Is your charity providing trustees with the tools to drive stronger governance?

23 May 2025

Trustees are instrumental in charity governance, playing a vital role in overseeing the management and running of charities. Trustees are almost always unpaid volunteers, and there can be a significant demand on their time. So, what is required of trustees? Are charities making the most of the skills and knowledge their trustees bring? And what can you do to support your trustees?’

What is required of trustees?

The Charity Commission sets out the essential requirements for trustees in its guidance, which are:

Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the benefit of the public – knowing what your charity can and cannot do within its purposes, how your charity is fulfilling its purposes and benefiting the public and what difference your charity is really making.
Comply with your charity’s governing document and law – be familiar with your governing document, be up to date with filing accounts, returns and any changes to your charity’s registration details as well as having awareness of other laws that apply to your charity.
Act in your charity’s best interests – make balanced, informed decisions. Recognise and manage conflicts of interest. Ensure trustee benefits are allowed and be prepared to question and challenge while accepting majority decision.
Manage your charity’s resources responsibly – manage risks, protect assets (reputation) and people. Obtain the resources your charity needs and ensure you have and follow appropriate controls and procedures. Be responsible for, and to, staff and volunteers.
Act with reasonable care and skill – use your skills and experience and decide when you need advice. Prepare for meetings and get the information you need (financial, management). Be prepared in case something does go wrong.
Ensure your charity is accountable – meet legal accounting and reporting requirements and be able to show that your charity complies with the law and is effective. Be accountable to members and others with an interest in the charity and ensure that staff and volunteers are accountable to the board. Welcome accountability as an opportunity not a burden.

Are charities making the most of the skills and knowledge their trustees bring?

The Charity Commission has published the results of its research, ‘Trusteeship – a positive opportunity: understanding skills, experience and demographics in England and Wales’ [2] to better understand the skills and experience of trustees.

The research captures current trustee reflections on their role and tells us:

Trustees are positive about their role and their relationship with the charity. It was reported that:

Trustees feel positively about trusteeship, with 28% reporting they are too likely to recommend the role to others.
Most trustees feel prepared and confident to contribute during board meetings, although not all believe their contributions are valued equally compared to others on the board.
Trustees have good relationships across their organisations, with 93% feeling valued and supported by fellow members of their board.
91% of trustees felt their contributions are welcomed and respected by staff and volunteers.
More than nine in 10 trustees reported understanding their roles and responsibilities (95%) and feeling qualified to fulfil them (93%).
Almost half of respondents (48%) felt they had access to the training needed to fulfil their role.

There is a mix in how expert advice is obtained by trustees and the skills held:

With respect to expert advice, 23% of respondents receive their legal expertise externally, with 59% reporting their board had significant finance skills and experience, but this was also the skill set with the second greatest reliance on external sources (8%).
Trustees are most likely to report that their boards had ‘no skills/experience’ in campaigning (18%), marketing and detecting and avoiding fraud (15%, respectively).
There is an overall low level of artificial intelligence (AI) skills for the trustee population (8%).
There is room for improvement for diversity and inclusion among trustees:
In 2024, Chair and treasurer roles were more likely to be occupied by men, with 65% and 63% of males in these roles, respectively.
Most charities rely on their existing networks to find and recruit trustees. One in three trustees (29%) were asked to join their board by the chair.
49% of trustees were from organisations that appointed members for a fixed term, and 43% appointed board members for an indeterminate period.

It is important that charities provide sufficient support to their trustees because well-supported and informed trustees are key to enhanced governance, legal compliance as well as strategic oversight.

What can you do to support your trustees?

1. Consider the skills, experience, and knowledge that your charity needs from its trustees to recruit appropriate candidates

The Charity Commission has released guidance on ‘Finding and appointing new trustees’ to support charities on what to think about when recruiting and appointing new charity trustees, including rules about who can be a charity trustee.

2. Create a role description to outline the legal responsibilities of trustees

This includes what is involved in being a trustee of your charity, required skills and experience, expected behaviours and qualities, term limits and how much time is expected from trustees to spend on their role.

3. Develop a mutual understanding of the trustee role

Inform new trustees about their commitments, meeting attendance and contribution expectations at induction. Highlight the information and learning they need to become and effective trustee.

4. Set clear expectations and have a robust interview process

At the onset, clearly outline the time needed from trustees and establish during the recruitment process whether they can realistically have time to deliver the role.

5. Foster a collaborative environment

Arrange ongoing meetings between trustees, senior leadership and beneficiaries to develop a better understanding of the charity’s operations and risks and allow trustees to work with the charity more effectively.

6. Performance manage trustees

Carry out regular board and individual reviews to assess performance against defined expectations. Provide support for areas of development promptly.

7. Review trustee tenure and skills mix

Understand the existing tenure and skills mix to prepare for succession in good time. Identify key gaps in skills and proactively plan for this by profiling future recruitment.

8. Induction and onboarding process

Provide an effective induction/onboarding process to equip your trustees with the knowledge and skills they need to exercise their duties. Proactively support them to understand their legal responsibilities and contribute to the effective running of your charity. Consider whether individual training sessions or all trustee sessions are most effective.

9. Offer continuous development opportunities

Provide opportunities to attend training that aligns to their role and review if trustees are applying their learning to their role.

10. Provide access to expert advice and support

Signpost trustees to expert advice on legal/financial matters as well as to external resources e.g., the Charity Commission’s website, Charity Governance Code and the NCVO as needed. Facilitate them to build a network.

11. Feedback opportunities

Give trustees the opportunity to provide regular feedback about their trustee experience, as well as whether they need additional support to discharge their duties. Conduct exit interviews with trustees before they leave their role to learn lessons about how to continually improve the experience of your current and incoming trustees.