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By Vicki Owen
Young people eager to gain new skills are increasingly considering board-level volunteering for charities and schools, according to not-for-profit matching service Getting on Board.
‘You can learn much more about leadership from being on a board than you can on a leadership course – for example about how you interact with others and how to motivate people,’ says Sarah Hodgkinson, chief executive of the charity, which is working with organisations such as the National Union of Students and the Institute of Directors.
Half of all charities are looking for trustees at any one time and they want diverse boards, she says.
Sarah says: ‘It can be important to have young people (over the age of 18) who can say: “This is what it is like for young people”.’
There has also been an increase in the number of women ‘having the self-confidence to put themselves forward’ as charity trustees or school governors, Sarah says.
Mamta Gupta, 35, became a trustee for a charity through Getting on Board. Bag Books makes multi-sensory books for people with a mental-age of 18 months.
Mamta believes board-level volunteering could empower young people. She says: ‘It is something they can put on their CV, will provide new skills, and is something to talk about in an interview. ‘
She adds: ‘It is like running a small business. We have quarterly meetings of two and a half hours and I am personally trying to get the charity more funding.’
Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors, says: ‘Getting on Board is an excellent initiative, and the Institute of Directors fully supports its objectives. Board-level volunteering is a cost-effective way of developing leadership skills, especially of middle and senior managers, the directors of the future.
‘Increasingly prospective employees want to work for employers that put something back into their communities, and companies that encourage board level volunteering are more likely to become “employers of choice”. It is also a simple way for companies to meet their corporate responsibility goals.’
Why board-level volunteering?
There are lots of reasons why people want to become a trustee or school governor. Here are some of them:
- Opportunity to acquire and develop new skills
- Improvement of CV and raising self-confidence
- Improvement of work-life balance and reduction of stress
- Personal satisfaction and enjoyment
- For people made redundant or taking a career break it can fill a CV gap and maintain skills and confidence
- Retired or approaching retirement it can be an opportunity to share experience and skills
Signposting service
The Getting on Board signposting service helps individuals find the right trustee role. As part of the service individuals can expect a 30 minute phone consultation and at least four opportunities to consider applying for as well as follow-up support. This service is often funded by individual training budgets held by managers.
>> Getting on Board will be supporting the Charity Commission’s second Trustees’ Week in October/November 2011. They will be running seminars and events on board-level volunteering during the week including a seminar for individuals interested in board-level volunteering and a seminar/workshop for interested HR and CR professionals who would like to set up a board-level volunteering scheme in their company. If you are interested in attending either of these events during Trustees’ Week then contact them at info@gettingonboard.org.
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