How do we make our board more diverse and inclusive?
Equity, diversity and inclusion for charity boards
Finding diverse trustees
Charity boards aren’t very diverse. The latest statistics (Charity Commission, 2025) on who charity trustees are reveal a stark lack of younger trustees and trustees from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Do you want to recruit more diverse trustees and make sure your board is welcoming and inclusive for board members of all backgrounds?
On this page you’ll find:
- A free guide on equity, diversity and inclusion for your board
- Some top tips and insights for building a diverse board
- Useful resources and downloads
- What we’re doing
- Organisations working on board diversity
It starts from the top
A guide to equip chairs and boards to focus on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
‘It starts from the top’ is written by people with lived experience and packed with practical tips from chairs, trustees, and charity leaders.
Our guide acknowledges the challenges and provides practical actionable steps that any non-profit, no matter how big or small, can take.
Feel more informed and confident.
Some top tips and insights for building a diverse charity board
Our guide It starts from the top is packed full of tips and suggestions to help you recruit and retain diverse trustees. Here are just a few of them:
Getting started
- Check out the Charity Governance Code, principle seven on equity, diversity and inclusion, with recommendations for smaller and larger charities
- Conduct a diversity audit to help you understand if there are voices or perspectives that may be missing, including those of people with lived experience of the communities you serve. (Not all diversities are obvious or visible.)
Trustee recruitment
- Amend your application pack to clearly highlight any support provided – such as expenses, training, and development.
- Review your application pack to make sure it’s welcoming, friendly, uses inclusive language, avoids jargon, and clearly explains the role of trustee/chair.
- Do you provide a variety of formats for people to apply for a trustee role e.g. online form, printed application, send a CV by email, send a video?
- Does the application process give people a chance to express how their lived experience might be relevant to the role?
- Do you offer support to fill in the application form if someone needs help?
- Do you provide interview questions in advance? (Download and adapt our interview question templates).
- How do you make it clear to applicants that adjustments and flexibility are welcomed? Rather than relying on candidates asking for adjustments, you could proactively ask everyone offered an interview if there is anything they need to make the process more accessible for them.
Supporting trustees
- Do you have a buddy system to help new trustees feel supported as they settle in?
- How do you identify ongoing training and development needs for trustees?
- Do you conduct regular and annual reviews with trustees to see how they are getting on and if they need any support or training?
Board meetings
- How can board members request adjustments? Some people may be embarrassed or uncomfortable highlighting any additional needs – asking everyone proactively can make people feel more at ease in expressing if there is anything that might make board meetings more accessible or inclusive for them.
- Do you provide board papers in any other formats?
- Can trustees talk through the papers before the meeting with someone in case they have any questions or don’t feel they understand something?
- Consider the format, location, and timing of your board meetings. Are these inclusive for different requirements and access needs? Might the timing of meetings put some people off applying in the first place – for example, are they always during the daytime when people might be working? If they are always held in person this may be difficult for some people, such as those with caring responsibilities, those who live further away or can’t afford to travel – could you try a mix of online and in-person meetings or varying the timings?
EDI as an ongoing focus
- Are you relying on one person or trustee to raise or lead on EDI for your board?
- Could you create a sub-committee or EDI working group to take a more collective approach?
- Could you invite a guest speaker who has lived experience or expertise of a specific area of EDI to come and give a presentation or deliver a workshop?
Browse our blogs
We regularly publish blogs relating diversity, including how to recruit and retain younger trustees, disability inclusion on boards, and how to embed diverse perspectives.
Useful
resources
We have lots of blogs about different aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion so be sure to visit our blog and browse. Some other useful resources on equity, diversity and inclusion for chairs, boards, and charities include:
- Getting young people on your trustee board (Young Trustees Movement)
- From here to diversity (Getting on Board and Action on Trustee Racial Diversity – now called Board Racial Diversity UK)
- How to diversify your board (published by Getting on Board, now hosted on the Board Racial Diversity UK website)
- Equity, diversity, and inclusion at board level (NCVO)
- How to carry out a diversity audit for your board (Reach Volunteering)
- The Charity Governance Code – Principle 7 – Equity, diversity and inclusion
- Disability Rights UK won the Charity Governance Award for Board EDI in 2024. They have a number of resources on their website for Disabled People’s Organisations which are interesting reads. In particular, their resource on recruiting staff, volunteers, and trustees has a section on key considerations for creating an inclusive board.
- Shaping Our Lives, a Disabled People’s Organisation, has some excellent practical tips on making meetings and events inclusive which can be used for planning board meetings and away days:
- The report Finding a Balance by More in Common contains some useful insights about the public’s attitudes towards EDI and also some helpful practical tips for organisations.
- Falmouth University has conducted research with recommendations about trustee diversity for arts and cultural organisations – How to make your cultural leadership more diverse.
- You can also check out our blogs on EDI topics.
EDI practices on charity boards – survey, segmentation, and analysis from nfpResearch
Our guide ‘It starts from the top’ pulls from data collected and analysed by nfpResearch.
You can now read the data behind the report and find out more about the process.
What we’re doing
Building diverse and inclusive boards is a crucial part of our overall strategy. It was also identified in our 2025 consultation as a top priority for improving charity boards. Find out more about our consultation.
Resources
We are developing our own resources which will enhance chairs’ and boards’ understanding and awareness of EDI, such as our 2025 member guide to recruiting, retaining, and supporting trustees with lived experience (available in the member portal). We also share resources by other organisations who work in this space, to ensure their advice and guidance can be found and shared among as wide an audience as possible.
Events
We held several events in 2024 and 2025 focusing on EDI for chairs and boards. These included webinars in conjunction with New Ways, a behaviour change consultancy that works with leaders to create progressive, anti-racist and equitable organisations that people choose to belong to. We also run EDI-focused events as part of our London peer support programme. Our event in November 2025 focused heavily on building inclusive and diverse boards.
Collaboration and partnership
We are pleased to partner with a number of organisations that work to promote EDI for chairs, trustees, and boards. We’re delighted to learn from them and work together to ensure EDI is an ongoing conversation for our members and wider audiences.
Organisations
Board Racial Diversity UK provides charities with knowledge, resources, and networks to enable them to take practical steps to increase the racial diversity of their boards. The founder, Malcolm John, is also a trustee of the Association of Chairs and we’re delighted to support their Black and Asian Future Chairs’ Academy (BAFCA).
The Young Trustees Movement was set up to double the number of trustees aged 30 and under on charity boards by 2024. They offer training, resources, support, and trustee vacancy advertising. We were delighted to have their Chair, Amelia Ireland, recently attend one of our London peer support group sessions to talk about diversifying boards.
Queer Trustees is run by CharitySoStraight. They have a LinkedIn group for LGBTQIA+ trustees, allies and charities/recruiters looking for support to advertise trustee vacancies, and promote inclusive boards.
Other
relevant pages.
Building your board
Information and resources on chair, trustee and treasurer recruitment.
Resources
More resources available to members and non-members.
Events
All our upcoming events, including events on EDI-related topics.