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Demystifying trusteeship with our Specialist Volunteer Network

There is often an idea that to be a trustee you need to be a certain type of person – have a significant amount of experience in your field along with a wealth of knowledge and that you are well networked within your profession to back it up. But the truth is, with over 180,000 charity trustees in Scotland, each trustee is at their own stage in life with different levels of experience. In fact this is exactly what Boards need, a variety of skills and experience provides them with a fuller and better understanding of the challenges they might have to deal with.

At Inspiring Scotland, our Specialist Volunteer Network (SVN) work tirelessly to debunk this myth and show you don’t need to wait until you’re retired to become a charity trustee. You already have valuable experience and skills to offer to make Scotland’s charity sector the best it can be.

What do trustees do?

Charity trustees are responsible for the general control and management of the charity and with senior staff determine the overall strategy and direction the charity takes. They are legally responsible for looking after the charity’s assets and making sure it fulfils its charitable purposes, complies with Charity Law and other legislation, and takes seriously its duty of care for all employees.

Trustees also need to be able to work as part of a team. Their responsibilities may include:
• Staffing issues
• Team away days involving staff, trustees and volunteers
• Focusing on income generation and sustainability
• Supporting the management team via sub-committees focusing on for example, finance or Marketing and PR

The various roles of trustees and skills needed

Each trustee has a distinct role that they play on the Board to ensure the charity keeps delivering to their service users. Its Trustees must have different backgrounds and even lived experience to fill these roles effectively.

The Chair will co-ordinate the activities of the Board and will delegate certain matters of business to other trustees and officers as deemed appropriate. The Chair also represents the Board and is the bridge to the wider organisation.

The Treasurer is responsible for providing financial advice and assistance to the Board, the senior staff in all matters relating to the financial administration of the organisation.

The Vice-Chair provides direct support to the Chair and is a key role in succession planning.

The Secretary manages the Board meeting process and takes minutes.

To make sure the Board works effectively together, members need to use their different experiences to bring an array of perspectives to the organisation, to challenge one another along with the status quo. A good Board will have used a skills audit to identify the gaps they have, and this should extend to the “voice of the service users” being represented on the Board.

Where trustees make the biggest difference

Considering the roles they must fill and the responsibilities they have, trustees play an instrumental role in a charity’s development. It’s often said that they provide a ‘helicopter view’ of the entire organisation which requires a variety of people who have the right skills to weather any storms and keep pushing the organisation forward.

In our previous SVN Insight Story: Talking Strategy with Pregnancy Counselling and Care, we highlighted the importance of charities having a mission and strategy to ensure that they don’t move away from their values and charity trustees play an integral role in steering this direction. Without good trustees in post, this can be detrimental to a charity’s development.

With the current economic climate and financial strain charities are facing, good governance is needed now more than ever, meaning a charity’s Board is essential to their resilience and sustainability. They need to be able to demonstrate that they are serious about their governance whilst allowing opportunity to change the way things are done.

For example, Bill Speirs is a Specialist Volunteer who would normally fit the stereotype of a typical trustee, as he brought over 40 years of experience as a Solicitor to the Board of The Jeely Piece Club. However, Bill has relished the opportunity to lend other skills and experience to their Board along with the other trustees, not just that legal experience.

“Trusteeship is a good way to get involved, not in the day to day running of the charity but using the skills you’ve got to provide oversight, foresight and insight.”

Breaking the mold

Sarah Scott, a member of our Thrive Outdoors team, is a young person who decided to bust the myth herself as she took the leap and volunteered to become a Chair for her local charity.

Apprehensive at first as she’s still in the early stages of her career, she got in contact with the Young Trustees Movement who empower people under 30 to pursue Trusteeship. After chatting through with them, Sarah knew that her experience of supporting charity partners in the Thrive Outdoors fund through monitoring performance and impact would enable her to contribute to the organisation’s development. Also, it would enable her to build her own knowledge of charity governance and leaderships skills.

She said:

“I became a young trustee to enhance my knowledge of charity governance and leadership, while supporting a charity that is local to me. I was apprehensive about becoming a trustee, as I wasn’t sure I had the experience needed to contribute meaningfully. The Young Trustee Movement has helped me understand the skills and experience that anyone can bring to a trustee role, including young(er) people!”

Sarah Scott – Trustee at Create Paisley

Where you can get involved and become a VIT (very important trustee)

At Inspiring Scotland, Elaine Crichton our Specialist Volunteer Network (SVN) Executive works with our Specialist Volunteers to match them with the right charity Board for them and support them in their journey. Clearly, Elaine will be on hand to support Sarah should she need it!

For more information on becoming a charity trustee, click here