Let’s not forget that your trustees and committee members are all volunteers too

It’s often overlooked, but trustees, committee members, directors, board members (whatever you happen to call them) are all volunteers. They give their time and (normally) receive no renumeration. Volunteers in the truest sense, but with significant responsibility and often with a legal position and obligation too.

Ask many organisations about their volunteers and they’ll readily tell you about their front-line, coal face volunteers and ‘forget’ the board behind the scenes. Boards themselves often work hard to praise and support their staff team and their volunteers, but overlook themselves. If you have a Volunteer Manager or point of contact for your organisation, do they, as part of their role, look after the trustees and board members as valued volunteers too? (I’m guessing no).

This week a report from the Charity Commission entitled “Taken on Trust” reports that collectively the effort put in by Trustees across the country amounts to a value of £3.5bn if all these volunteers were to be paid. That’s not insignificant.

If you watch the news this week during Trustees’ Week and keep an eye on social media you’ll see lots and lots of praise for Trustees in charities across the country. Are you praising your own trustees this week too?

Trustees are often supported differently and expectations on them are very different. But some things should be considered just the same for them.

They all need to understand their role clearly (is there a role description for your trustees and the positions such as chair?). When they join, they should have a full induction and understand where they can get all the information they need (in the trustee handbook? Your constitution etc?)

As a volunteer (albeit a trustee) who do they refer to for support? Is it the Chair? Is there a member of the staff team allocated to support the trustees? What about peer support or a mentor from the board?

Do they receive ongoing training and support in their volunteer role? (how to be a trustee, how to grow as a trustee, how to do a good job as a trustee etc).

Are they praised and thanked often for their support? Is the fact that they are giving up their time for free understood and acknowledged?

We ask our boards and trustees to do a lot, perform well and support the organisation. Much of what VANEL and others ‘push’ about good governance is a demand or obligation for trustees to work hard, work well, grow and develop. But at the same time, we have to keep remembering that volunteering aspect, how they are treated and respected, thanked and supported, and how that in turn helps the board to flourish.

Many newer trustees often turn to us for training or support, and many of the most common issues are ones that would not really be acceptable if they were a new volunteer joining the organisation to do ‘more traditional’ roles. Getting a new trustee on board just because they are available, and then not inducting, supporting, training and praising them is not the right approach.

Any trustee (or committee member) with your organisation will go through a series of stages.

– Recruitment – you need to find them in the first place
– Onboarding – induction and getting them into the organisation and onto the board
– Growth – making sure they can now contribute usefully to their role as a trustee
– Support – during their life on the board they need support
– Development – how to fulfil their role properly
– Moving on – and at some point they will depart (succession planning?)

So are you treating your trustees and board members as volunteers throughout this journey? (There’s an older article from NCVO here which highlights clearly the need to recognise trustees as hidden volunteers.)

There’s evidence to show that where it’s clearly acknowledged and recognised that the board is made up of volunteers and they are treated and supported as such, then governance practices improve. This makes sense, as volunteer development in a progressive organisation can be managed well as the interests of the volunteer are kept as a focus. When this is applied to the board too then all those volunteer management benefits filter into the way the board works too.

So this Trustees’ Week (and beyond) make sure your board remembers that you are all volunteers too. How can you make that volunteering experience effective and rewarding for all?