A large funder has launched a programme in a bid to address the lack of diversity on charity boards.
Yesterday, the Henry Smith Foundation unveiled its Better Boards programme, which aims to make boards “stronger” and “more inclusive”.
It will initially support four organisations – Reach Volunteering, Board Racial Diversity UK, the Young Trustees Movement, and the Association of Chairs (AoC) – “that play a critical and complementary role in strengthening charity governance across the UK”.
The Henry Smith Foundation said it chose these four charities because they make “a high contribution to trustee recruitment, diversity, and development across the charity sector”.
“They also sit in a fragile part of the sector,” it said in a LinkedIn post. “Despite their national reach and influence, their work doesn’t fit neatly into place or issue-based funding, so they’re often overlooked for long-term support.
“By backing them with multi-year, core funding, we’re investing in the conditions that allow stronger, more inclusive governance to take root across the sector.
“Stronger boards don’t just make charities run better. They help charities make better choices. And that’s where impact starts.”
Charity boards ‘struggle to reflect communities’
Research published earlier this year by the Charity Commission and PBE found that charity trustee boards overall fail to represent the diversity of the wider population.
Announcing its programme this week, the Henry Smith Foundation said: “Strong boards bring different skills, backgrounds, and lived experiences to the table. Right now, that doesn’t happen often enough.
“Too many people who would make great trustees never see themselves in the role. They don’t have the time, confidence, networks, or support to step forward.
“At the same time, many trustees are asked to carry serious responsibilities with little training or development.
“The result is boards that look similar, think similarly, and struggle to reflect the communities their charities exist to serve. We believe that has to change.”
‘More work is needed’
Malcom John, founder of Board Racial Diversity, praised the Henry Smith Foundation for recognising and financially backing “the work desperately needed to bring and sustain new, diverse, younger, and lived experiences voices on the largely arcane and closed spaces of not-for-profit boards”.
John wrote on LinkedIn: “Board Racial Diversity UK is absolutely thrilled to be one of the four key organisations – spotlighted by an independent mapping report (aka Penny Wilson) – and awarded an unrestricted grant to develop our capacity and boost our impact for the next four years at least.
“We fully appreciate how much more work is needed to address the shockingly widening board diversity gap highlighted in the recent PBE and Charity Commission for England and Wales [report] on trustee motivations and board diversity.”
He encouraged all charities in England and Wales to look at their boards’ representation and ask if it is fit for purpose.
Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, also welcomed the funding, saying “if our organisations weren’t there, governance support would be patchy, of poorer quality and much less efficient”.
“This kind of work is much better done at the level of the field than by region, programme or individual charity,” Thorne said in a LinkedIn post.
“Thanks to Henry Smith for seeing this, and most of all for being willing to respond to it.”
