How to fill gaps on your trustee board

Having a diverse board of trustees is one of the principles of good governance in the Charity Governance Code. The Code – a practical tool to help charities develop high standards of governance – says that “equality, diversity and inclusion help a board to make better decisions.” So, it’s important to review your board and look at what each trustee brings to the table.

Having a mix of professional skills, personal experience and different perspectives can mean that teams “are more fact focused, they analyse information better, and they are more likely to innovate”, according to the charity Reach Volunteering.

How to identify lack of skills

Carry out a skills audit to identify skills you’re missing on your trustee board. Make sure this focuses on what your charity needs to deliver its strategy.

As well as doing a skills audit to help you work out if you need to recruit, you should do the exercise regularly to encourage existing trustees to reflect on their expertise, how it’s changed, and identify new areas they want to look at.

As well as auditing people’s skills, the Charity Commission says you should think about people’s backgrounds and experiences and whether this could help the board. For example, bringing different views and perspectives to discussions.

Where to find new trustees

You can use open recruitment to find new trustees as it will help you to reach a wider pool of people, rather than just using your own networks (for example social media and newsletters).

“Open recruitment will demonstrate that your trustee recruitment is a competitive process and trustees who are appointed will feel valued and those you turn down will understand why”, Reach Volunteering states.

Specialist job boards that advertise trustee roles are a good way to recruit and will get your trustee vacancy out to a large number of people. These include Getting on Board, Trustees Unlimited, Reach Volunteering, and Young Trustees Movement.  A study from nfpResearch at the end of 2021 showed that a large number of trustees roles aren’t advertised on recruitment sites.

The Charity Commission recommends contacting local universities and colleges to attract younger trustees. The Association of Chairs also offers a list of resources for trustee recruitment.

When advertising for a new trustee, you should put together a role description with responsibilities and a person specification with the skills, experience, and qualities you need. When writing an advert, make sure you describe the qualities you are looking for in a trustee, rather than giving a long list of duties you want the trustee to do. This will make your advert less dry and more compelling. Put the list of duties in the role description.

Removing barriers to becoming a trustee

Before you start recruiting for new trustees, look at the processes you have in place and whether any of these may stop people from applying. For example, are you holding meetings in working hours which would prevent people who have a full-time job from joining?

Here are some things to consider to encourage more people to apply for trustee roles:

• Think about the location of meetings. Finding venues with good accessibility and giving people the chance to join meetings online will allow people with disabilities to apply
• Use plain English in board papers and remove jargon. This will make them more accessible. You may want to consider offering board papers in Easy read to support people with learning disabilities to read them
• Make financial information short and easy to understand
• Allow trustees to claim reasonable expenses, including help with travel and childcare
• Have meetings at times that work for everyone, including people who work and those who have caring responsibilities
• Provide mentoring to people who have never been trustees before
• Increase awareness of the role of trustees to make sure people know the time commitment needed isn’t too onerous. Also, you should let them know that broad experience and skillsets are needed, rather than just accountancy, finance and law skills
• Use inclusive language in ads that people understand. Avoid using legal language and giving people the impression that they need to have financial qualifications. Research Volunteering says that if you’re trying to get candidates from groups which are underrepresented on your board, you need to make your advert welcoming and inclusive to those people