Trustees’ Week 2024 Blog: How We Can Support You to Recruit a New Board

Celebrating, supporting and inspiring trustees and providing opportunities for them to connect, learn, and develop their skills.

Introduction

At CEIS, we celebrate the vital role that trustees play in delivering strategic planning and strong governance for Scotland’s social enterprises, third sector organisations and community enterprises. As of October 2024, there were 24,793 charities[1] and more than 6,000 social enterprises generating more than £2.3 billion for Scotland’s economy and supporting 88,000 jobs[2].

In this blog, we focus on three key areas of support CEIS provides that trustees have reported as being beneficial due to the actionable recommendations and practical tools we provide to help them to find the solutions required.

Financial Review

The first is financial governance. It will come as no surprise that an overwhelming majority of trustees have reported financial challenges as their biggest source of concern[3]. This is reflected in the high-level of enquiries we receive for support.

We offer trustees a full financial review that includes management accounts, financial forecasting, costing and pricing, reserves policy, and advice and recommendations. This fresh perspective can help trustees to avoid crisis, identify efficiencies and savings, and improve financial practices.

We understand that this does not remove the very real challenges of cost-of-living, rising costs and funding cuts, however, a full understanding of the financial position can increase skills and confidence, inform actions required and strengthen financial governance.

This is ever more important due to recent changes in Charity Law https://www.oscr.org.uk/news/charity-law-has-changed/[4]. OSCR has been granted increased inquiry powers from the Scottish Government that are intended to help them work more effectively to protect charities and their assets.

We encourage all trustees to ensure that they are aware of these new powers,

Design and Facilitation of In-person Strategy Sessions

CEIS offers design and facilitation of in-person strategy sessions in response to a growing appetite from trustees to come together to discuss strategy or to undertake reflection and learning on a particular topic. We are receiving an increasing number of enquiries specifically for this kind of support.

This has proven to be particularly successful when organisations have a budget to hire a space outside of their premises.

We have found that combining this work with a social element invokes a more relaxed, enjoyable and productive atmosphere. This works most effectively over a 3-hour period, morning or afternoon.

We work closely with the leadership team to understand the purpose and objectives that will inform the content and activities that make up these sessions.

We encourage them to focus on things that stimulate thinking and encourage full participation in the process.

Afterwards, we follow up with a report that provides an analysis of findings, along with actionable recommendations and action planning tools to progress them.

Trustees report positive benefits from having facilitated support, time to consider powerful questions, participating in innovative activities, sharing insights, and feeling empowered to identify and resolve issues together. And you can see a great example of this in action in our latest case study with The Croft Visitor Centre at HMP Barlinnie.

Board Recruitment and Induction

Another common challenge that trustees report is with succession planning, particularly for the office-bearing roles of Chair and Treasurer. The recruitment of trustees for non-office-bearing roles may be perceived as being easier, however, it must be understood that all trustees are collectively responsible for the governance and strategic direction of the organisation, whether they hold office-bearing roles or not.

Trustees must consider how to attract a diverse range of candidates and how to incorporate greater awareness of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into their organisations. There are a range of training providers that can help with this, one of which is Apt which delivers fully-funded services to Scottish employers.

CEIS’s own Board recruitment strategy has proven successful in attracting several new trustees whose ideas, expertise and business acumen were sought to drive the Group’s strategy and support the work of the CEO. You can learn more about our own successful Board recruitment process in this blog.

We can share processes, tools and templates, and offer tailored support to empower organisations with their own recruitment and induction efforts. These can include, but aren’t limited to:

1. Board self-assessment: Conduct an annual skills audit to identify what skills are required on the board.
2. Board information pack: Essential organisation information, job description and person specification for prospective candidates.
3. Board communications pack: This will help you to publicise your vacancies, recruit the help of partners to get the word out and reach as wide an audience as possible.
4. Applicant sifting framework: This supports and records the decision-making process on selecting candidates for interview.
5. Interview scoring framework: This supports and records the appraisal process for assessing interview candidates.

In early 2025, CEIS will again offer online masterclasses to eligible third sector organisations with a Glasgow postcode funded by the Glasgow Community Fund including Board Governance.

If you are based in Glasgow and would like to register your interest in this session, please sign up to our mailing list here.

Be Recruitment Ready

People who may not be actively looking for a board role might jump at the chance when they hear about or discover an organisation that excites them, touches their heart, or resonates with their life experiences and/or their values.

By harnessing that enthusiasm and spontaneity, trustees might find an ideal candidate for their board. Make the most of this by being ready to answer their questions, because any serious applicant will do their homework and come prepared.

Boards can make a positive impression with their recruitment pack, interview style and communication strategy. They can take advantage of promoting their USP, imagining why people would want to join and story-telling.

They also shouldn’t shy away from discussing the challenges they’re facing. Instead, they can be ready with clear and succinct responses that demonstrate a credible organisation with a strategic plan.

Being honest about the time element and what is expected will be welcomed by prospective candidates. Those who are aware of the responsibilities will also be considering risk.

Finally, a comprehensive induction process that offers opportunities for skills development and mentoring, if appropriate, can help new trustees settle in and become more effective, more quickly. This will support retention and build board capacity for stronger governance.

Conclusion

Trustees face unique challenges, and we work with organisations to provide tailored support to help them with all aspects of Board development and governance.

Recruiting new trustees takes time and preparation, but it’s worth investing the effort to find the right people. The tools and approaches we’ve outlined can help make your recruitment process smoother and more effective.

We have over 40 years of experience in enterprise support and community development so you could say that this kind of support is our bread and butter.

If you need support with financial reviews, strategy sessions or board recruitment, we can help. Our team has worked with hundreds of organisations across Scotland to strengthen their governance and build capable boards.

Get in touch using the form below to discuss how we could support your organisation’s board development needs.

[1] OSCR: https://www.oscr.org.uk

[2] Social Enterprise Scotland: https://socialenterprise.scot/

[3] SCVO https://scvo.scot

[4] OSCR https://www.oscr.org.uk