Supporting charity trustees: Trustees’ Week 3-7 November 2025

Our chat with Joss Saunders

Seeing the new book by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, The Seven Rules of Trust, I thought I would try to come up with my own Seven Rules of Being a Charity Trustee. My roles as charity trustee have been on let’s say a somewhat smaller scale than Jimmy Wales, but I hope you find something you can relate to in them:

• 1. Ask questions before you accept a trusteeship. Why do they want you? Is it a good fit? What is the time commitment? Can you see the last accounts and annual report before you say yes. Can you talk to one of the other trustees?
• 2. One in, one out. I am currently a trustee of my local primary school, my local church, a charity that works mainly with refugees and students in UK, a small website that helps communities around the world get access to justice, and a small but growing charity that works in one of the world’s most difficult operating environments, the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Five trusteeships is a lot, though I am a charity professional in my day job which makes it easier, but I still find it important only to take on a new one if I leave one of the existing ones.
• 3. Read the papers! I always find the meeting far more enjoyable if I can understand what is being discussed. The team have done the work to get the papers to me at least a week before the meeting, it is only fair for me to have read them all (OK, except the VERY long ones). By the way, I think board papers should mostly be very short, and identify further reading in a separate link.
• 4. Visit the projects: not so easy when they are 4000 miles away, though I did get out to Congo once, and it was a never to be forgotten experience. A project visit to check in on how the maths curriculum is taught in my local school, chatting with the pupils (in the presence of the Head) was a real highpoint this year, showing me how much better maths is taught now than it was in my day…
• 5. Help with the heavy lifting. Being a trustee is a role of service, not privilege. I once had to help the Chair deliver bad news to some staff, which involved closing their office and making them redundant. But they were incredibly gracious, and actually thanked us for being honest with them, as they had been completely messed around by the previous Chief Exec, who had not been honest with them, and they welcomed that someone was finally being open with them about what was going on.
• 6. Don’t micro-manage: if you are fortunate enough to have staff, help them do their job, rather than tell them how to do it.
• 7. Enjoy it! Being a trustee can be immensely rewarding (though not financially!). It has brought me in touch with amazing people from all walks of life, and given me more “job satisfaction” than many paid roles. I moved house recently, and found that getting involved with local charities was one of the best ways I could possibly get involved in community life.

How can Blake Morgan support trustees?

Our dedicated charity team are nationally recognised for their expertise and providing joined-up expert legal advice to charities, not-for-profit and social enterprise organisations in England and Wales. Our teams across Blake Morgan regularly support charities in all manner of work including, governance, incorporations, mergers and acquisitions, commercial agreements, property transactions, housing, employment, pensions, and dispute resolution. If we can assist your organisation, please do get in touch with a member of the charities team.