Upstart Theatre is recruiting for trustees, so Tom M (artistic director) and Tom D (chair of trustees) invited people to join us for a chat about governance, what it involves and what the benefits are for everyone involved. Although we were particularly interested in arts charities all of the discussion would be applicable to non-arts charities as well.

* We started by talking about the opportunities being on a board can offer you. It’s an opportunity for career development - a chance to learn new skills, experience how things are done in other organisations, and expand your network. Several of the group also talked about the opportunity it gives to serve others to put something back into the community.
* Alongside trusteeship, there are other routes into governance. We discussed the role of school governors, steering groups and advisory councils/boards. The last two don’t have as much legal responsibility as trustees do but still offer major opportunities to get involved.
* We talked about what skills and experience were needed to be trustees. Tom D suggested that the first requirement for trustees is the willingness to get involved - so expressing an interest in being a trustee is the best place to start becoming qualified!
* While there are basic requirements for trustees - attending meetings, reading board papers, advocacy for the organisation and so on - some charities will advertise for trustees with particular skill sets, for example finance (treasurer), legal, marketing, fundraising, business/operations, digital.
* However - many charities will be looking for trustees who take a generalist approach.
* We discussed the ease of access to being on a board. Some of us felt that the world of governance could feel quite masonic - i.e. with some people on 3 or 4 boards and posts not necessarily being advertised. Tom M said that, counterintuitively, he thought there could be advantages to Trustees being on multiple boards as that allows for a kind of ‘bumblebeeing’ to take place between organisations. Upstart Theatre has also found that the trustees most likely to commit to the role are people who have been approached directly by the organisation. The problem is, this creates challenges in terms of the diversity of the trustees as we end up approaching people within our networks.
* So how can we find Trustee opportunities?
* Voluntary Services Council
* Cause Four
* Do-It
* Trusteefinder.org
* Arts Jobs
* Association of Chairs
* Tom D suggested that if people are interested in being Trustees they should contact charities directly! E.g. if there’s a company whose work you admire, why not write and offer your services. It’s incredibly flattering to be approached directly and the first qualification for governance is a desire to get involved.
* We discussed whether or not Boards should be donors. Tom M suggested that this presented challenges to diversity - as requiring your trustees to donate would obviously be a barrier to participation - but one of us (sorry, didn’t gather names!) who was a trustee said he felt that it would be a really great way for him to be able to contribute to his organisation. One of our other colleagues mentioned that when she worked at NSPCC, trustees were not allowed to donate but there was a Development Board below the trustees on which everyone was expected to be a major donor. This system seemed to work really well.
* Places to find resources about trustees:
* National Council for Voluntary Organisations
* Charity Commission
* Cause Four
* Code for Good Governance / Good Governance Toolkit
* Governance Pages
* If you’d like to find out more about Upstart Theatre and being a trustee with us, do get in touch! [email protected], or Twitter @upstarttheatre