The value of Trusteeship

Today marks the close of Trustees week. Being a Trustee is a great way to support issues you care strongly about, as well as helping you develop your career by broadening your experience and contacts. At National Trails UK, we strongly believe in the power of Trusteeship, not only through our amazing Board, but also as an executive team: we are all Trustees!

Being a Trustee is certainly a commitment, and if you’re thinking about becoming a Trustee yourself, or encouraging your team to be a trustee, then the time involved has to be a key factor. If you’re considering your first post and worried about how that might fit in to your life, it’s always worth checking with your manager to look at any volunteering policy that might already be in place to enable you to use work time for some of your trustee responsibilities. Of course, there are also so many different organisations looking for Trustees with many different asks and requirements from their Board, so keep an eye out for the opportunity that best fits with your passion, the experience you want to gain, and the time you have to give.

That said, there is so much to gain from being a Trustee. Generally, you will gain experience in governance and finance. On top of that, you can gain a huge range of experience depending on what organisation you’re a part of. If you report to the Board as part of your day job, it can also give you valuable insights for managing that relationship.

At National Trails UK, we’re all at different stages of our Trustee careers. We hope that the below insights might be useful to anyone thinking about taking on a Trustee position!

Jennifer, Policy and Research Officer

I am just about to start my first Trustee position at Devon Communities Together. I wanted to become a Trustee to develop my skills and better understand governance and how the charity sector works. At the same time, becoming a Trustee felt like a great opportunity to bring my knowledge and experience to a cause that I really care about. Devon Communities Together have been supportive of me starting out as a first time Trustee and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in, supporting the charity, and bringing my learning from the position back to my work at NTUK.

Laura, Impact Fundraiser

I've been a proud Trustee of the charity "Grow Cook Learn", based at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, since July this year. Grow Cook Learn is a wonderful charity that connects people to the food, history and landscape of the Shropshire Hills - objectives which are very similar to National Trails UK, and close to my heart. When I was asked to become a Trustee of Grow Cook Learn,?I jumped at the opportunity to give back to a cause that has had a huge positive impact on my life. This is my first Trusteeship so I'm still learning the ropes, but I hope that my experience and skills in fundraising, and my passion for the local landscape, will make a difference. The Trusteeship is also supporting my role at NTUK as I'm gaining a deeper understanding of nature recovery, protected landscapes and land management - so it's a win, in my mind. I'd strongly encourage working-age people to consider supporting charities by becoming a Trustee. A skilled, diverse and energetic Board makes a huge difference to charities. There's a misconception that you need to be an expert, or give huge amounts of time, to join a Board of Trustees. This isn't always true, and a good Board of Trustees should be welcoming and supportive of new talent and accommodating of your other commitments. I work full time, have other volunteering roles and spend a lot of time on my hobbies, but I am still able to contribute time and energy to Grow Cook Learn - and it's a pleasure to do so.

Polly, CEO

I have had two (three?) Trustee positions so far! I wanted to become a Trustee to build my skill set and get experience particularly in charity finances, and use my professional skills I in policy and influencing to help charities.

I’m not sure if my time as part of the Executive Committee at WiPA technically counts as being a Trustee, but it certainly built my confidence that I could take on a Board role. I was so lucky to work with amazing women who I learnt a lot from, and I loved knowing that we were helping to support women in Public Affairs through networking, training, events, and research.

?SEEd was my first formal Trusteeship, and gave me insights in the whole-system sustainability, as well as my first taste of long term strategic planning. As an Executive Board, we had a more hands on role, and I was able to contribute to communications work as well as future planning.

I came across Creativity Works during the Pandemic thanks to a display of drawings from one of their programmes in a shop window. I’m passionate about the power of creativity, and I was drawn to their guiding principle that ‘creative activities inspire and empower people to explore, develop and grow’, and their genuine co-creation of programmes with local artists and communities. This most recent experience has been challenging at points: we lost our funding and status as a National Portfolio Organisation from Arts Council England, and as a Board we have made the difficult decision to close the charity. However, working through that process has also taught me a lot about charity legislation and governance and I’m delighted to be a part of securing the legacy of Creativity works. ?