3.0 Developing your management committee or board
A committee leads most voluntary and community organisations. These committees might be known by various names:
- Trustees
- Board of Directors
- Management Committee
- Steering Group
For the purpose of this document, we will refer to management committees, but it covers all the structures detailed above.
What all these people have in common is that they are volunteers – there may be paid workers who attend and speak at management committee meetings, but the committee themselves must not be paid staff of the organisation. Management committees are responsible for certain things:
- ‘governance’ – making sure the organisation fulfils its purpose and legal obligations
- strategy – deciding the activities and direction of the organisation
In organisations with no paid staff, the management committee may also be responsible for managing and running the organisation.
What kind of people do you need for your committee?
Before you start recruiting volunteers for your committee, it is useful to think about your organisation:
Is the committee representative?
It might be important that your committee members are representative of your local community. If this is particularly important to you, you will want to think about the make-up of your local community (for example in terms of age, ethnicity, gender etc.) and try to make sure that your committee reflects this.
Knowledge or experience
You might be keen to recruit people with knowledge, for example people who know the local community very well or who have been beneficiaries of the organisation and experienced issues that your organisation seeks to address.
Skills
You might need people with specific skills. For example, if your organisation has paid staff, you might want a Management Committee member with skills in personnel management. You might need committee members with skills in other areas such as fundraising, finance, community work, legal issues, or business planning.
Keen beginners
The most crucial factors are willingness and motivation. Do not overlook people who do not have experience in committee work or management. Remember training is available in many of the skills needed.
Why might people want to volunteer on a management committee?
You also need to think about what might motivate people to volunteer on your committee. You may need to ‘sell’ membership of the committee. Here are some ideas about what can motivate people to join a committee:
Using current skills
Management Committee members say that they are motivated to use their skills to make a difference in their community. Volunteers may be more likely to join the committee if they know exactly what they will be contributing.
Developing new skills
Potential volunteers will value the opportunity to develop new skills as part of their career development. Being on a Management Committee is a chance to be on the ‘board of directors’ of an organisation, which can be a very worthwhile experience as well as something to offer potential employers.
Making a real difference
Volunteers will be primarily motivated by the cause of your group. Being on a Management Committee is an opportunity to make a real difference. If you are trying to stress this benefit to potential new volunteers, you might want to publicise the recent achievements of the group, and let potential volunteers know what your group achieves.
Being part of a team
Individuals often volunteer as a social activity and want to feel that they will be working as part as a cohesive, productive, and happy team.
Having some influence
Most people like having their ideas taken seriously. Being on a Management Committee is an opportunity to influence the direction of a group or organisation.
What might put people off volunteering?
You also need to think about what might put people off volunteering on your committee. Here are some fears you might need to allay:
It will take too much time
Try to give a rough estimate of the time involved. This will reassure people that they are not over-committing themselves.
What about expenses?
No-one should be out of pocket through working for a charity or voluntary group. You should offer to reimburse expenses. This will enable a greater diversity (and number) of individuals to be committee members.
I am not the right kind of person
Potential new committee members might disqualify themselves if they feel they ‘don’t fit in’. It can be useful to present your organisation (and your committee) using positive and diverse images of volunteers. To promote diversity in your committee, you might also want to translate your poster or flyer into other languages. Keep accessibility in mind: for example, would partially sighted readers have difficulty with your materials?
How should we select new committee members?
Answering initial enquires
It is important that initial enquires from potential Management Committee members are responded to promptly. If somebody makes, contact and no one is available to manage the enquiry take the caller’s information and contact the caller as soon as possible.
If at the initial enquiry stage, you realise that your organisation is unable to offer the Management Committee vacancy to the applicant, let him or her know where to find out about other volunteering opportunities – e.g., refer them to VCEL (Volunteer Centre East Lothian) or East Lothian Council Connected Communities service. A negative experience at this stage will put applicants off volunteering for your organisation and could turn them off volunteering altogether.
Information for applicants
Anybody interested in joining the Committee should receive basic information about the organisation before they decide whether this is the right opportunity for them. This might include:
- a statement of the organisation’s aim and objectives
- the opportunities available and a summary of the recruitment process
- the most recent annual report
- issues that might concern potential volunteers, such as expenses
- an application form if appropriate
- whether training is provided
- the name of the contact person, direct line phone number and address.
Soon after this resource pack is sent out, it might be useful to invite the applicant to visit the building for an informal tour and a chat about the Management Committee role, the skills requirements, the time commitment required and the ensuing recruitment procedure.
Selection of committee members
Participating in the governance of a voluntary organisation is a responsible role, so it is important to select members carefully. Do not just accept applicants because you have a vacancy that need to be filled – your organisation may live to regret it. Take time to talk to applicants to make sure that they have the right skills for your needs (or the willingness to develop their skills) as well as the right personality and availability to fill the vacancy. On the other hand, do not make things so formal that potential volunteers feel intimidated or put off.
Conflict of interest
When recruiting new Management Committee members, it is important for both parties to consider whether the potential volunteer might have any conflicts of interest with the organisation; for example, personal interests may be significant enough to prevent the individual concerned from making an impartial contribution to the Committee’s discussions and decision-making. You might also have to think about whether beneficiaries of your organisation can be committee members – it may be that they directly benefit from the decisions made by the committee, which would be an inappropriate conflict of interest.
Disqualification
Management Committees need to be aware that certain people are disqualified from membership. In general, the following may not be Management Committee members:
- Anyone convicted of an offence involving deception or dishonesty unless the conviction is spent
- Anyone who is an undischarged bankrupt
- Anyone who has previously been removed from trusteeship of a charity by the Court of Commissioners,
- Anyone who is under a disqualification order under the Company Directors disqualification Act 1996.
- People under the age of sixteen
Please refer to section 5, ‘Your Management Committee and the Law’ for further information.
Please refer to OSCR for any updates OSCR | Managing a Charity
Introducing new committee members
A proper induction will ensure that new Management Committee members feel welcomed, supported, and valued. By furthering their knowledge and understanding of the organisation it will also ensure that they are effective in the new role as quickly as possible. A new Committee Member who does not feel supported may withdraw.
One specified person should be responsible for overseeing the new committee member’s induction. This allows the new committee member to be able to establish rapport quickly, and to know to whom they can refer questions if they feel uncertain.
Familiarisation
If a new committee member is not familiar with the organisation it is valuable to give them an overview as early as possible. A tour of the office will make them feel welcome, with introductions to staff and volunteers and explanations of their roles. To prevent any anxiety over remembering names, it is helpful to provide a chart or list of committee members and other people involved in the organisation.
In addition, all new committee members should receive a copy of The Basics section of this pack. This includes all the key documents for the community building, including the constitution, the latest annual report and information sheets on the Council.
Training
The Connected Communities Service, VCEL and SCVO can offer a variety of training opportunities for Management Committee members.
For more information contact connect-el@eastlothian.gov.uk or info@volunteereastlothian.org.uk
First Committee Meeting
Avoid throwing new management committee members ‘in at the deep end’ at their first meeting. Take time to allow committee members to introduce themselves to the new member and give a little background information about themselves. Give a brief outline of the topics the committee are currently dealing with.