Only half of charities are actively seeking to recruit new trustees from more diverse backgrounds amid a drop in board level diversity, a survey has found.

This fall in diversity recruitment is down on results from the same survey last year, when two thirds of charities said they were actively recruiting a diverse range of trustees.

The survey has been carried out by specialist charity insurer Ecclesiastical, which also found that only three in five (58%) charities in 2023 believe their board is made of trustees from a diverse range of social and ethnic backgrounds. This is a decrease of 14% on last year’s survey when almost three quarters (72%) said their board is diverse.

Among those responding almost half (47%) said that more guidance on how to become a trustee should be available to help encourage diversity on charities’ boards. Two in five want to see more promotion on the benefits of trusteeship.

The insurer surveyed 250 charity trustees for the research, which has been published to coincide with the Festival of Trusteeship, a week-long series of events organised by trustee organisation Getting on Board and sponsored by Ecclesiastical.

The drop in diversity highlighted comes despite trustees saying active recruitment of those from diverse backgrounds has improved, from 47% citing it as an issue in 2023 compared to 54% last year.

Overall recruitment to board level posts has also improved, with less than half (49%) saying it is a challenge in 2023, compared to three in five last year.

“By encouraging trustees from a wider range of ages, backgrounds and communities charities can bring in new ideas, identify different opportunities and safeguard against potential risks they’re not currently sighted on,” said Ecclesiastical customer segment director Faith Kitchen.

Getting on Board chief executive Penny Wilson added: “This fascinating research paints a bleak picture.

“It is disappointing that there is a fall in the number of charities taking action to improve their trustee board’s diversity.

“We have a long way to go to bring charity board diversity up to that seen in other sectors, let alone to represent the communities we serve.

"Welcoming a wider group of people to trusteeship presents an incredible opportunity to access more skills, expertise and support for our organisations.”

A survey published in October by Newton Investment Management found that four in five charities think it is important their boards reflect their beneficiaries, up from two thirds the previous year.

But this survey also found that global majority trustees still only make up just 12% of boards for the fourth year running.

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