about reach - successful projects
The Better Boards Project
The Better Boards project enabled targeted governance work to be undertaken by Reach in relation to the Black & Minority Ethnic (BME), Faith and Rural Sectors for the first time. Through tailored trustee recruitment and placement, plus mentor support, it brought expertise and added diversity onto boards throughout England. The project, funded by the Governance Hub, ran for 5 months from November 2007 to March 2008.
Reach’s contribution:
- 141 placements achieved England-wide through 128 Reach volunteers
- 107 organisations helped from all 3 categories; BME, Faith and Rural Sectors
- Placements primarily for Board Members, Trustees or Management Committee Members, with a general remit
- Support provided to 41 organisations for specific remits such as Treasurer, Deputy Chair, Hon Secretary, or Prospective Chair
- 31 of the Reach volunteers placed were from a minority background, specifically black or other ethnic minority or disabled
- Mentoring support provided, where Reach volunteers acted as mentors to board members
- Two specific case studies of organisations assisted by the Better Boards Project developed
How Reach ensured success
The project provided specific support to these frontline organisations to help them identify their needs. A short questionnaire was designed for organisations, to assist them to assess their current needs in relation to their board, which covered both skills needs and diversity issues. In terms of skills it was to ensure that skills gaps could be filled through targeted trustee recruitment and placement. “Does the board/committee of your organisation contain all the skills and expertise required to accomplish its governance role? If not, what further skills and expertise are required?” was the deliberately open-ended question. “In terms of diversity, is your board fully representative of the community it serves. If not, what sections of the community do you feel are currently underrepresented?” was the second question. Clearly diversity issues vary considerably across different parts of England and per organisation.
There is an evident lack of a central resource in the sector that can actually deliver skilled individuals to join boards throughout England, and address skills gaps and diversity challenges. The project quickly generated interest and frontline organisations, once offered support, quickly registered requests. Reach found itself with excess demand for the project, with 197 roles registered from 166 organisations. Filling trustee and mentor roles within a 5 month period is a challenge and Reach is continuing to support the organisations who were not placed at the end of the five month period.
Reach can deliver an effective and tailored trustee placement service, and has the skilled volunteers willing to take on the roles. It can deliver skills transfer and provide added diversity to boards throughout the country. The key is being able to sustain that, and ensuring that there are the financial resources available to deliver this service.
More successful projects case studies