Many charities would benefit from more youthful input, so greater effort should be made to recruit young trustees, says Sam Younger

Currently, there are approximately 810,000 trustees in England and Wales, with just over 4,200 aged 18-24, making up only a tiny fraction (0.5 per cent) of the trustee population.

The Charity Commission examined this in its report, A Breath of Fresh Air: young people as charity trustees. This revealed that there are barriers on both sides. Young people, even those already involved in charities, are often unaware of the role of trustees. Others worry about committing to the responsibilities of trusteeship at a time when they are focused on finding their way in a competitive job market.

Youth excluded

From the charity side, many organisations report resistance on the part of existing trustees or senior members of staff to include young people in strategic decision making.

Alex Swallow, founder of the website youngcharitytrustees.org and vice-chair of trustees at Centre 404 charity, said: “Charities don’t reach out to young people for a variety of reasons, which includes a lack of time and confidence in engaging young people and a perception that young people will not be interested.”

However, Swallow believes they can make a difference: “Young trustees can make a positive contribution to society while making themselves more employable as well.”

Those few young people that are trustees tend to be concentrated on the boards of certain types of charities, such as those involved in sports and recreation. Other areas of the sector are arguably in even greater need of youthful input.

New perspective

Young trustees can make a significant difference to their charities’ development, especially in areas such as communications, marketing and fundraising. They can also reassure other trustees about the risks involved in embarking on new approaches to social networking and digital communications, like Twitter and Facebook.

Young people are also often more skilled at ‘real-life’ networking, bringing their friends and contacts on board for projects and events. They can provide a wave of new ideas, and the courage to depart from outdated ways of fulfilling a charity’s objectives.

In turn, they can gain confidence, experience, and expertise – as well as an advantage over their peers when competing for jobs.

Trustees’ Week (5-11 November) aims to raise awareness of the work that trustees do. During the week, charities and umbrella organisations, like Young Charity Trustees, hold events to match people to charities looking for trustees, or to offer training. Young people are given the chance to engage with trustees young and old, and learn about their roles and responsibilities.

To encourage more young people to become trustees, charities should be ensuring that what and how they communicate is both engaging and creative.

Charities need to clearly demonstrate the benefits of trusteeship to young people, and tell them what they can bring to the trustee role and why their contribution is valued.

Charities should ensure their young trustees feel appreciated for what they are bringing to the organisation. This means recognising and making use of the skills young people have. It also means investing in their development. As Alex Swallow says, “induction and training are important for all trustees, especially those who are young. Without training they may feel out of their depth”.

Well brought up

Charities should also consider how they can nurture and support existing volunteers to step up to trusteeship. There is considerable scope for the charitable sector to benefit from building relationships with young people’s organisations – for example, the National Union of Students, where there is a pool of potential trustees who have already developed relevant skills during their time serving as a student union officer. Many young people take on responsibilities within the Scout and Guide movements for example, from which trusteeship may also be a logical step up.

To help charities recruit young trustees, the Charity Commission has produced a checklist which provides trustees with a practical tool to help identify the questions and issues to consider when thinking about recruiting young people to their board: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/guidance/rs23_checklist.pdf.

There are hundreds of thousands of young people who give up their time to volunteer to make a difference to the community, so we know that they are willing and able to get involved. Now is the time to make them aware of the benefits of trusteeship, both to charities and themselves.

Sam Younger is chief executive of the Charity Commission

This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 19, July 2012