| Charity fact file | *Berkshire’s 2,500 charities are lead by over 9,800 voluntary trustees, who do everything from helping people with disabilities to managing playgroups. *Half of the 190,000 charities in England and Wales say that they are having problems recruiting trustees to their boards. At present 900,000 people run all the charities in the country. *A YouGov survey commissioned to launch the campaign shows that 41% of people want a higher status in their jobs, and organisers of the campaign say that being a trustee in the voluntary sector can have this effect. *Research shows that currently only 15% of trustees are under 40 years old
*At present, only 5% of trustees from England and Wales are from a black, minority and ethnic community. *73% of employers say that they would choose a candidate with voluntary experience over one without. |
In the past, joining the board of a charity has often been seen as a complicated move, only available to highly skilled people. A new campaign is set to redress that. Run by the Charity Commission and volunteer charity, TimeBank, it is called Get On Board and encourages more younger people to become charity trustees. The Charity Commission say that trustees too often rely on word-of-mouth to fill vacancies on charities' boards. This means that voluntary organisations can sometimes end up with a group of very similar trustees. They suggest that a healthy and effective trustee board should have a diverse mix of skills, ages and backgrounds. Benefits There are some who would see this volunteering role as 'do-gooding', with little benefit to them. However, research shows that volunteering, and especially trusteeship experience, is invaluable on a CV.
 | | Ruth Bootland |
Ruth Bootland, a civil servant, from Upper Basildon, is a trustee for the charity Steps, which supports people with lower limb conditions. Ruth herself has developmental dislocation of the hip, and has has a hip replacement. She spent a lot of her childhood in hospital. She was asked to join the Steps board, because most of the existing trustees were parents of children with, say, club foot. Ruth says: "Parents who have children with these conditions will be anxious about what the future holds, and one thing I do is to reassure them that my childhood, although challenging, was also enjoyable and as close to being 'normal' as possible. In my teenage years, when my condition improved, I went sport mad, doing netball, hockey and lots of other activities. Financial responsibilities What if you make the wrong decision? Would a trustee be liable for a bad mistake? The answer to that is "yes", but the Charity Commission say that potential trustees should not be put off, because, as long as trustees adhere to guidelines, they will be fine. Ruth Bootland says: " If you know where the money is going, you will be alright. For instance, if you set out in the minutes what’s been agreed then you will be covered. And the benefits far outweigh any concerns like that." Ruth says that the primary purpose of her involvement is to raise awareness of the charity and her condition. However, she also sees it as a tool to raise the limelight of the charity by acting as an ambassador for Steps. Also, it is good, she says, to have this sort of involvement on a CV, as you never know when that may come in handy. Dispelling myths Organisers of the campaign say that they want to encourage "ordinary" people to use their work and life experience to help charities achieve their potential. Moira Swinbank, Chief Executive of volunteering charity TimeBank, says: "We want to dispel the myths about being a trustee: You don’t need to be asked to join the board of a charity, and you don’t need to be a powerful mover and shaker. A fifth of people surveyed said their best professional assets were their skills and knowledge – the 'Get on Board' campaign wants to tap into that resource". |
