Eight ways to support your trustees

Trustee Week, which runs from 4–8 November 2024, gives us an opportunity to explore the achievements of trustees across the UK and consider how we can support them in the future

Trustees have a crucial role to play in the success of your charity. They’re responsible for supervising and governing your organisation and can bring invaluable skills, knowledge, and insight.

But it can be difficult to recruit to the role. So help your trustees to feel supported, informed and engaged and they’ll be able to deliver their best for your charity – and be more likely to stay with you for longer.

Give them a warm welcome

A good induction will help trustees to hit the ground running. Alongside a welcome pack or trustee manual, arrange for them to meet with staff – in particular with senior leaders. It’s likely that those conversations will give them a much better understanding of your charity than just reading about it. 

If you have more than one new trustee, you could hold a meet and greet with staff, volunteers, and other trustees. As well as helping your trustees put names to faces, it will also be a chance for them to get to know each other outside of meetings. 

Signpost to external support and guidance

Some trustees will join you with lots of experience and knowledge of the role, while for others it will all be new. Don’t make assumptions about their level of experience.

You might want to share some of the following:

• NCVO’s guidance and advice about governance and trustees, including ‘how to’ guides

• Charity Commission’s Trustee Welcome Pack and Support for Charity Trustees which has five-minute guides on topics including managing conflicts of interest and reporting information

• DSC’s Charity Trustees’ Handbook which shares practical advice for trustees new to the role

Help them understand day-to-day challenges

Jo Tilley-Riley was chair of trustees for Relate, London South East and on the board of Pro Bono Economics. She explains: “I spent time in the office with the CEOs of both organisations. This was really helpful as it gave me a feel for the daily demands on their time – the questions that they got asked mid-meeting, who else was in and out of the office.”

“I think it is very hard for trustees to really get a feel for the organisation until they spend some time on the ’shop floor’ – not just seeing the work with beneficiaries, but also what happens in the back office to enable that. Often trustees don’t realise how much the staff of a small charity are juggling on a day-to-day basis.”

Provide the right amount of information

There will be a balance between keeping your board well informed and overwhelming them – and that will differ from person to person. Have a conversation about what works best for them.

Some trustees will have a full-time job or other commitments. With that in mind, clearly mark any documents to show trustees what they need to do with them (for example, that a document is for information, for a decision to be made, or for their insights).

Be organised and communicate clearly

Book in meetings well in advance to avoid potential date clashes. And before meetings, share any information in good time for trustees to be able to read and reflect. Give information in a way that’s easy to digest, flagging up any key points you’d like their views on.

The NCVO shares information about how to run effective board meetings.

Build relationships and share expertise

“We have a buddy system,” says CharityComms trustee, Kirsty Marrins. “Some trustees are buddied up with members of the senior leadership team. This helps us to develop stronger relationships with the staff and also provide guidance in our areas of specialism.”

“We have training opportunities together as a board and also the opportunity to join a working group with senior leaders and other trustees in areas we’re interested in or have experience in. For example, the finance working group, succession-planning working group etc.” 

Encourage external training and networking

External training and networking can help to fill skills gaps and bring new knowledge and expertise to the mix. That might be through:

• NCVO’s webinars and workshops

• Workshops and peer sharing sessions run by the Association of Chairs, a collaborative community for charity chairs

• Thrive on Board programmes that support newly-appointed and long-standing board members

Whatever external training your trustees take, ask the CEO or a senior leader to talk through related issues that are pertinent to your charity.

Help to resolve any conflict

Hopefully you won’t have fractious board meetings. But if conflict does arise, helping to smooth the way means your trustees will be able to work more effectively and harmoniously together.

We share our advice on how to resolve conflict among trustees.