The challenge
Buckinghamshire Mind provides high quality community-based mental health services to find positive ways for making people feel valued and live well, and was looking to recruit new trustees.
The solution
The charity used Reach Volunteering, the online national database, to find trustees for its Board. This included Rosalind Parke, a senior executive used to working at board level on strategic and business development projects, who brought significant experience of the delivery of large scale, business critical change programmes to the charity. Importantly, Ros had considerable empathy for the aims of the charity, which in turn is delighted with the expertise she brings.
Commenting on why she got involved with the charity, Ros explained: “Buckinghamshire Mind is experiencing a period of rapid business development and had drawn up a three year strategic plan. I felt my corporate background and commercial focus could support the senior management team. I was keen to help in reviewing operational concerns and in delivering their plan.”
The result
Kaya Mallinder, Fundraising and Communications Officer for Buckinghamshire Mind, would recommend the online database to other organisations: “The Trustees we recruited through Reach have excellent skills and expertise which complemented those of existing Board members.”
The recruitment process is simple as Ros can testify: “I applied online via Reach and was shortly invited for interview via email by Bucks Mind. It was a positive and professional experience where the role was clearly outlined along with the challenges the charity anticipated. I was appointed at my second meeting and have been an active trustee for approximately a year.”
“Most charities would value an exploratory discussion about how you could help and any assistance is truly valued. Equally, I gain a different perspective on life, have met some amazing and dedicated people and have found working as a trustee very rewarding.”
One tip from Buckinghamshire Mind is that charities are clear about the trustee role and its responsibilities, and communicate these needs accurately when advertising.
Futher information
- Case study courtesy of Reach Volunteering.
- Find out more about recruiting trustees on our Recruiting and managing volunteers webpages.
