A campaign has been launched to encourage more people to become trustees of charities and is calling on employers to help.
Half of all charities claim to have problems recruiting new trustees, and research shows that currently only 15% of trustees are under 40 years old.
The Get on Board campaign, by the Charity Commission and volunteering charity TimeBank, aims to encourage younger people and those from minority communities to volunteer as trustees.
An online marketing campaign and targeted print advertising will be used to communicate to young professionals that they can “be important” by becoming a trustee. Employers will be encouraged to support staff who want to volunteer as trustees.
Careers advisers will also encourage job-hunters to consider trusteeship as a way of gaining skills and experience for their career.
Geraldine Peacock, chair at the Charity Commission, said the core message of this campaign was diversity. “An ideal charity board is vibrant and lively,” she said.
“It embraces healthy debate by bringing people from a range of ages, backgrounds, skills and experiences to the table – also by getting a variety of perspectives on difficult issues and by having a mix of skills to draw on.”
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