TRUSTEESHIP The nature of The Company’s commitment to Trusteeship is twofold. First, we have established The Clothworkers’ Company as a grant-maker and a champion for change and improvement to charity sector governance in the UK. Second, we encourage and support our members in serving as trustees or school governors. We are proud to sponsor and host the annual Charity Governance Awards to celebrate the best practice and innovation of trustee boards throughout the UK. The awards are made possible through the partnerships we have forged with New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), Prospectus and Reach Volunteering. Members actively participate as well by undertaking the first-round evaluation of entries submitted to the Charity Governance Awards. However, we know that it is not enough to shine a spotlight on good governance, and we must find a way to help create the changes we seek across the sector. Working with our partners, we support efforts to increase participation of would-be trustees, to improve diversity and inclusivity on boards, and to enhance the capability of those already serving. The 2017 ‘Taken on Trust’ report from the Charity Commission
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THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY
“Trusteeship is increasingly part of the ethos of The Company’s membership, and 35% of Clothworkers reported that they were serving as a school governor, trustee or volunteer in 2019.” found that the c. 700,000 trustees then serving in the UK were mostly white, male and over the age of 55 – and many were serving on multiple boards. While those serving are making a meaningful contribution to the charity sector, most charity boards are not reflective of the communities they serve, and there are still an estimated 100,000 trustee vacancies that boards are struggling to fill. A charity’s service users are dependent on its trustees for the leadership required to keep the organisation capable, nimble and sustainable. This means having the right breadth of talent, lived experience and range of skills at the table. Being a trustee is hard work and challenging, but 93% of trustees say it is immensely fulfilling. And yet, recruitment remains a problem.
This is partly due to the naturallylimited pool in which ‘word of mouth’ recruitment (still making up more than 90% of recruitment strategies) operates. Rich pools of talent are inexcusably overlooked. It is important to reach out to those who have not previously considered becoming a trustee. Recognising these challenges, we continue to invest in and support the Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme (a five-week training course in London that ends in a trustee-matching event) and its related regional one-day seminars, the Reach Volunteering TrusteeWorks recruitment service (which matched 882 trustees and another 1,045 volunteer placements in 2019), and trustee training seminars from NPC, among others.
were interviewed, and expert content producers researched, prepared, crafted and delivered content appropriate to target audiences. Reach defined a set of design principles and guidelines, and these informed content development. In all that we do, The Clothworkers’ Company welcomes expressions of interest from members. The flourishing partnership with Reach Volunteering provides
Clothworkers with access to fascinating trustee roles, published directly to the Members’ Area and highlighted in the monthly e-newsletter. The Trustee Leadership Programme, co-funded with Close Brothers Asset Management, is offered free of charge to members. For those already on trustee boards, a number of NPC’s seminars are offered at Clothworkers’ Hall. Finally, The Company also hosts an annual trusteeship dinner to allow members to get together to
discuss and debate relevant issues. The volunteer activities of individual Clothworkers are many and varied. Realistically, it is difficult to quantify existing commitments to trustee or volunteer roles, or the extent to which this might be expanding. However, trusteeship is increasingly part of the ethos of The Company’s membership, and 35% of Clothworkers reported that they were serving as a school governor, trustee or volunteer in 2019.
Below: Representatives of SignHealth accept their Board Diversity and Inclusivity award at the 2019 Charity Governance Awards.
In 2019, we awarded an additional grant of more than £9,500 to Reach Volunteering, supporting an in-depth research project on diversity and inclusion and drawing on instructive case studies from the Charity Governance Awards finalists in this category. Reach selected finalists across a range of criteria – type of diversity (eg disability, youth), location and charity size. Board Diversity and Inclusivity category winners ANNUAL REVIEW 2019
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