Checklist – What do I need to do?

1. Put together a role description and person specification

To enable a young person to consider whether being a young Trustee is for them, they will need to know what the role entails, including their responsibilities and the commitment required.

You can use the Trustee Board team description and the Trustee recruitment resources to explain what being a Trustee is about.

Ensure that Trustees (especially the Chair) are briefed on the young person’s expected involvement.

2. Advertise the role

Make sure that you advertise the role where young people will find it. Make use of social media. The text that you use to accompany the role description and person specification needs to be in a language and tone that is friendly and accessible to young people. Try and sell the benefits to them of being involved, as well as the impact they can make on the Scouts and its development.

You'll find recruitment resources to attract Young People to Trustee Boards on the Recruiting new Trustees webpage. 

Make sure you have a closing date for applications and that it’s clear what the appointment process is and who to contact for more information.

3. Talk to the young people

You should make contact with the young people who apply or are appointed. Make sure that they understand the role and responsibilities and that, if they join the Trustee Board, also make it clear that the young person will be asked to complete a Trustee eligibility check and possibly a criminal records check depending on the role.

4. Make the appointment, and provide feedback

After the closing date for applications you need to make the appointment.

If the appointment is to a Trustee Board, it can be made in one of three ways:

• They can be appointed at the AGM
• They can be co-opted onto the Trustee Board by the Trustees

Youth Leads are ex-officio Trustees, and so do not need appointing to the Trustee Board, but might need supporting in the same way.

When you have appointed someone as a Trustee you need to make sure that all of the other applicants are given feedback about why they didn’t get it. You could use this as an opportunity to signpost them to other ways that they can get involved in your Group, District or County.

5.  Induct your new Trustee

A thorough induction should help integrate your new Trustee into their new role.

A Guide to Trustee Boards for Young People can be tailored to include information about your local area. This guide includes important information such as:

• Can they be a charity trustee and the role of a charity trustee
• Information about what it means to be a Trustee
• Support available for Trustees
• Getting started in the role
• The composition of the Trustee Board
• A handy jargon buster

You should use this as a basis for inducting new Trustees.

6. Appoint a mentor/buddy

You should give the young person contact details of someone they can contact with any questions or problems, and this person could also act as a mentor or buddy, supporting them through their role. It could be an adult or another young person already on the Trustee Board. The role of a mentor or buddy could include:

• Talking the young person through the induction process
• Making sure that they have the meeting dates in their diary, with the times and locations
• Making sure they have a means of getting to the meeting or dialing in via telephone, Skype or other means if appropriate
• Providing them with copies of minutes from previous meetings, an agenda for the next meeting and helping them to fully understand what is going to be discussed.

The Chair could speak to the young person prior to the meeting to see what they think about items and could then help to get this feedback included in the meeting.

7. Support them through their learning

You should help make your new Trustee is aware of the learning available to them. They should complete Growing Roots learning (including Being a Trustee in Scouts). If they would like to develop their knowledge further, there is also a suite of optional learning in Branching Out.

8. If appropriate, help them to represent other people

If the young person you are supporting is a Youth Lead, they will want to be there to represent other young people, whether in the Group, District, County or the Scouts as a whole. Think about ways that you can support them in doing this.

Consider if they are likely to want to canvas opinions on topics in time for the meeting, and this could be considered when putting together the agenda for the meeting.

Don’t forget, if the young person is not the Youth Lead, unless they wish to, they do not have to be there representing the young people, but should be treated as an ordinary Trustee, representing their own opinions.

9. Welcome them at the meeting

Make sure the young person is welcomed and introduced to Trustees.

Lay the room out in an inviting way and give the young person as much opportunity as possible to convey their views.

At the end of the meeting, ask the young person how they found it, listen to their feedback and respond. Make sure that they are happy with any actions that they have, know what the deadlines they are working to, and know when they can expect to get the minutes of the meeting.

You should now have a very enthusiastic, dedicated and active young person on your Trustee Board. The Scouts will really benefit from their input, and we will be one step closer to our aspiration to be a movement shaped by young people in partnership with adults.