The Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) released their report on future charity Chairs and hosted a panel discussion at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass).

Speaking to an audience of journalists, CEOs and charity Chairs, this sold-out event hosted a panel of charity Chairs, who addressed the issues affecting charity leaders today. The event also marked the release of the report, The Future Charity Chair: A research project.

Today’s charity chairs need support to implement leadership development, improve recruitment practices and prioritise equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) if they are to prepare tomorrow’s leaders and tackle the issues of the future, the report found.

Led by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), 61 Chairs and 23 support organisation representatives from charities in England and Wales, were surveyed across a range of sub-sectors and income levels.

Alex Skailes, Director of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness, at Bayes (formerly Cass) Business School, said:

“The leadership role of the charity Chair has intensified, and this rewarding but demanding voluntary role faces greater challenges than we had ever anticipated. A charity Chair cannot be a champion of their organisation if they don’t have the proper support in place, and our research has found that charity chairs are frequently stretched thin. Chairs need enhanced access to a menu of support that is near-term and future focused, if they are to start to meet the demands of tomorrow, today.”

The report found that although chairs are an essential leadership role within charities and play a key part in navigating challenges, they struggle to look ahead and risk missing opportunities to address organisational obstacles that may lie ahead.

To address this, the report identified skills and attributes for future charity Chairs and makes the following recommendations. They include:

• Explore the motivations and barriers for future charity Chairs, emphasising equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Access support for foresight skills, trial flexible governance models and consider the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) as a helpful tool.
• Change recruitment and support practices like mentoring programmes, educational tool kits and shadow boards to promote and reposition the role of charity chairs and improve board succession planning.
• Prioritise the need for leadership development and gain sector-wide support to develop a pipeline of leaders to rely on.

Kai Adams, Managing Partner Civil Society & Government at Green Park, commented:

“With ever-increasing scrutiny and liability placed on charity Boards, and a growing demand for greater time commitment, there is a palpable risk that charities will struggle to attract and retain agile, adaptable, purposeful Chairs capable of guiding their organisation through the complex challenges they are likely to face in the future. This report starts a conversation about how the role of the Chair will need to evolve and what actions we can take now to ensure Boards are best placed to deliver real and lasting impact.”

The launch event featured a panel discussion from charity leaders on the subject, who discussed having uncomfortable conversations, being radical, and how to develop future leaders with inclusivity and EDI at the forefront of recruitment.

‘Connect with the unconnected’

Segun Olowookere, Chair, The Blagrave Trust, explained that it was an honour and a privilege to be Chair of his charity, but that moving forward it is about finding the ‘who’, the right person who will have the attributes the charity needs, and who can ‘connect with the unconnected’.

Naziar Hashemi, Head of Social Purpose and Non Profits at Crowe UK LLP, added:

“Unsurprisingly, the continued uncertainty of the operating environment has taken a toll on our sector leaders, with many feeling that changing the structure of the role itself is necessary to encourage the recruitment of new Chairs. There is a danger that Chairs and the charities they serve will get left behind if they are unable to adequately prepare for what lies ahead. Developing a pipeline of future candidates also requires attention now for the sector to ensure it leaders represent true diversity, and best serve beneficiaries. It is clear that more and different support is necessary and changes should be implemented soon.”

These thoughts were echoed at the event by Helen Baker, Chair, Shelter, who chaired the panel and asked the leaders to share from their expertise how to open up the pipeline of Chairs, and whether there are practical ways to deliver governance that will be more inclusive.

‘I have a choice to be passive or passionate’

The panel took questions from the audience, who brought up issues about the lack of pay for charity Chairs, how to handle relationships when levels of trust have broken down and how to manage the responsibility and accountability that is expected of senior leaders in the charity sector.

The session closed with comments from the audience where some charity Chairs reflected on their experiences in the roles and shared: ‘I have a choice to be passive or passionate’ (as a charity Chair) and ‘radical change is needed’.

The project and report were led by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness and sponsored by Green Park, the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, Brewin Dolphin, the Association of Chairs and Crowe UK LLP. Early-stage seed funding was given by the Higher Education Innovation Fund.