Exploring the possibility of university students as charity trustees

The aim of this study is to examine the viewpoint of charities, as to how receptive they might be to having a university student on their board of trustees. A questionnaire was sent to charities in the South-West of England. 154 responses were received. 63% of respondents currently have vacancies for trustees. There is a heightened awareness among respondents of the importance of diversity of boards and a high level of interest in exploring whether, and how, students could be recruited as trustees. This paper extends previous work in exploring whether charities would be receptive to having a university student on their boards and raises awareness of one possible route that charities might pursue to increase the number and diversity of trustees.