CTN launches new, free trusteefinder service

Responding to the demand from trustees and members, Charity Trustee Networks is delighted to launch its new online service for posting and searching trusteeship vacancies across the UK. 

trusteefinder has nearly 6,000 vacancies for trusteeships and management committee roles, posted by CTN members and drawn from www.do-it.org.uk, the national volunteering database, run by YouthNet.  The database is populated by the hard work of Volunteer Centres around the country, which identify and publicise local vacancies.  Trustee roles can be found with a simple postcode search or by area of interest, and it is entirely free to use.  In addition, members of CTN's free membership scheme trusteenet can also post vacancies to the service.

trusteefinder also offers resources on trustee recruitment, induction and board development, along with signposting to other sources of information and support.  The service is hosted by CTN’s website www.trusteenet.org.uk, which is a web portal for trustees and management committee members – providing up-to-date information for trustees, an online forum and access to free membership of trusteenet and to CTN’s trustee benefits package, trusteenetplus.

Finding new trustees is a problem that affects organisations of all sizes, with boards carrying an average of one to two vacancies at any given time.  Karen Heenan, Chief Executive of CTN, said, “We believe it is really important to provide a means of promoting board vacancies for free, as a service to the trustees that we support.  When developing trusteefinder, we were determined not to reinvent the wheel, so have worked in partnership to tailor an existing database with an excellent search facility to the needs of trustees.  We are now working collaboratively with others, including Getting on Board and the Small Charities Coalition, to encourage more people to think about becoming trustees.  It is our hope that this initiative will help organisations across the third sector to build effective boards.”

“We are delighted to support CTN in extending the reach of our national volunteering database.  We look forward to working together in the future on joint initiatives to encourage young people into trusteeship.” said Fiona Dawe, Chief Executive of YouthNet.

Andrew Hind, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission said, “This will provide a valuable resource for charities, to support them in promoting their board vacancies to as wide an audience as possible and to help them in finding the right trustees. I cannot stress enough the importance of the role of trustees in helping to ensure charities are well-run, and want to encourage more people to give their time in this way.”

“Finding a good trustee can be difficult with few resources, but when you do it can make all the difference in helping a charity to be really effective.  This collaborative working will provide a much needed quality service to the sector”, said Patrick Cox, Chief Executive of the Small Charities Coalition.

Trusteefinder is at http://www.trusteefinder.org.uk.