Subject: Young Trustees
There are 180,000 registered charities in England and Wales, with nearly 850,000 trustees, but less than 4,500 of those trustees (less than 1%) are under 25 (src: Charity Commission).
Many KnowHow members are trustees of charities or have been in the past.
Do you think that there should be more under 25s as charity trustees? If so what could be done to change this current statistic?
Or do you believe that a board of a charity is a place where experience is essential to make the right decisions?
Excellent question, Marc! I feel that despite their lack of experience, young people can bring a unique perspective to any situation. Having said this, I don't think they should make up the majority of a board of trustees, as a board needs to be fairly representative. The underlying issue is allowing, nay promoting, young and older people working together.
One of the more interesting essays I wrote at university (Sociology) was about dispelling age-related discrimination and promoting cooperation of the two groups to 'fill each other's gaps': young people have passion and insight, but little experience; older people have more experience, but are almost hindered by it. Some have even suggested that young people are too stupid to know it can't be done!
But is this necessarily a bad thing? In my opinion, it's an essential part of creating and sustaining change!
You would probably be interested in this video of the CE of the Directory of Social Change, which goes as far as saying "Young People are not the Problem - We Are"
(produced and made available by my social enterprise, Seeducation). I'd love to hear your thoughts...
Good free event at Cass Business School on the 25th of March focusing on - Involving Young People In Governance.
