Sara Fernandez - trustee at Oxfordshire Age UK
In practice, this means helping to set the charity’s strategic direction, having an oversight of finances to make sure we are using resources responsibly, and supporting the staff team to increase the impact of their day-to-day activities.
Being a trustee is an incredible learning opportunity, and being a young trustee is even better, as you get to serve on a board with members who are typically a few decades older and wiser than you. It is also a great insight into a different way of working, particularly if you haven’t had professional work experience in the charity sector before and it allows you to make a difference at an organisational level, rather than working with directly with people who benefit from the work of charities.
Having significant frontline volunteering experience is really helpful if you are a young trustee - while you may not have lots of experience on strategy or finances, you will have experienced charity services alongside beneficiaries.
There is lots of training available to make sure you can learn the more technical aspects of the job, and typically older trustees will have that experience so you can learn from them too.
Get involved
If you'd like to become a trustee then sign up with Oxfordshire Volunteers
