Governance report

New Philanthropy Capital’s latest report, Board matters, is a review of charity trusteeship in the UK. It questions the strength of trustee boards in the charity sector, and argues that recruitment, training and evaluation of board members is frequently neglected because charities and funders do not prioritise governance.

The report highlights a number of improvements that could help to strengthen trusteeship, including:

• More action on recruitment from charities, funders and government, to build people’s interest in trusteeship as a way of supporting charities and to increase the diversity of boards. This would include speeding up plans to develop a simpler system to link potential trustees with vacancies.
• Better support once boards are established. For example, charities should give more thorough inductions for new trustees and there should be increased opportunities for trustees to learn from each other.
• A stronger focus on boards evaluating their own performance, particularly those of large organisations. Regular appraisals and evaluations of boards are critical to long-term effectiveness.