This week, as some of you might have spotted, is Trustee Week. Becoming a trustee can be a brilliant way developing your skills and experience - particularly around leadership - and can be a valuable addition to your CV.
Yet, for many of us, becoming a trustee has often been reserved for something to do ‘later’, or when we reach a certain point in our careers. The idea of becoming a trustee can be a daunting one, and particularly when you look at the long list of credentials many existing trustees have when they’ve become one at a later point in their careers.
Applications for roles can also feel hard to find, and the descriptions of what organisations are after can be very comprehensive and ask for skills and experience we might not think we have yet. It can also be difficult to know how much time and energy it takes up and to imagine how to fit it around your existing commitments.
So, at FLN we wanted to help to demystify this as we don’t think that people who are earlier or developing in their careers should be put off becoming trustees. We feel quite the opposite, in fact, in that they should be encouraged so that they can bring their unique perspectives and abilities to charity boards and develop their skills and experience in return.
We are lucky to know a few different trustees, and wanted to get their perspectives on how they found their roles; what they found the most challenging, and what they found the most rewarding. The answers were interesting, and left us thinking that there are a few key ways in which trusteeship could be opened up to more people. We’re keeping full names anonymous, as requested by some of the people we spoke to, but please get in touch if you have any specific questions.
*Grace has been a trustee at a small charity for a couple of years and told us that she ‘absolutely loves it’. She did acknowledge that she had doubts beforehand, ‘I wasn’t sure it was for me before I joined but charities desperately need more diversity on their boards, including young people, so don’t hold back applying.’
We asked what her motivation was for applying for a trustee role - and particularly whether she was cause motivated, or just knew that she wanted a trustee role. ‘I knew of the charity already and saw they were advertising for new board members, but I would now be much more confident to apply to an organisation I didn’t know. It’s a big responsibility and not a decision to take lightly but it is so rewarding and I’ve learnt tonnes of new skills’.
A slightly different angle was offered by *Chloe, who highlighted the social side of being a trustee and the positives it gives you if you are a freelancer, noting the importance of ‘the continuity and fellowship of being part of a small team’ in combating the loneliness than can sometimes come with freelancer roles.
People did tell us that there were challenges to overcome though; particularly with those sometimes impenetrable application processes and really getting to understand what responsibilities you were undertaking. Giving his tips on how to find a trustee role that works for you, *James said he made his decision once he had got to know the charity, and particularly the other trustees, more. ‘Having established trustees around to support me to step up and into the role made a huge difference. I was lucky that, for a few of my fellow trustees, this was their 2 or 3rd time in that role. Is that rare? I don’t know’.
One thing we’ve often heard is that people just don’t feel they have the right skills to be a trustee. We asked a few what skills came to mind when they thought of trustees, and at least half of them said ‘good with numbers’, and many also thought ‘being on top of legal stuff’ was important.
Often these skills are very specific, and lots of people rule themselves out of roles on that basis, but *Alice told us that after initially being nervous about whether she’d be ‘useful’, she realised that she’d been recruited not just for her skills, but ‘the balance’ she brought to the board, adding that her softer skills were actually the thing that helped her succeed the most; ‘it was great to feel like I was actually brought in to be exactly myself, and just help them think a bit differently - I suppose you could say innovatively - about how they were doing things’.
It seems that there are still so many myths that can dissuade people from looking into a position as a trustee, but that when they do, it can be incredibly rewarding, not just for the cause you are passionate about, but for developing skills and growing networks.
We know that becoming a trustee can feel like a big step, so here are some resources where you can find more:
https://www.bameednetwork.com/resources/article/how-to-find-the-right-trustee-role/
https://do-it.org/channels/trustee-finder
https://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2015/08/19/being-a-trustee-a-view-from-the-ground/
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/young-trustees-movement-champion-training-tickets-123188392799