By Vondy Thornton, Head of Delivery & Movement Building at Young Trustee Movement
Why is it important for charities and boards to actively recruit young trustees today?
It’s always been important for charities and boards to recruit young trustees, but it feels particularly important today because Charity Commission data shows that the number of young people taking up trustee positions is dropping. Before the pandemic, it stood at 3%, but this figure has since dropped to 1%. In terms of representation, this is really concerning; after all, young people aged 30 and under currently account for 37% of the UK population.
What are the biggest misconceptions organisations have about recruiting young trustees and how can they overcome these?
At Young Trustees Movement, we frequently hear the same kinds of concerns from organisations. They might say things like, ‘A young person will get bored in our meetings,’ or, ‘We’re worried that the kinds of decisions we have to make will upset a young person.’ I’d say these are the two largest misconceptions we grapple with constantly. We know from the research we undertook with our partners Getting on Board and Ecclesiastical that young people are very interested in trustee roles. The main problem is a lack of awareness among young people regarding what these roles actually involve, and that’s where we come in.
How can organisations create meaningful roles for young volunteers that go beyond tokenism and enable real influence?
Organisations can (and should) ring-fence a certain number of board seats for young people. This is a great first step everyone can take to commit to diversifying their board and ensuring better representation. But it’s not just about filling seats and hoping for the best. Data shows that the average term length for trustees aged 30 and under is only 12 months – significantly lower than for those in older age groups. This tells us something. We always recommend setting up a buddy system for the young people joining new boards, pairing them with an experienced board member who can show them the ropes and provide support during onboarding. Mentoring and board shadowing schemes also work well – the Smallwood Trust has a great webinar about this. Thinking in the long-term not just about recruiting but retaining young people on your board is key here.
What practical steps can charities take to make their recruitment process and organisation more accessible and appealing to younger people?
We developed a resource with young people and the charity Getting on Board to help with this. It’s called ‘Getting Young People Onto Your Board‘ and gives some great guidance. We’ve also recently launched a new training for charity boards called Across the Board which is specifically designed to help boards develop and integrate plans for recruiting young people into their work.
What advice would you give to charitable trusts that want to start engaging young trustees but don’t know where to begin?
Thankfully, there’s a lot of support available for charitable trusts keen to recruit young trustees. We run a free monthly training called ‘Champion Training’ that many find to be a great stepping stone. You’ll learn more about why recruiting young trustees is important, some of the challenges surrounding recruitment, and get the chance to meet people working for charities across the UK who are in the same situation and eager to learn.
I’d also recommend utilising some of the resources on the Reach Volunteering website. A great first step is completing a Skills & Diversity audit, and their website has some excellent templates you can download for free and then tweak to suit your organisation.
If you’d like to find out more about the Young Trustee Movement please visit their website or contact hello@youngtrusteemovement.org
