The trustee recruitment process
Recruiting the right trustees involves a formal and organised process and can be considered in a similar way to how you would recruit staff to your organisation and the formal process of recruitment. It should be a professional and planned process in order to ensure the best chances of success.
What do you need in place before you start?
- Check your governing document- this will tell you the upper limit for the amount of trustees you are allowed, how your trustees must be appointed and term length for trustees.
- Agreement from your current committee on recruiting new trustees and an agreement on what the priorities are for the new recruits.
- A plan for the timing of the process and an idea of who is doing what. Responsibilities such as shortlisting, interviewing and inducting will be needed.
- An advert.
- An information pack, including role description.
- Shortlisting criteria.
Who do you need on your board?
Carry out a board audit by working out the skills you already possess on your board and finding the gaps within these skills.
- What skills and experience do you have around the board already?
- What challenges and opportunities is your charity likely to be facing in the next five years? What skills do you need to navigate these and why?
- What is the gap between what you have and what you want to achieve? Will this change because of current trustees standing down at some point?
- Think abut whether the specific skills you need have to be held by a board member or do you need a volunteer, paid staff or a consultant?
Be careful not to frame this as a criticism of the current board, it is rather about strengthening and building resilience to benefit the organisation and make it better equipped to face future challenges