Why would young people bother to become trustees?

By Jude Habib, Thursday, 5 August 2010, 7 Comments

I have read a few articles recently that have tried to encourage young people to become charity trustees. I wonder why young people would bother.

Late last year my colleague Mark expressed an interest in becoming a trustee of a small charity. He’s dynamic, hard working, committed and would offer any organisation a wealth of experience and advice. At the same time, trusteeship could offer him an insight into the workings of a charity.

He spent quite a bit of time researching opportunities and finally responded to a tweet from the Media Trust about an opportunity using their Media Matching service. He sent off his CV and had a meeting with one of the charity’s trustees and one of its employees. The charity wanted to recruit a trustee with a media and communications background, and they were extremely positive about Mark’s potential for the job.

The next stage for Mark was a follow-up meeting with the chairman, which meant another couple of hours talking through ideas.

And that’s where his road to becoming to a trustee ended. Despite a positive meeting, he never heard from the organisation again. Several emails went unanswered. He felt all his time, research and energy had been wasted.

I’m extremely annoyed on his behalf. The fact that the organisation didn’t even have the courtesy to reply to an email, or explain why he wasn’t suitable for the job, is unacceptable. The charity will remain nameless, despite the fact that I would like to name and shame them.

To make things worse, this experience has put him off being a trustee altogether.

The latest Charity Commission figures show there are around 890,000 charity trustees in England and Wales, but less than 1 per cent are under 24, and 75 per cent are over 45. Given Mark’s experience, I can understand why.

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  • FGreen

    One negative experience doesn’t mean that all charities will treat people like this. Your friend should look to other charities to join.

    The vast, vast majority of the trustees for the the charity Tenteleni (www.tenteleni.org.uk) are under the age of 30, as are the (100% volunteer)management committee. They are an excellent example of what young people can do.

  • Ben (Newman) Wright

    I can empathise with this. I would be happy to hear from any genuinely interested registered charities about Trustee positions. Email: bennewmanwright@gmail.com. Website: http://www.bennewmanwright.com

  • Claire Jones

    I would advise for your friend to contact his local vinvolved team [www.vinspired.com] where someone can support and help him to help find a volunteering placement. Becoming a trustee is a really vauable thing for any young person to do, our host charity has a young trustees on the board, her contribution is really appreciated, she was originally on the ‘young executives committee’ which is an advisory group for the main group of trustees.

  • Roberto Kusabbi

    I have often flirted with the idea of becoming a charity trustee for the very same reasons mentioned.

    To be honest though I am not surprised that the chap you mention has had that experience.

    Although not all charities fall into the same bracket, Trustees do seem to fall into the same mould of age and business experience.

    Perhaps this will change in future as less traditional professional backgrounds become more accepted.

    As a proud member of Gen Y I often wonder how my generation will take to senior management and trustee-ship. I like to think we will be much more collaborative and youth minded. But then again, maybe that’s just idealistic.

    Interesting insight Jude.

  • Damien Clarkson

    I am lucky to be a Trustee of a youth led project, since joining I have found it an extremely rewarding experience. Not only I able to contribute to a great project but I have broadened my knowledge and met some great like minded individuals.

    I believe the problem lay in the attitude of some charities towards trustee recruitment. Tradition dictates that the boardroom is only a place for decades of experience.

    Recently on the KnowHow NonProfit LinkedIn group we have been discussing Young Trusteeship. One member stated that they have discovered through NUS that charities are turning away practically 1500 former students that have spent a year on a student union board.

    The fact these former students have received governance training and are motivated yet they are unable to find a trustee is worrying.

    I do believe charities need to find the right balance of experience and youth on their board. Maybe there is a case for younger trustee advisors to join an experienced board to help keep the board abreast with youth trends and technology?

    This is a reverse to my youth led charity which has some highly respected senior advisors to guide our board of young trustees.

    We need to find a place in the governance of charities for people like Mark having worked with him I know he would be a valuable asset for any charity board.

    Damien

  • Oliver Benson

    Hiya,

    It’s worth saying that sadly this experience doesn’t just apply to trustee positions – one of the key reasons people are put off volunteering generally is that they don’t hear back from the organisation they wanted to help.

    I’ve recently spoke to someone undertaking research for her degree looking specifically at this subject.
    I know there has been talk of a Young Trustee Network, supporting this group of people who make a valuable contribution to the community.

    I’m sure both you, Jude, and Mark know there are lots of trustee opportunities on Do-it – don’t let one bad experience put you of applying for other opportunities.

    Olly
    (veteran trustee at 33!)

  • Sarah King

    Please please don’t be put off. THere are hundreds of charities who would love a younger trustee on their board and would folow through.

    At the charity where I work, we recruit and place people with skills to be trustees. One of my great frustrations has been that so many organisations want people under 30 to be trustees but seem to create their own barriers to finding them and sadly your friend’s experiece isn’t a one off. Many charities see younger people as having less time which is often a barrier but failing to follow up is plain rude. However we do have many charities who really do make the effort to follow up with people and, even better, support them as they become trustees. For someone in their 20s its often the first time they’ll be a trustee so great induction and ongoing support is essential.

    Through our new TrusteeWorks service one of the things we’re trying to do at Reach is help charities really recognise the skills and experience people in their 20s can bring especially with web, social and digital media being second nature to that generation. Its going to take a while but so far we’re encouraged.

    Please don’t give up.

    Saarh King
    Chief Executive
    Reach Volunteering

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