Trustees' Week 2021 - Recruiting a Treasurer

Recruiting a Treasurer is one of the biggest challenges for a charity Board and it is our number one support request for trustee recruitment. So how do you find one?

Networking

1. The Trustee Board:

The old adage of “it’s not what you know, but who you know” comes into play.  Part of being a board member is about promoting and being an advocate for the charity and this includes helping to recruit new members to the board. It’s important trustees know they have an active role in helping to recruit the Treasurer and have access to the relevant recruitment information. Trustees often belong to other networks including professional membership organisations, local Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, churches – the list is endless.

2. Accountancy firms and membership organisations and business networks:

Whilst it’s ideal to have a qualified accountant as your Treasurer, there are other people who are equally qualified to be a Trustee including other finance professionals such as people with book keeping, auditing, finance manager or fundraising experience. Someone who has run or currently runs their own business or a company, or a business manager who knows how to navigate balance sheets, understands cash flows, set a budget and knows about costing would also be a suitable candidate.  Whoever you recruit needs to be comfortable with numbers and confident to challenge.

There are numerous accountancy membership organisations such as ICAEW, CIMA, IFA, AAT, and CIPFA and often being a board member can count towards their CPD (Continuing Professional Development). It’s worth investigating this option and if you have a Finance Manager they will often be linked into one of these professional networks.

Another avenue is contacting local accountancy firms in your area to see if any of their staff would be interested in becoming a treasurer. This can be part of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) for the firm and they can encourage their staff to take up these opportunities.

Promotion

1. The why:

Before you start the promotion for role make sure you consider “why” someone should become a trustee for your charity.  It’s the “why” that will hook the prospective person into contacting you. Therefore your first paragraph/sentence in your promotion is vital as that is your pitch to get them to read further and ultimately to apply.

If you want to find out more about this the author Simon Sinek is a good place to start as he has written a very influential book called “Start with the Why” and you can find TED talks he’s done on You Tube and via the TED website. 

2. Website:

Don’t forget to promote your Treasurer role on your website. Your website is your shop front to the world and it’s important that your recruitment information is easy to find on your website. Having information about your existing board members on your website with short bios is also useful as well as having your annual reports easily available on your website. If someone is interested in becoming a trustee they will often check out your website for more information – so b sure to keep it up to date and relevant.

3. Social Media:

LinkedIn – is probably the most suitable social media tool to use to promote your trustee role. Trustees who are already signed up can promote this through their own networks. Make sure your charity has an organisational page as that can be a way to promote jobs, trustee roles and other activities. LinkedIn also has a jobs search where you can post your trustee roles, although there is a cost to this.

Twitter – is often used by professionals for networking and sharing opportunities - it can also be a way to drive interest to your website.

Instagram and Facebook - these platforms tend to be used by people on a more personal basis, but if you have business (organisation) pages they can be a way to engage people in your organisation - especially if you are place-baed and are looking to recruit from the local community.

4. Online networks and resources

There are a number of ways to advertise your trustee vacancy beyond your networks, website and social media and they include:

1. Our Volunteering Portal - create an account for free here and upload your opportunity
2. The Salford CVS jobs page - contact office@salfordcvs.co.uk to promote your vacancy on our jobs page.
3. The Honorary Treasurers Forum is a forum created to help Honorary Treasurers in the important work they carry out by providing a place where they can come together as a community, share expertise and promote best practice. Part of what they do is advertise Charity and non-profit organisations Treasurer vacancies for free on their website.
4. The ICAEW accounting body has a volunteering portal and you can advertise for free trustee vacancies through it. 
5. Getting on Board is a charity that supports people from all sectors of society to become charity board trustees, and charities to recruit and retain a diverse range of trustees. They offer a free service to advertise trustees vacancies as well as IAG to support your recruitment.
6. Reach Volunteering is a charity that matches volunteers with three or more years of professional experience with charities seeking trustees or specialist volunteers with charities.  For charities under £1m turnover the service is free, and there is a charge for larger charities.

And finally, don’t forget to contact Salford CVS Development Team as we have our own networks and events that can help to identify potential trustees, training for new trustees and we can also support with board development.  Please contact us either by email Annemarie.marshall@salfordcvs.co.uk or call 0161 787 7795.