Charities still finding it difficult to recruit young trustees
Howard Lake | 18 July 2005 | News
A report by the Charity Commission on the recruitment and induction of trustees reveals that nearly one third of charities say it is difficult to recruit young people as trustees.
According to the Commission, about 890,000 people serve as trustees of registered charities in England and Wales. Fewer than 1% of them are under the age of 24, while nearly three quarters of them are over the age of 45.
The Charity Commission’s new publication ‘Start as you mean to go on’ confirms that many charities are still finding it difficult to recruit young trustees.
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The report finds that while more charities are planning and preparing carefully before recruiting, too too many are relying on more informal methods. Word of mouth is still the predominant method of recruiting for 81% of charities surveyed. The Commission warns that this type of recruitment should not be relied upon because charities could risk losing the benefit of having people from all backgrounds involved in their decision making.
Only 70% of new trustees get a copy of the charity’s accounts, suggesting that many trustees are not given the right tools for the job. The Charity Commission recommends that all trustees should receive a copy of the charity’s accounts and its constitution.
Linda Laurance, Chair of the Charity Trustee Networks, said: “Trustee recruitment continues to be one of the areas of greatest concern to boards and management committees, but often the approach falls well short of what will serve the board best.
“This report from the Charity Commission provides further valuable ./guidance on good practice to help trustees manage the process, and thus not only improve their board’s effectiveness but ensure that new trustees are made welcome and equipped for their role.”
The figures in the report were taken from the Charity Commission’s register of charities and from a large scale survey of 3,000 of the smallest to the very largest of registered charities in England and Wales.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.