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.
Super Early Bird Weekly Pass and Bring your Board tickets now available!
Festival of Trusteeship Ticket Types:
- Super Early Bird Weekly Pass £21.00. Sales end on 31 Aug 2026. Grab your Super Early Bird Weekly Festival Pass and save £9 on a full price weekly pass! This pass gives you full access to all events across the week – the best value way to experience the entire Festival.
- Bring your Board: small charities £120.00. Sales end on 13 Nov 2026. This ticket is for small charities (up to £500,000 annual income) which want to make the Festival available for their whole board. You will get a weekly pass for all of your trustees.
- Bring your Board: medium-large charities £200.00. Sales end on 13 Nov 2026. This ticket is for medium-large charities (over £500,000 annual income) which want to make the Festival available for their whole board. You will get a weekly pass for all of your trustees.
Get your tickets
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.
Festival of Trusteeship 2026: Ideas and Suggestions
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.
Watch the recordings
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.
Our other co-headline sponsor is Ecclesiastical, who we are delighted to have return as a sponsor following their years of support for the Festival of Trusteeship. Ecclesiastical offers specialist insurance built to protect your charity, your people, and the vital services you provide. They are part of the Benefact Group.
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.
The Chartered Governance Institute will sponsor our Thought Leadership strand, bringing the latest thinking on charity governance. The Institute is the only globally recognised chartered professional body for governance professionals.
Evelyn Partners will sponsor the Festival’s new Money Matters strand, focusing on what trustees need to know about finance and fundraising. Evelyn Partners’ experienced investment managers help trustees and charity executives make informed, mission-driven decisions that strengthen your charity’s future
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 the Good Governance stream that has sessions addressing trustees’ legal responsibilities and the practical realities of good governance.
In addition, we’d like to say thank you to our sector partners. These organisations support trustees (and people who work with trustees) all year-round: ACEVO, the Association of Chairs. Board Racial Diversity UK, the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School, Fair Collective, the, ICAEW and the Young Trustees Movement.
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:
Visit the Trustee Hub
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.
