Steering or rowing?

Trustees oversee and guide the work of organisations. Being a trustee is about working together. It's a challenging role and not to be taken lightly - the trustees bear ultimate legal and financial responsibility if something goes wrong in the organisation's work or finances.

Some commentators have suggested that 'trustees should be steering, not rowing.' But this assumes most charities are big, with hundreds of staff, and that a corporate management style is the only sensible way to run the organisation. But thousands of charities have a handful of staff and many more have no staff at all, in which case the trustees do everything!

Who can be a trustee?

To be eligible, you must be:

• Over 18 years old.
• Not bankrupt.
• Not convicted of dishonesty.

Anyone else can be a trustee!

Balancing act

If it's at all possible in your organisation, try to select a 'balanced' group of trustees, a well-assorted mix of skills, abilities and backgrounds to give the widest possible perspective on the charity's work and direction. Go for a combination of:

• Hard skills - legal, financial, management.
• Soft skills - encouraging team-working, problem solving, asking difficult questions, decision-making, communications.
• Values - trustees should be able to demonstrate basic values such as honesty and integrity.

See the trustee role description for more detail.

Most trustee boards will have a chair, normally appointed from the existing trustees, and a treasurer. Many organisations find it hard to recruit people with sufficient experience and knowledge to carry out the duties of treasurer.

It's important to spend time on finding the right trustees and ensure that they understand their responsibilities. It's easy for conflict to develop if roles are not clear, see the internal conflict case study.

Coming and going

Proactive, dynamic and effective organisations need a successful mix of trustees and a board which is constantly reviewed and refreshed, to make sure the balance is maintained.

A good solution is to implement a 'rolling' board structure. Precisely how this is set up depends on the organisation's particular needs, some options are:

• Elect half of your trustees every two years - or one third every year.
• Only allow re-election for one further term.
• Aim to continually update the organisation's contacts and increase your profile in the community.

Trustees should not expect to be able to sit on a board for life and they may have to be encouraged to move on. Clearly this has to be handled sensitively to avoid feelings of bitterness and rejection.

Setting out expectations from the beginning can prevent negative feelings when trustees come to leave the board. Both sides need to recognise that individuals can outgrow organisations and organisations can outgrow individuals. It is important and worthwhile to maintain good relations with former board members - some can be a valuable resource and excellent ambassadors.

Recruiting trustees

Some trustees will have been involved in setting up the organisation, but most are invited to take on the role. Most charities use word of mouth or existing networks to recruit trustees. If you are looking for new trustees, consider:

• Who might be appropriate among your volunteers, supporters, donors, beneficiaries and colleagues in similar fields of work.
• Organising an event or open day to publicise your organisation. You could take a stall at a local show or trade fair.
• Finding out if any local companies have employee volunteering schemes.
• Advertising in the local or national press, internet and through local community centres.
• Advertising through local volunteer bureaux.

Induction

Think about providing a brief induction course for a new trustee to get them up to speed quickly. You could include:

• An information pack giving the background to the charity's core activities and aims, reports and financial statements.
• Documentary material or commentary showing how others view the organisation: press reports or correspondence from donors and users.
• A formal organisational chart showing the decision-making structures of the charity, its committee, membership and working lines between trustees and paid staff.
• An outline of two or three major policy decisions which have affected the charity over the past two years.
• Past board meeting minutes.