Identifying the charity trustee requirements you need and creating a role description

Before you begin recruiting new charity trustees, it’s important to take a step back and evaluate the current strengths and gaps on your Board. This ensures that your recruitment is strategic, helping you build a well-rounded team that can effectively govern the charity.

Start by identifying the skills, experience, and perspectives already present on your Board. This can be done in a few ways. For example, you could complete a self-assessment questionnaire by asking each charity trustee to rate their confidence or experience in key areas, or hold a structured conversation at a Board meeting to reflect on what it does well and where it could improve. 

Once you’ve mapped out your current Board’s capabilities, this should help you identify any critical skills missing and establish if you have diverse perspectives and lived experiences that reflect your beneficiaries.
Based on the gaps you’ve identified, write a brief but clear role description for the new charity trustee. This should include:

• the skills or experience you’re looking for
• the time commitment expected
• any specific responsibilities; and
• a short summary of your charity’s mission and values.

This not only helps you stay focused during recruitment but also gives potential candidates a clear understanding of what’s expected.

You should aim to be realistic when planning to recruit new charity trustees and adopt an appropriate recruitment process to suit your charity’s needs.