Charities' persistent tendency to fill up their boards with their mates is holding back the sector's progress in producing more diverse boards, says Richard Williams.

Women are still under-represented on the boards of top charities, according to new research from Charity Finance. With less than a third (31 per cent) of women on the boards of the top 100 charities, and with more than a quarter of these organisations having less than 25 per cent of women in their boardrooms, charities clearly need to work harder to improve boardroom diversity.

While the charity sector is leading the private sector in terms of progressing women onto its boards, men still dominate the top jobs. Only 12 per cent of chairs are women, a surprisingly low figure given that the sector is such a large employer of women.  This research really begs the question: why are so few charities failing to prioritise the progression and positive contribution of women?

One of the main reasons I believe is linked to the recruitment methods that still exist in many charities today, where trustees are recruited by word-of-mouth recommendations from within existing networks. Such practices are akin to the ‘old boys’ network’ and ultimately limiting in a number of ways. It creates a lack of diversity on boards, limited perspectives around the boardroom table and at worst, skills and talent shortages that could hinder organisational development.

In addition to these risks, the failure to progress more women onto boards of charities could have other organisational repercussions.  Lord Davies’ recent report concluded there was a "clear business case" for increasing the number of women on boards. This follows a report from McKinsey which showed that companies with a higher proportion of women in senior positions were more likely to achieve greater stock-market growth.

The recruitment of trustees was a big issue that was raised in the Institute of Philanthropy's study of trustee appointments, The State of UK Charity Boards, which found that around half of trustees are appointed through personal recommendations and just 20 per cent of charities advertised to fill their trustee vacancies. Clearly change is needed, particularly given the fact that almost one in five charities has a board vacancy.

The report stated that boards need to work harder on trustee recruitment. I would agree with this view entirely. Organisations need to adapt their recruitment strategies to ensure they are attracting people with the best skills and experience, and this can only happen if they recruit from a diverse gene pool. Skills audits need to be undertaken regularly to evaluate if a board has the right mix of talent and skills that not only reflects the needs of their key stakeholders and beneficiaries, but will best position them to realise their business plans.

Charities need to look outside their existing networks to recruit trustees and it doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. There are several free resources, such as social networking sites, which could be used to source talent. Additionally, NCVO’s Trusteebank and our part-ownership of Trustees Unlimited is predicated around developing a rich diverse resource of potential trustees to enable charities and social enterprises to access a much wider selection of candidates.

NCVO can also help to induct this rich vein of potential trustees and ensure that they are well versed in trustee responsibilities, and the culture and shape of the sector. This kind of training and development will ensure they become active and participative trustees more quickly and bring their skills and attributes to a well functioning, balanced and strategically-aware board.

Richard Williams is director of enterprise and development at NCVO and director at Trustees Unlimited