The Association of Chairs (AoC) plans to broaden its membership and diversify its income over the next three years, as part of its latest strategy.
By the middle of next year, the association wants one in five of its members to be non-chairs, including other trustees that aspire to become chairs, compared to around 14% now.
“Our membership has so far tended to focus almost exclusively on existing chairs,” the strategy reads.
“This has a double downside. We have turned away people who might become chairs, or whose skills and experience contribute to a better-run board.
“We have also given the impression that once people have stopped being a chair, they should step down from membership.”
The association said it will prioritise creating greater diversity among chairs and pledged to work with other organisations to achieve this.
Becoming more financially sustainable
The association said it also aims to generate more income through its membership, from less than 30% currently to 70% by 2028, to become less reliant on grantmakers.
To achieve this, it aims to grow its organisational members to 50 next year and 250 by March 2027, which it expects will bring in an additional £125,000.
It plans to more than triple its federated membership to 20 by the end of 2026 to generate a total of £100,000.
And it aims to attract another 10 corporate sponsors each year by the end of 2026 to bring in £52,000 by March 2027.
Charities need ‘boards of all talents’
Writing in a blog this week, AoC chair Joe Saxton said: “The reasons for doing all this are not abstract.
“We want to make sure that charities have boards of all the talents, led by chairs of all the talents, supported by trustees of all the talents, driving governance of all the talents.
“Charities will only be delivering to the peak of their talents if we harness and reflect all parts of the skills and experience of our society.”
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