Trustees 'must deploy day-job skills' in board roles 3

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 6 Jan 2012

Nigel Kershaw, chief executive of Big Issue Invest, says too often charity trustees who are enormously skilled in their day jobs lose this edge in board meetings, as they define business as one thing, and charity and philanthropy as another.

Kershaw calls these trustees the “6.30 club” – people who make a lot of money, and are skilled and experienced in their day jobs, but switch off when work is finished and they go off to do philanthropy and charity work in their spare time.

Kershaw told civilsociety.co.uk: “You find trustees who are excellent in their day job, but they lose this edge when they are trustees. It’s a culture where you have business, and charity and never the twain will meet. But it’s in that middle space where you create change.

“I want the 6.30 club to evolve,” he continued. “I want their business acumen with their heart in the middle space which is about creating social and financial value, and challenging the norms of business which is about maximising return.

“It also challenges the philanthropy side of giving it all away. In that middle space you can find the contradiction of philanthropy, business and investment and create innovate solutions through social investment and enterprise.”

Social investment

Elsewhere, Big Issue Invest has recently invested £400,000 into a social enterprise providing vulnerable individuals access to housing and support.

Housing Action leases properties from landlords in the private sector and sublets them to individuals and families. Tenants typically have acute housing needs and/or a history of homelessness.

Place a comment

Ellie Mayson
RSPCA
6 Jan 2012

Unfortunately, our board of trustees is made up of retired people, some who have not been in employment for over 20 years and are in their late 70's. They view the workplace as they did when they were last in employment so extremely old fashioned and view new employment laws as unnecessary Also they do not want to go on any courses to gain new skills.
Very frustrating.

[Reply]

Tesse Akpeki
Governance Consultant
OnBoard
6 Jan 2012

Nigel's observations are spot on. The challenge is finding the 'sweet' spot in between where Trustees can be supportive, creative, as well as offer constructive challenge. This entails getting the right balance between governance and management and leading rather than trying to do the Chief Executive's and the senior management team's job. Success lies in having clear expectations, roles, responsibilities and balances and empowering the board to lead by applying the expertise that Nigel refers to. Guidance and permissions may seem somewhat boring, but can give trustees the confidence to bring their intellectual wealth an social capital into the boardroom.

[Reply]

Monica Hartwell
Consultant
Hartwell Associates
6 Jan 2012

Unlike Nigel, my personal experience, both as an ex-CEO and as a Consultant, is that the Trustees with whom I have worked have given a great deal of their 'cutting edge' expertise, and their time, to the organisatioins they have chosen to support. Likewise fellow Trustees on the Borads of two charirties on which I currently sit. But it is also important to remember that Trustees are there to advise, not to 'do' and cannot/should not be undertake activities for which staff or other volunteers are properly engaged

Monica Hartwell

[Reply]

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