity needs to carry out their own assessment to identify the relevant attributes required to best achieve the organisation’s aims.

For Trustees’ Week 2024, the focus is on trustee recruitment and retention. According to the Charity Commission’s Breath of Fresh Air report, anywhere between one in three and one in two charities have a trustee vacancy. Charities and voluntary organisations with trustee vacancies are missing out on important skills and knowledge. As part of Trustees’ Week 2024, The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is launching a new report looking into the trustee recruitment and retention challenges facing charities. The report will be published on 4 November and there will be an online launch event on Tuesday 5 November.

Qualities of a Trustee

There is really no single set of skills suitable for all charities. Each organisation needs to recruit people with the knowledge, skills and experience relevant to the charity as well as any required for specific roles e.g. Chair, Secretary etc. However, there are some general qualities which are likely to beneficial to all charities including;

• Commitment and enthusiasm for the aims, values and work of the charity
• Knowledge of services provided and key stakeholders
• Ability to work collaboratively together to achieve the aims of the charity.
• Willingness to give their time and energy to carrying out any role including preparing and attending meetings.
• Ability to analyse information and contribute to problem solving.
• Willingness to make collective decisions and stand by them.
• Good communication skills.
• Maintaining confidentiality on sensitive and confidential information.
• Respecting boundaries between employees and trustees.
• Awareness of the legal requirements including safeguarding, fundraising, employment and health and safety.

Valuing Diversity and Inclusion

Having a diverse range of trustees will ensure the organisation benefits from a wider range of talent and has a better understanding of the communities they serve. This includes having trustees from parts of the community which have traditionally been under represented, such as young people, people from minority and ethnic communities and people with disabilities. Creating a diverse and inclusive board can also help to increase accountability and public confidence.

Evaluating skills

It is useful to carry out an annual skills audit to identify the current and future needs of the charity, assess the skills of existing trustees and identify any gaps that need to be filled. A charity can benefit from trustees who have a detailed understanding and knowledge of their communities and represent them. A skills audit is a useful assessment tool for this purpose (How to complete a skills audit | Reach Volunteering).

The role of the Chair

The Chair plays an important part in influencing a board’s style, composition, balance and performance and is appointed by the board and may be a full-time or part-time role. Key responsibilities include:

• Providing leadership to the board and ensuring trustees fulfil their duties and responsibilities for the proper governance of the charity.
• Supporting, and where appropriate, challenging the chief executive.
• Ensuring that the board as a whole works in partnership with executive staff.
• Engaging the board in assessing and improving its performance.
• Planning and conducting board meetings effectively.

The Association of Chairs offers support to Chairs and Vice Chairs in England and Wales to review and improve their chairing skills, providing guides, training and events:

• A Chair's Compass- a guide for Chairs focusing on the challenges of the role.
• Beacon Programme- resources, workshops and webinars for Chairs / Vice Chairs of smaller charities in England.
• Eventsand networking opportunities.

Ways to celebrate National Trustee Week 2024

• Follow @TrusteesWeekon Twitter for updates.
• Watch these videos of Trustees’ stories sharing their personal experiences and advice for trustees making a difference in changing times.
• Refresh your knowledge with the Charity Commission’s 5-minute guides for Trustees on Delivering purpose, Making Decisions, Managing Finances, Managing conflicts of interest, Reporting information and Safeguarding people.
• Attend events and online webinars Events – Trustees Week.

How can Thewlis Graham Associates help?

We specialise in recruitment at board and senior executive level in the Not-for-Profit and professional bodies. We use our expertise and experience along with our up to date knowledge and access to the market via our Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) membership (About REC). We dedicate time and energy to gain a proper understanding of the needs of organisations we work with and aim to deliver a high quality and personalised professional service, taking time to explore the full potential of candidates, identifying transferrable skills and experience, so that the very best appointments are made.

We are currently supporting The Education and Training Foundation with their recruitment of new Trustees and Chair of Finance Committee.

Lizzy Turek

Client Research Associate