As Trustees’ Week 2022 draws to a close, it has been fantastic to hear the inspiring stories of charity trustees (of whom there are over 250,000 in Scotland) from across the country, particularly through the changing, and challenging, times that we are living in (the theme for this year’s Trustees’ Week).

While being a charity trustee is undoubtedly a commitment and something that shouldn’t be undertaken lightly, it’s an incredibly important position in a sector that exists to help others and bring about positive change.

We thought we would take this opportunity to share with you some of our ‘top tips’ for charity trustees based on our experiences as advisors to the sector. We hope that these observations will be of value whether you are a very experienced charity trustee or, perhaps inspired by what you have read or seen during this year’s Trustees’ Week, considering your first charity trustee role.

• Understand what’s expected of you - one of the duties that a charity trustee must fulfil is “to act with the care and diligence that it is reasonable to expect of a person who is managing the affairs of another person”.  Anyone who’s ever looked after someone else’s child will understand the heightened sense of responsibility you feel…you’re probably more careful with them than you are with your own children. Understanding this duty in relation to looking after a charity and its funds and assets is really important in getting to grips with the role of a charity trustee.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions – you’re a key part of the checks and balances that exist to make sure that charities use their resources well. Be familiar with what your charitable purposes are and ask questions to make sure that you’re going in the right direction.
• Show up! - It might seem obvious but when people are busy and have a to-do list with a hundred different things on it, a voluntary role can often be the thing that slips. But good governance needs people to be there and to read the board papers, so that effective decision-making is part of the fabric of the way the charity operates.
• Know when to ask for help – in an ideal world, your charity board will be made up of individuals with a varied skill set that will cover the key areas that you will require to consider as a board, but it is also really important to recognise where there may be gaps in particular skills or where a particular issue requires specialist input. It is important that charity trustees engage and rely upon professional advisors as required.
• Look to the future – while the temptation could be to focus on the ‘here and now’ and the issues of the day as they present themselves, charity trustees must also have an eye on what is coming down the track and attempt to ‘future proof’ the organisation so far as possible. Recent years have shown that we are living in changing and challenging times and it is important that charity trustees try, so far as possible, to anticipate upcoming events and changes that could impact upon their charity, whether in legislative terms or more broadly in the economic or political space.

At Burness Paull, all of the members of our charities team are extremely well versed on trustee duties and what they mean in practice, both for the individual and for the charity as a whole. We are always delighted to talk through any queries that charities may have in this space, so please do get in touch.

Trustees’ Week is a celebration of all the hard work that charity trustees put in throughout the year. If you haven’t watched our short video to mark the week, you can find it here.

And so to all those charity trustees, including our very own Burness Paull Foundation trustees, thank-you!

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