About volunteering as a trustee
Trustees of charities and voluntary groups in the community are usually unpaid – so being a trustee is usually a form of volunteering.
Just to make things interesting, trustees aren’t always called trustees. Sometimes they are referred to as governors, directors or even as an executive committee. Whatever way, they are the people who are responsible for the organisation, for making decisions about its future and for seeing that its run properly.
Some of the duties of charity trustees are legally defined. The Charity Commission, the UK Government agency that regulates charities, sets out six main responsibilities of all charity trustees as ensuring:
- their charity’s purpose is for the public benefit. If this is not followed then the bodie will not be eligible for charitable status.
- their charity complies with the governing document and the law.
- their charity is accountable. This is about adhering to legal accounting standards and ensuring staff are accountable to the board.
And as trustees they should:
- act in their charity’s best interests.
- manage their charity’s resources responsibly.
- act with reasonable care and skill.
All of the above mean taking the role seriously, asking the right questions and acting in good faith in the interests of the charity. These duties may sound onerous, but so long as trustees act in accordance with the rules (constitution) of the organisation, follow charity law and take professional advice when needed, problems shouldn’t arise. In non-charitable bodies the role of trustee/director is broadly similar, just not governed by charity law.
What sort of people become trustees?
All kinds of people. Assuming you are comfortable with the responsibilities of the role all kinds of skills are useful to organisations, however, some people are always in demand for their specialist skills, for example:
- Accountancy skills
- Legal knowledge and experience
- Personnel and human resources experience
- Communications skills
- Fundraising experience
Otherwise the qualities trustees might be expected to contribute might include:
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Understanding priorities
- Decision making
- Negotiating and problem solving
All that said there are no particular qualification nor experience needed to become a trustee and there is training available to help you with the role. Charities and community groups are always looking for trustees. There are some convictions that disqualify people from becoming or continuing as a trustee you can find out about them at the Charity Commission site, but as long as you are over 18* (16-year- olds can become trustees in certain circumstances) would like to discuss volunteering as a trustee please email Sharon at NCVA or call on 07425 460019.
*16-year-olds can become trustees in certain circumstances – such as in a company, where the number of 16-year-olds are a minority of trustees and the charity doesn’t have any exclusions in the governing document.