Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship

Eastside People became the new home for the Festival of Trusteeship in 2025 and the revived event which formed a central part Trustees’ Week, was a huge success with over 1,600 trustees, charity leaders and sector expert attendees.

The Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship’s week-long online series of events, is full of exciting options for anyone who wants to become a trustee, for committed trustees who want to keep learning and developing, and for charity leaders who want to understand best practice in trustee recruitment and inclusive governance.  

The Festival of Trusteeship will return on 9th to 13th November 2026. The 2026 programme will once again provide a week-long series of low cost and free online events, workshops and discussions. Building on last year’s themes, the event will offer practical, accessible learning for trustees and aspiring trustees across all levels of experience.

Keep me updated for 2026

The dates for the 2026 Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship are 9th to 13th November (#TrusteesWeek). If you’d like to be kept up-to-date with the latest news about the Festival you can sign up here:

Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship 2026: Ideas and Suggestions: Please complete this form if you have a suggestion for a session topic or an idea for how the Festival might reach more trustees.

The 2025 Festival delivered a mix of informative and practical webinars and workshops, and lively panel discussions relating to good charity board governance with a focus on diversity and inclusion. All sessions for aspiring trustees were free.  

Watch the 2025 Festival of  Trusteeship recordings

Festival recordings are available to watch free of charge.

2026 event partners and sponsors

Working with a range of sponsors and partners enables Festival tickets to be offered at the lowest possible cost (with free sessions for aspiring trustees). The 2026 Festival sees the return of The Institute of Leadership as headline sponsor. The involvement of this global professional body with its community of over 50,000 leaders and managers dedicated to inspiring great leadership will bring insights and trends from a cross-sector perspective to the Festival, enabling further tailoring of the agenda to help Trustees feel more confident leading in increasingly complex and challenging environments.

Civil Society Media a new partner for 2026, is the UK’s only independent media company dedicated solely to supporting the charity sector. They deliver essential information, expert analysis and thought leadership through high-quality printed and digital publications plus online charity training courses covering a breadth of governance, finance and legal topics.

Stone King LLP, a specialist law firm working extensively with charities, social enterprises and education bodies, brings deep expertise in charity law, governance, constitutional matters, safeguarding and regulatory compliance. Stone King will particularly support sessions addressing trustees’ legal responsibilities and the practical realities of good governance.

More resources for trustees

Visit our Trustee Hub, the one-stop shop for resources, events, blogs & top tips for charity & not-for-profit trustees plus info about the Festival of Trusteeship:

If you have any questions about the Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship, please email us at: [email protected].

Acknowledgements

Proud to be part of #TrusteesWeek.