Charity Trustee Year 1 - What I've Learned

https://www.marketimpact.co.uk/post/charity-trustee-year-1-what-i-ve-learned

12 months ago I had the opportunity to join Education Support as a trustee.

Education Support are a national charity who provide mental health and wellness support to the education sector across primary, senior, and higher education. They do incredible work and provide strong advice at an incredibly challenging time for our educators as they try to deliver the best results for our young people. I encourage you to check out their impressive research, opinion, and advice.

I ended up being co-opted to the board through the efforts of recruiter Ryan Henshaw , CEO of Education Support Sinéad Mc Brearty , and chair Sean Hanson .

This is my first trustee role and it’s been a journey of discovery. While I’d done some NED training in advance of considering a role like this, you always learn more in role. So I thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve learned in my first year.

Do something that ignites your passion

Being a trustee takes time and energy. More on that later. So if it’s going to take from you, you better ensure that it gives back. And the way it does that is through your passion.

Before I heard about Education Support I didn’t realise I had a passion for the wellbeing and mental health of educators. How could I? It wasn’t something that I came across week to week. Not something from my crowded set of hobbies.

But when I first spoke with Ryan and found out about the opportunity, I realised I did have that passion. I knew teachers and support staff. I had family members who were teachers at different levels and in different countries. And I knew first hand what a tremendously difficult time they’d had during the pandemic. They’d suffered. Their students had suffered. And while many institutions tried, many had failed to support educators and students effectively.

I cared. I really cared. I didn’t expect it, and I didn’t go out looking for it, but I found the passion for this important area.

Don’t assume you need to be an expert

But what do I know about education, the everyday challenge of educators, and the day to day pressures they’re under from Ofsted, parents, and students? Nothing, of course. I left education after university and, while being a parent of students for many years, my direct experience was limited.

You probably won’t be surprised to find that Education Support is full of experts. Board members who are teachers and head teachers. Members of the executive team who have been working with educators for years. They understand the issues, have studied and researched them, and spent quality time in schools working directly with them on the challenges of teaching today.

I have none of that. But I do have good experience of systems, processes, marketing, sales, strategic GTM, finance, contracts, and legal. I have a perspective that comes from some distance from the daily challenges in the sector. I can stand back, view, ask questions, advise, support, and celebrate as the executive team try to drive change in in this complex area.

Do not devalue the breadth of your experience or the value it might bring to a charity. In many cases, this is exactly what they need.

Spend time with your CEO and chair

Before agreeing to join a charity in a trustee role, spend as much time as you can with both the CEO and the chair of the board. They are the people you will be spending the most time with and you need to understand who they are and the journey they're on.

Why are they involved in the charity? What brought them there in the first place? How long are they planning to stay? What’s their vision for the charity in the future? Why are they talking to you? What do they think you can bring to the table?

That’s not to say that you need to be fully aligned. If you’re just blindly saying “yes” to everything that the exec team are asking for, what value are you adding? How are you helping them to be better or more effective?

But at the same time, do you want to be going to war with the exec team and chair at each board meeting because your visions for the charity are so disparate?

So ensure you’re largely aligned with your CEO, chair, and anyone else you meet during the interview process. Be sure that it’s the right place for you to be effective and add value.

Be prepared to put in the time

Being a trustee takes time. And energy. You’ll have board meetings to attend. You’ll be asked to join one or more committees which also have meetings. And each meeting will have papers. Lots of papers. Finance, risk, process, governance, remuneration. All challenging deep topics which require time and thought to onboard, digest, and consider before the meeting so you can engage properly.

In my case I find that each meeting (4 board and 4 committee per year, each 2 hours long) requires 2-4 hours of time to properly read and consider the topics in advance of the meeting. Some of the topics are incredibly detailed and take time and real thought to work through.

This is where passion becomes very important. Imagine spending that much time reading information about something you weren’t interested in? Didn’t care about?

Advising and managing are different

Most people coming into trustee and board roles are leaders. The majority are seasoned managers. They’re used to being in a position of control, where they tell people what needs to be done and it gets done. They’re decision makers, strategists, and A-type personalities.

When you join a board, being that person - that leader - is NOT your job. In a very big way. You don’t run finance, sales, marketing, fundraising, or execution. The CEO and executive team don’t work for you. This can be uncomfortable for many first time trustees and is a show-stopper for some.

You don’t command. You don’t tell. You don’t instruct.

Instead you question. You ask. You suggest. You provide perspective. Hopefully a slightly different perspective than the team have internally. You help them be better by sharing your experience. What you’ve seen both work and fail in vastly different organisations becomes invaluable.

Of course that doesn’t mean they’ll act on your suggestions. But that’s OK too. Maybe they know more about the situation than you do. After all, they’re the experts. Your perspective, experience, and engagement are enough.

Don’t hesitate

If you think you can provide value to a charity, go for it. It does take time, energy, and passion. You need to be willing to put that in to get value out.

But if you do, you’ll be astonished at how much it gives back. To be so close to people who are this passionate about making a difference delivers a benefit and energy far beyond anything you put in.

You have the knowledge, insight, and experience the charity needs. Take the plunge. You won’t regret it.

I haven’t.