The Future of Trusteeship
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-03)

David Holdsworth's keynote speech at the Festival of Trusteeship, as part of Trustees' Week 2025.

Good morning, and thank you all for being here as we launch Trustees’ Week 2025.

This is a moment in the calendar I particularly value – a moment when we pause to celebrate something fundamental to the fabric of our society. When we shine a spotlight on the nearly one million trusteeships that exist across the United Kingdom, and when we say, simply and sincerely: thank you.

Thank you all those who serve as trustees of the 170,000 charities on our register. Thank you for your time, your expertise, your passion, and your dedication. Thank you for the countless hours spent in meetings, poring over budgets, wrestling with difficult decisions, supporting staff and volunteers. And thank you for the profound impact you make – often unseen, frequently underappreciated, but absolutely essential to the life of our nation.

The sector you govern boasts some impressive numbers: an annual turnover of £94 billion; assets of £340 billion, employing over 1.3m people, equating to 3% of the UK workforce. But these figures, vast as they are, don’t tell the real story.

The stories that matter are told among the 320 families living with dementia who, thanks to Dementia UK’s Transitions of Care Model, moved from hospital to home without a single avoidable readmission – each person treated with dignity, each transition handled with care. It’s in the 907 broken and discarded bodyboards collected from Devon and Cornwall beaches by Keep Britain Tidy over one summer season alone – coastlines restored, wildlife protected, communities renewed. It’s in the audacious ambition of Terrence Higgins Trust to make the UK the first country in the world to end new cases of HIV by 2030 – a goal that seemed impossible just years ago, now tantalizingly within reach.

And it’s in the paralysed woman who can now brush her young daughter’s hair, thanks to ground-breaking medical trials funded by Spinal Research. In the osprey – once nearly extinct in Britain – now thriving with over 250 nesting pairs thanks to conservation efforts. In the two lives saved at sea, on average, every single day by RNLI volunteers.

This is what trusteeship makes possible. These are the treasures and the hopes of trusteeship.

The architecture of trust

If charities are the buildings that house our nation’s compassion and ambition for a better world, then trustees are the architects – designing the structures, ensuring the foundations are sound, adapting the blueprints as times change and needs evolve, looking ahead to what might be needed in future.

And like any good architect, you work largely behind the scenes. The public sees the finished building – the foodbank, the refuge, the conservation project, the community centre. They experience the services, witness the impact, feel the difference. But they rarely see the careful planning, the difficult decisions about resources and priorities, the governance frameworks that ensure everything is built on solid ground.

Yet without you, without that architectural vision and structural integrity, even the most passionate mission would eventually crumble.

Trusteeship is, in essence, a form of civic architecture – you are building the infrastructure of a compassionate society, one decision, one charity, one community at a time.

Research into the trustee experience

Today, as we launch Trustees’ Week, I’m particularly pleased that we can also reflect on the findings of the most comprehensive research ever undertaken into trusteeship in England and Wales. Working with Pro Bono Economics, earlier this year we published analysis of over 2,000 responses from trustees, and the results should give us all cause for optimism.

The vast majority of trustees – eight in ten – say they would recommend the role to others. Eight in ten. That is a remarkable endorsement, and it speaks to what those of us who have served as trustees already know: that whilst trusteeship is undoubtedly a significant responsibility, it is also hugely rewarding.

The research reveals the multiple benefits trustees gain from their service. Nearly two-thirds say the role helps them feel more connected to their local community or to a movement that’s important to them. A similar proportion value the opportunity to use existing skills in a new context. For younger trustees in particular, over half report that trusteeship supports their career development, whilst older trustees cherish the opportunity to give something back.

More than nine in ten trustees report understanding their roles and responsibilities and feeling qualified to fulfil them. Most feel positive about board dynamics and their relationships with staff and volunteers. In short, trustees are immensely positive about their experience.

The future of trusteeship: planting forests, not just trees

But it’s not the past I want to focus on today, it’s the future. Because Trustees’ Week isn’t only about celebrating what is – it’s also about imagining what could be. It’s about investing in hope.

There’s an ancient proverb that says: “Society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” I’ve always found this a powerful metaphor for trusteeship. When you serve as a trustee, you’re not just tending to the immediate needs of your charity – important as that is. You’re also planting seeds for the future. You’re creating structures and cultures that will outlive your tenure. You’re building capacity that will serve beneficiaries you may never meet.

