Understanding Trustee Recruitment and Retention Challenges

There are just over 170,000 charities in England and Wales. Each one has a unique mission and approach, but they all rely on their board of trustees. As charities face rising demands and continued financial strain, the strategic leadership of trustees has never been so vital.

But many charities struggle to maintain full trustee boards. This makes it harder for them to be effective and sustainable.

To address this issue, we first need to understand its causes and implications. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of trustee vacancies and retention within charities.

In August 2024 we surveyed 294 voluntary sector organisations. We wanted to understand:

• the trustee recruitment and retention challenges voluntary organisations experience
• the impact these challenges have on trustee boards
• ways these challenges could be addressed.

This report sets out the findings of our survey.

The survey was carried out online between 22 August and 5 September 2024. Survey respondents were invited to take part via email and social media by NCVO and other voluntary sector infrastructure bodies.

This survey was designed to generate high-level insights and create a snapshot of issues facing the sector. We gathered responses from different sized charities to quickly identify major trends.

In this report, voluntary organisations are divided into six groups based on their annual income.

This report aims to increase awareness of the issues affecting trustee recruitment and retention. It provides insights into the impact trustee vacancies have on boards and the work they do to serve communities.

We will use the findings to shape our resources, support, and campaigning. We hope you can use it to develop your work and support the invaluable work of trustees.

You can download a printable PDF version of the report below.