Young people as trustees
On Wednesday we had a meeting at work to discuss recruiting new trustees for YouthNet, and in particular the desire to get “youth trustees” onto our board. We’ve been having similar discussions at the charity I’m a trustee of, the Citizenship Foundation, where I think I am if not the youngest, I’m certainly not that much older than the youngest.
It’s an issue that a lot of youth charities are trying to tackle. The perception is that traditionally trustees were the great-and-the-good, retired professionals brought in for their contacts, experience and (often) wealth. It was therefore reassuring to see that of the 10 people sat around the table at our meeting on Wednesday, all but two were trustees and none of those were over 40 (I think). It’s worth saying that it was a self-selecting group, so I guess people interested in developing our board are more likely to be trustees themselves. And YouthNet has a pretty proactive workforce.
Like many youth charities, YouthNet already has ‘user panels’ that help guide staff how on decisions that affect the services we provide. We also regularly receive feedback from users, undertake consultations and surveys and get out and meet young people (although possibly not as often as we’d like). So why, in addition to this, is there a feeling that young people should also be involved as trustees of a charity?
Trustees provide the governace of a charity; they are there to keep it accountable. It makes sense that a charity should be accountable to its benefactors. Many charities also see being a trustee as a development opportunity in itself. Charities like the Young Achievers Trust and British Youth Council recruit only young trustees for those reasons.
But for other youth charities, having young people on their board ensures the other trustees can fuse their knowledge and expertise with the benefactor’s personal experience. Young trustees often help remind everyone the real reason the charity exists. My previous employer, Headliners, had ‘graduate trustees’ – young people who had recently been benefactors but were then recruited on to the trustee board alongside other trustees.
Ultimately trustees are there to prevent the organisation from abusing its charitable status. They are financially liable for the decisions that the charity makes and as a result can’t be aged under 18 [Edit: see comments]. Charities with multi-million pound turnovers need trustees who can scrutinise complex spreadsheets, understand employment law and hold senior management to account. They need to think strategically, take an external view of the charity, ask difficult questions and challenge perceived wisdom within the organisation. Whilst there are undoubtedly young people who can (and do) do that adequately, those are big asks for anyone who doesn’t have significant experience in management.
So how do you ensure that young people are involved in the governance of charities, without it becoming tokenistic or simply involving high-achieving young people? And should the organisation be involved in supporting the young person who is a trustee, or should that be down to the trustees themselves?
I have my own views, but I’d be grateful for others thoughts on involving young people as trustees.
(Usual disclaimer applies)
Photo courtesy of IRRI Images, and shows the International Rice Research Institute Board of Trustees, presumably with some benefactors. Used under licence.
Tags:british youth council, charity, citizenship foundation, headliners, trustees, young achievers awards, youthnet
23. April 2009 at 4:09 pm :
I read that the new structure for governance of charitable bodies that was created by the Charities Act – the CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisations) – allows for trustees to be aged 16 or over. It’ll be interesting to see how many 16 year old trustees we’ll see when this is implemented.
This, of course, doesn’t answer your question of how do charities involve young people as trustees. But it shows that it’s an issue that we will need to consider carefully. You don’t even need to get into the multi-million pound scale before it starts getting complex – I’m a trustee of a charity spending something like £400k a year and it’s certainly a challenging role.
That said, I love the idea in principle – and I look forward to the not-too-distant future when we might have our first 16 or 17-yr old trustee.
23. April 2009 at 9:32 pm :
Hiya, Yer sorry I’m guessing you are right, but it hasn’t been widely publicised and it’s very difficult to find any information about it on the Charity Commission’s website. Nor could I easily find anything in the actual act. I’m also confused about liability; under 18s can not legally have any financial liability (can’t get credit, mortgage, buy shares etc) so what happens there? I realise there are changes around trustees liability, and that the companies act now says 16, but I’m confused by it all.
I did find this on the Charity Commission’s website, a thing about Funky Dragon from 2004.
7. May 2009 at 1:56 pm :
BYC are recruiting from age 16 for this years trustee elections, as we have recently incorporated. From what I understand incorporation reduces the liability on individuals since a company, in law, is treated like a person, and therefore the company is liable.
However, under 18s have sat on trustee boards before, Woodcraft Folk’s trustees can be any age, but the constitution requires some to be over 18 and it is those who accept liability for the collective decisions of the group. (If it comes to a vote, which given to strong preference for consensus is very rare, under 18s cannot vote) Consequently, I was a trustee at 17 and found the experience incredibly rewarding and educational.
I entirely agree with the point made towards the end of your article that young trustees need support and skills to enable them to do the job properly and not be tokenistic. I can use BYC as an example of how we try to ensure that happens.
We use an interview screening process before membership elections to ensure that all candidates have, or have the potential to develop, the required skills of a trustee. We also invest heavily in general training for new trustees as well as mentorship and specific training for key trustee roles, such as chair and treasurer, but also around risk, grievance and HR. We buddy new trustees with old and have regular buddy meetings between each board meeting for both sides of the partnership to air any concerns or ask for help. But it’s not just about the structural resources its also an open and supportive environment where trustees feel able to express confusion, lack of knowledge or uncertainty to ensure that we are able to get advice when necessary.
I would highly recommend young trustees to all organisations interested in the idea, however it is important to recognise the challenges as well as the benefits and be prepared to invest in overcoming them.