Building an effective charity board is one thing.
Building a confident charity board is quite another.
In fact, NCVO reports that approximately 85% of the charities it recently interviewed said they found it difficult to fill board vacancies – both in terms of recruitment and furthermore, retention.
This can often be down to negative perceptions surrounding time requirements; there is often a lack of clarity surrounding roles and responsibilities, a lack of training, and more.
Then, when you do have your board in place, how do you retain them, boosting confidence to ensure effective governance?
Why trustees’ confidence matters
For effective governance (a key term in 2026, as the Charity Commission focuses more on charities working better within rules, processes, and practices), trustee confidence truly matters.
Your trustees must be able to make strategic and future-focused decisions, and they can only do this when they not only have all of the relevant information provided to them, but also when they fully understand all of the information presented to them.
Trustees must have the confidence to ask tough questions and challenge (positively), as it is these elements that drive boards and ensure the most effective governance.
You want your board to feel empowered, where you, too, have the confidence that your board is developing a strategy that is 100% aligned with the charity’s purpose.
Barriers stopping trustees contributing fully
Confidence, or lack of confidence, affects us all, especially if we’re starting a new role or we’re in a position that is out of our comfort zone.
For many volunteers on a charity board, this is reality. Your background could be in marketing, sales, teaching, etc; however, you’re being asked to look at financial data and accounts and make future decisions based on the numbers.
Without knowing exactly what these mean, what they represent, or indeed asking the right questions about the sums, it is completely understandable for confidence to dip.
Leading to the main barrier we see on many boards, trustees are unsure what the financial data presented to them actually means.
Other common barriers we often find:
Trustees won’t ask for further clarification for fear of looking silly
- There is a poor board culture where people are afraid to speak up or challenge
- There is a lack of training
- Unclear expectations surrounding roles and responsibilities
- Feeling that people won’t react well to criticism
- They leave the finances to the “finance person.”
How to build a more confident board
Create a positive board culture
Create an environment where all members are encouraged to engage effectively, where feedback is welcomed, and communication is clear and transparent. Where questions are encouraged, and clear explanations and further guidance can be provided.
Create a culture where no question is a silly question.
It might also be a positive experience to provide trustees with the opportunity to spend time within the charity and the people who are at the face and the heart of operations. Allowing people to see every aspect of charity life helps to make questions and also challenges easier when you are provided with a little more insight.
Provide training and support
Be proactive from the start of your recruitment process. Not everyone has been a trustee of a charity before, take some time to go through roles and responsibilities, expectations, etc.
Ongoing learning and development are essential as it shows your support and commitment to your trustees’. Creating an environment where people want to be and want to give up their time and do more, as they are also being rewarded through personal growth.
Provide ongoing training on strategic governance and Charity Commission guidance, especially surrounding transparency, reserves policies, and the updated charity accounting framework.
For the charity, continuous learning and development help your board to be confident when shifts in sector funding occur, ensuring the charity can continue moving forward and is compliant and adaptable to meet new challenges.
Support trustees from non-finance backgrounds
Not every trustee will have a financial background, nor should they, for you to build a diverse board structure. It’s important that you tap into their area of expertise and value the experience your trustees bring. However, it is also essential that you provide the right level of support in financial areas and information.
This could mean breaking down jargon, encouraging board members to ask questions, and providing executive summaries and financial information in different formats.
Some key questions boards should be encouraged to ask:
How much money do we have?
- How much is held in reserves, and why is this?
- Where does the money come from (main source)? Is this a single or multiple sources?)
- What happens if…..
- What is the value to our beneficiaries?
Redefine your definition of growth
Trustees of charities should be mindful that growth is not all in the numbers; it’s an important part, but we must also consider influence, reach, and, most importantly, impact.
By optimising board meetings and taking a strategic approach rather than focusing on the operational, trustees can analyse the real impact of the work the charity does, supporting the decisions that need to be made.
Confident boards = Effective governance
Building diverse and competent boards all starts with recruitment. From how a charity advertises, to the information they provide during onboarding, every aspect and element should be clear and open.
The aim is to strengthen trustee engagement and decision-making so you can create confident boards leading to effective governance.
Trustees are valuable volunteers who without a charity couldn’t operate. Building confidence is a key area to focus on to help ensure all operations and strategy align with purpose.
Question: On a scale of 1 to 5 how confident do your trustees feel about decision making? Strategy setting? Financial forecasting? What practices can you put in place to raise these confidence levels?
