# Barriers to increasing fundraising governance skills on charity boards revealed

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/07/14/barriers-increasing-fundraising-governance-skills-charity-boards-revealed/
- Published: 2016-07-14T10:30:20+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**A joint report into [fundraisers](https://fundraising.co.uk/) and trusteeship 
by the [Social Change Agency](http://www.thesocialchangeagency.org/) with the [Institute of Fundraising](http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/),
Peridot Partners and Hubbub has revealed the key barriers to increasing fundraising
governance skills on charity boards.**

An initial survey by the IoF among fundraisers showed that over 90% believe having
a fundraiser on their board of trustees would be helpful in their day job, with 
78% saying that the idea of being a trustee appealed to them. However, it also revealed
that 81% felt that fundraising [skills and experience](https://blog.curriculosolutions.com/job-related-skills-how-to-ace-that-job-application)
were under-represented on the boards and charities they had worked on.

A subsequent GetRaising! event to find out why more fundraisers do not become trustees,
brought together fundraisers, board members, Chairs, and CEOs and used open space
methodology to explore the question “How can we increase fundraising governance 
skills and leadership in trustee boards?”.

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The results, shared in the resulting report _GetRaising! Increasing Fundraising 
Skills on Trustee Boards_, reveal the top 7 barriers to increasing fundraising governance
skills on charity boards.

 1. Fundraisers feel that they are not the ‘right fit’ for charity boards, so are put
    off from applying.
 2. The perception of the time needed to be an effective trustee. Many thought the 
    nature of the role unsuitable for a working person. Fundraisers felt they would
    be unable to secure the time off work, or fit the role in with their other commitments
    if they were not supported to take on trustee roles by their employers.
 3. Many fundraisers do not know where or how to look for trustee roles.
 4. When recruiting, it was felt that boards look for more traditional skills such 
    as accountancy or legal experience, and do not consider fundraising skills to be
    as relevant.
 5. Where there are fundraisers on boards, like other specialist people, fundraiser-
    trustees feel pigeonholed and limited to operational considerations that may restrict
    their contribution, or leave them feeling exploited.
 6. The opposite problem can also occur, where boards misunderstand how professional
    fundraising should fit into wider organisational strategy. This can result in fundraising
    governance being taken off the board agenda altogether, reducing the effectiveness
    of any fundraiser-trustees or board-wide responsibility of fundraising.
 7. There are both real and perceived conflicts of interest when it comes to opening
    up contacts and networks for fundraising. Having fundraisers on boards may only
    serve to enable cannibalisation of contacts and resources.

The report makes 18 recommendations for increasing fundraising governance on charity
boards, including: ensuring that boards are clear on what they want from a fundraising
focused trustee and make this part of any trustee recruitment strategy, ensuring
that boards and chairs develop a greater awareness of the full range of benefits
of having fundraisers as trustees, ensuring that charities consider how they can
support their staff to become trustees, and the sector doing more to promote the
benefits of fundraiser-trustees.

The full report can be downloaded here: [www.thesocialchangeagency.org/get-raising.pdf](http://www.thesocialchangeagency.org/get-raising.pdf).

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