The Young Trustees Movement has launched! This campaign, which Blagrave has backed, aims to double the number of trustees aged 30 and under on charity boards by 2024 in England and Wales. While the spotlight is on the age factor, the movement is part of a wider call for diversity and best practice on charity boards.They aim to achieve this through three steps:
- Mobilising charity leaders and young people to join & commit to the movement through a pledge
- Supporting movement members to make their pledge a reality. We will do this by creating physical and digital hubs that provide:
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- Step by step practical and achievable guidance/resources e.g a template meeting agenda, recruitment pack, etc.
- Online learning, including a ‘Young Trustees in training’ programme
- Best practice and shared learnings from failures and mess ups!
- A space to connect and signposted to people and organisations within the Movement
- Campaigning opportunities targeted at behaviour change in charity boards.
- Creating a counter-narrative to challenge the current status quo of governance and perceptions of who a trustee should be.
Kira Lewis, 19, a Young Trustee of two boards said “With dire statistics such as one in twelve trustees being called either John or David, less than 3% of Charity Trustees being under 30 and less than 1% being under 25 – it’s no secret that board diversity is an issue.