The research shows us areas where we must collectively cultivate trusteeship more intentionally. Whilst we’re seeing welcome progress towards gender parity on boards – with 43% of trustees now female, compared to 36% in 2017 – we know that certain groups remain underrepresented. Over half of all trustees are retired, with an average age of 65. Only 8% of trustees are aged 44 or under, and just 1% are 30 or younger.

People from ethnic minority backgrounds make up 8% of trustees, compared to 17% of the general population. Though this difference appears in significant part driven by the age profile of trustees, and encouragingly, among trustees under 60, there are proportionally more black trustees in that age group than in the general population.

The research also suggests that some boards could benefit from a broader range of skills and expertise. A quarter of charities access legal expertise externally, whilst fewer than 25% report having significant anti-fraud, campaigning, or marketing skills at board level.

These findings point to a clear challenge: we need to continue widening the pool of trustees, bringing in more diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills. Not because our current trustees aren’t doing extraordinary work – you demonstrably are – but because diverse forests are more resilient forests. They weather storms better. They adapt to changing conditions more effectively. They create richer habitats for all who depend on them.

So how do we encourage more people to take on the role? How do we ensure that trusteeship reflects the full spectrum of our communities?

Part of the answer lies in how we recruit. The research shows that one in three trustees was asked to join their board directly by the Chair, whilst only 6% came through advertising. Whilst informal networking can be valuable, it may inadvertently weaken the ecosystem of our metaphorical forest. We need recruitment practices that are open, transparent, and actively seek out people with rich and diverse skills, experience and perspectives.

We also need to remove barriers. No one should feel they cannot afford to be a trustee. That’s why we’ve made clear that trustees are entitled to have their reasonable expenses reimbursed – including childcare, travel costs, and meals when acting on behalf of their charity. Trusteeship should be accessible to all who have skill and passion to offer.

And we need to talk more openly about what trusteeship offers. The research shows that trusteeship brings professional development, a sense of purpose, expanded social circles, and the deep satisfaction of making a positive impact. For many, it connects them to causes they care passionately about whilst allowing them to use their skills in new and meaningful ways.

Trusteeship is not a one-way street but a junction where personal growth meets social impact, where individual skills meet collective purpose, where the work you do for others enriches your own life in unexpected ways.

Tending the garden: supporting trustees for the future

At the Charity Commission, and keeping to the natural analogy, we see our role rather like gardeners tending to the conditions that allow trusteeship to flourish. We can’t make trustees grow – that’s down to you and the sector – but we can ensure the soil is fertile, that obstacles to growth are cleared away.

Our five-year strategy makes clear that ensuring trusteeship is and remains an attractive proposition is an important part of our work.

We’ve transformed our guidance offer, making it clearer, more accessible, and more responsive to trustees’ needs.

Earlier this year, we published refreshed guidance on finding new trustees, with updated advice on recruitment processes and how to cast the net wider. We want to help you build boards that reflect the communities you serve and bring the full range of skills your charity needs.

And we’re bringing our guidance directly to you, rather than waiting for you to come to us. We just launched the latest iteration of our trustee campaign, which offers new resources to help trustees strengthen their charity’s financial resilience.

This responds to findings from our recent Charity Sector Risk Assessment (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/challenges-to-financial-resilience-among-serious-risks-facing-charities-regulator-finds), which identified financial resilience challenges as among the most serious risks facing charities today. The campaign provides online guidance and a financial health check tool to help trustees better understand and manage their financial responsibilities.

The campaign aims to bring resources to trustees, offering in-the-moment guidance and support that responds to the real challenges charities are facing.

A call to action

As we launch Trustees’ Week 2025, I want to leave you with this thought: trusteeship is an act of radical optimism.

In a world that can feel uncertain, where challenges sometimes seem overwhelming, where it would be easier to retreat into cynicism or passivity – you choose instead to lean in. You choose to believe that things can be better. You choose to invest your time, your skills, your wisdom in making that better future real.

That is extraordinary. It’s what makes our society rich in the truest sense – rich in compassion, rich in solidarity, rich in hope.

The charity sector is not a nice-to-have operating in the margins of society. Charities are civil society. They provide vital services, support the most vulnerable, and make communities stronger and more connected. And you – the trustees – are the beating heart that keeps all of this alive.

So to everyone already serving: your work is seen, valued, and appreciated. You are investing not only in your charity’s present, but in the future we all want to see.

And to everyone considering trusteeship: there is no better way of making a difference. The forest is growing, the architecture is taking shape. Please, step forward and add your contribution.

Thank you, and here’s to a wonderful Trustees’ Week 2025.