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Choosing trustees

Charity trustees are responsible for controlling the management and administration of a charity. Most trustees serve as volunteers and receive no payment for their work.

Think about the skills that your organisation will need for example, fundraising, campaigning, finance or someone who has a lot of contacts with other community or voluntary groups. Trustees don’t have to be experts, but it might be helpful if they have an understanding of the areas your charity needs to work effectively.

Writing a job description for a potential trustee can help you be clear about the skills and experience you need. It is important that all trustees understand:

• what they are expected to do
• what their responsibilities are
• how the charity operates

For more about the responsibilities of trustees, read the article ‘Becoming a trustee’.

• Becoming a trustee

• The essential trustee guide from the Charity Commission Opens new window

Finding trustees

Before you start recruiting trustees you should think about the following:

• check your governing document – are there any restrictions on numbers of trustees
• what skills, knowledge and expertise do your trustees have already, and what other skills are you lacking
• how diverse are your trustees, in terms of their experience or background
• which background checks do you have to do (eg CRB checks if the charity works with children or vulnerable adults)
• what induction and training will you offer to new trustees to help them understand their role and the work of the charity
• do you have reviews in place to find out how your trustees are doing

There are many sources of help in finding people to be trustees. Think about people you know have an interest in your area and link into local networks. Your local council should be able to give you details of your local volunteer centre.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has a trustee bank that lists a wide range of organisations that may be useful for finding trustees across many sectors. This includes organisations that can place or introduce professionals, such as lawyers and business experts, to charities in order to give advice and/or serve as trustees. Find contact details from the link below.

Do-it.org is a national database that matches potential volunteers with local organisations who need them. To find out how you can post vacancies on the site use the link below.

• The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Opens new window

• How to post your trustee vacancy on Do-it.org.uk Opens new window

Getting funding

Funding is available from the government through lottery funds, as well as trusts and smaller grant making bodies. Look at some of the bodies that provide funding to your kind of organisation and what their requirements are to get an idea of what the application process is like. Details of both government and non-government sources of funding can be found by reading the article 'Voluntary and community groups - applying for funding'.

• Voluntary and community groups - applying for funding

Useful contacts

• Home and community contacts