Blog: What does the future hold for charity trusteeship?

Blog by Penny Wilson, director of the Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship

I have two crystal balls. One is realistic: dark, cold and slightly judging. The other is optimistic: bright, glittery and blaring out “Walking on Sunshine.”

Let’s start with the realistic one. Brace yourselves.

🔮 The Realistic Crystal Ball

Here are ten things I think will change in the next 50 years about trusteeship:

1. Board diversity will improve – but not as much as we’d like. The biggest drivers? Open recruitment and trustees “ageing out.” The rising age of trustees is a ticking time bomb.
2. Open recruitment will become the norm. Asking the person next to you at yoga to join the board will be as outdated as faxing an agenda.
3. Small charity boards will grow. It turns out that when we actually advertise, people do want to be a trustee after all. Who knew?
4. A two-tier regulation system will emerge. Large and small charities will have different rules, with global standards keeping everyone on their toes.
5. The line between state and charity will keep shifting. Restrictions, then freedoms, then restrictions again. Trustees will continue to play it safe, muttering, “Better not risk the Charity Commission’s wrath.”
6. We’ll have more organisational structures to choose from. Some brilliant, some baffling. We’ll be enthusiastic about adopting them, as charity regulations tighten.
7. The climate emergency will stop being a ‘nice-to-have’ agenda item. Trustees will have to pay attention. Everyone will.
8. Trustees will get better support. Trustee training, networks and mentoring will be more widely available.
9. Trustee meetings will remain underwhelming. We’ll still have “AOB,” still forget to unmute, and still stay quiet when we come to the finances.
10. And yes, there will still be that trustee who says: “There’s a typo on page 6.” (Thank you, John. Now shall we talk about whether we need to consider closure?)

Enough doom and gloom. Let’s shake off the cynicism and take a look at the shinier future.

✨ The Dreamy Crystal Ball

Here’s what I hope will happen to trusteeship by 2075:

1. Trustee boards finally reflect society. Everyone will know what trusteeship is and open advertisement will be the norm. People will be bemused that in 2025, we used to go around asking our mates to come join the board we sit on.
2. Some trustees will be paid. Although most trustees will still be volunteers, it will be more common to pay trustees, particularly to remove barriers. We finally believe people when they say they couldn’t otherwise afford to be a trustee.
3. Short trustee term limits will be standard. Goodbye, “I’ve been chair here since dial-up internet.” Hello, healthy turnover and cross-pollination between causes.
4. Trustees will feel part of a movement. Over a million of us – connected, trained, caffeinated – will be the engine of social and environmental innovation.
5. Trustees will be ambitious and self-aware. Trustee training will be universal. Every trustee will take it as read that they’re not the finished article and will access development enthusiastically.
6. Board dynamics will matter as much as legal responsibilities. We’ll understand that how we serve as a trustee is as important as sticking to the rules.
7. We’ll actually debate We’ll understand that respectful disagreement is a core part of good governance, and we’ll know how to debate respectfully to put strategic decisions through their paces.
8. Digital tools will revolutionise governance. Trustees will be at the forefront of using digital, including immersive governance experiences, horizon scanning and real-time impact measurement.
9. Trusteeship will be an all-year affair. We’ll use digital tools to stay connected and collaborate continuously. Meetings will be unrecognisable. No more formulaic, tick box agendas which stifle strategic debate.
10. And trustee support will be universal. An entire ecosystem of organisations will exist to help trustees thrive – as normal as universal healthcare. We’ll look back at 2025 and say, “How did they cope?” (Though that Festival of Trusteeship did look pretty ace.)

🌍 So, which future will it be?

Maybe the truth lies somewhere between the two balls — realistic and optimistic, meagre and marvellous. The future of trusteeship depends on whether today’s trustees are brave enough to imagine something better.

So, dust off your crystal ball, polish your governance goggles, and let’s make the shiny version come true.

Thank you to all of the people on LinkedIn who contributed to this article. Read their fascinating conversation here.

Come along to the Festival of Trusteeship to hear more ideas on the future of trusteeship. In particular, David Holdsworth, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission will be talking about the “Future of Trusteeship” on Monday 6th November at 11am, and sector changemakers will pitch their ideas to reimagine boards at “Trusteeship Transformed” on Wednesday 5^th November at 16:30. All sessions are online.