Stop recruiting trustees in a panic. Start doing it properly.

The Trustee Recruitment Pack

Every template, checklist, and compliance guide you need to run a trustee recruitment process that actually works, and treats every candidate with the respect they deserve.

Most charities recruit trustees the wrong way.

A trustee leaves. The board is suddenly short. Someone suggests a contact, a neighbour, a friend, someone from the same network. That person becomes a trustee. It happens in charities of every size, and it consistently produces boards that look and think exactly the same way they always have.

I've seen trustee boards made up of people from the same street, all with the same way of thinking and all too nice to each other to call anything out.

You could pay £5k to a recruitment company to find you a new trustee. The alternative is recruiting against a clear picture of what your board actually needs. It takes a little more time upfront. It produces dramatically better results. This pack is built around that alternative.

What's Inside

Four Sections covering the full process. Every template is ready to fill in. Every checklist is ready to work through.

1. Before you recruit

• Governing document checklist; understand what your constitution says about trustee appointments before you write a single advert.
• Board skills matrix template; identify the gaps before you start looking, so you know exactly what you're recruiting for.

2. Finding candidates

• Role description template and writing guide; written to attract people who've never applied for a trustee role before, not just insiders who already know the charity lingo.
• Where to advertise in the UK; including how to reach candidates your current network won't find, with signposting to common charity sites and more.
• Social media and outreach templates.

3. Running the process

• Application form and equality monitoring form; ready to use, legally robust, and set up so the monitoring form stays separate from applications at shortlisting.
• Interview question bank and scoring guide; built for governance conversations, not job interviews, with a framework for consistent and fair shortlisting.
• Shortlisting checklist.
• Candidate communication templates; including rejection letters written to leave every candidate with a positive impression of your charity.

4. Making the appointment

• Disqualification declaration form; based on the Charity Commission's automatic disqualification rules, in plain English.
• Compliance guide covering Charities Act 2016 requirements, DBS eligibility, and Companies House and Charity Commission filing obligations.

Who it's for

New and small charities

Setting up a board for the first time, or recruiting into an existing one. Trustee recruitment feels unfamiliar and the rules feel unclear. Start with the compliance guides before you write anything public-facing.

Charity staff managing the process

Handling recruitment alongside everything else you do. The templates are your starting point. The compliance section tells you what must happen and when.

Board chairs leading recruitment

Overseeing the process and accountable for getting it right. Start with the skills audit. Everything else flows from there.

Testimonials

This pack is built for smaller and medium-sized charities; roughly ten to one hundred staff, or the volunteer equivalent. It's not written for large national organisations with dedicated board secretaries and legal teams on retainer.

Where the law matters in specific places the pack tells you exactly what the requirement is and where to find the authoritative source. It references the Charity Commission, NCVO, and relevant legislation throughout. It doesn't try to replace those sources, and it won't pretend a checklist is the same as legal advice.

This pack is valid at the point of download. Where legislation is referenced, authoritative sources are linked directly so you can verify the current position.

This pack is designed to be a foundational toolkit. It is not a replacement for bespoke legal advice on complex disputes or activities, nor does it replace the need for formal training for your team.

These templates provide the framework, but they require you to input your specific charity details and local contact information to be effective.

The Toolkit will be available for immediate digital download at the point of purchase. Under the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013, by downloading, you consent to waive the 14-day cooling off period.