How can charity board diversity be achieved?

Background

Principles 7 and 8 of the Charity Governance Code 2025 emphasise the importance of appointing trustees with a broad mix of backgrounds, experiences and expertise to strengthen decision making, oversight and strategic direction.

However, a study conducted by the Charity Commission for England and Wales and Pro Bono Economics in April 2025 highlights ongoing barriers: Over half of surveyed trustees (55%) have served for more than four years, with around a quarter (22%) serving for over ten. The study also found that smaller charities tend to have less diverse boards compared with larger charities. As a result, they might be less equipped to manage organisational challenges and fully understand stakeholder needs.

Studies consistently show that diverse boards make better decisions. A mix of skills, experiences and perspectives helps charities reflect the communities they serve, avoid groupthink, identify a wider set of risks and respond more effectively to challenges such as economic uncertainty, digital change and increasing regulatory demands. Although achieving diversity can be difficult, especially for smaller organisations, focused actions around recruitment and board culture can significantly strengthen board effectiveness.

Against this backdrop, there are therefore a number of steps charities, of all sizes, can take to build greater board diversity and foster diversity of thought - including through recruitment, governance practices, or trustee development.

Charity Commission guidance and expectations

The Charity Commission has published several guidance documents to help charities understand how to recruit trustees, what to consider during the recruitment and induction processes, and how trustees can understand their legal responsibilities. These guidance documents recommend that charities should have at least three unconnected trustees and encourage them to continually identify the skills needed on their trustee boards.

While the Charity Commission does not legally impose term limits for charity trustees, the Charity Governance Code 2025 encourages charities to carry out an external evaluation every three years, to periodically assess the competencies their boards require in order to identify skills gaps, and to limit trustee tenure to nine years. These are similar to the provisions set out in the UK Corporate Governance Code 2024, which are designed to promote board independence, diversity and inclusion. Diversity of skills, backgrounds and personal strengths are likely to make boards more effective by bringing different perspectives and reducing the risk of groupthink.

Tips for creating a diverse board to support effective board decision‑making

Before finding and appointing a trustee, boards may find the following practical tips helpful in creating a diverse board:

Board composition

Provide a skills map derived from the board performance review, and explain how the existing skill sets support the charity’s future strategy and how a pipeline for the board was developed to ensure alignment with that strategy.

Number of trustees

Consider the availability of places and assess how representative members are. Some charities have restrictions in their governance documents on how many trustees they can appoint. The Charity Commission guidance on trustee board: people and skills recommends that charities should have at least three unconnected trustees.

Trustee role description

Ensure the trustee role description includes information on the legal responsibilities of trustees, the skills and experience needed to complement the existing board and support the charity’s future strategy, the desirable behavioural traits, and the expected term duration and time commitment.

Advertising trustee vacancies

Advertise and recruit using both formal and informal networks. Merely relying on informal networks may reduce the diversity of candidates’ skills, knowledge and backgrounds. Public recruitment sites such as Reach Volunteering and CharityJob are often free or available at a low cost.

Recruitment process

Conduct a formal and transparent recruitment process.

Diversity and Inclusion

Consider diversity and inclusion during the nomination process, noting that a diverse board should include trustees from a wide range of professional, educational, age, and socio‑economic backgrounds, and, at least to some extent, reflect the beneficiaries and communities that the charity serves.

Practical considerations: Promoting diversity of thought

Promoting diversity of thought is likely to increase the range of perspectives brought to decision‑making. The tips below are helpful in encouraging diversity of thought in boardrooms.

• Conduct a board performance review to examine how meetings can be improved.
• Develop a detailed and transparent action plan to promote board diversity, such as mentoring and continuous training.
• Intentionally ask each director to share their views.
• Include new directors in board decisions.
• Practice active listening, and open and transparent discussions.
• Provide training and support for new trustees, particularly those with limited prior board experience.

Who is this applicable to?

This applies to all trustees of charities incorporated and registered in England and Wales.

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