Whilst it is recognised that recruiting individuals to provide oversight in a trustee or committee role can be challenging, relying on personal networks can lead to a risk of group-think within the organisation. A transparent and public recruitment process will bring learning for the organisation, fresh perspectives, and ideally a wider pool of potential candidates.

• does the individual have relevant expertise - for example they may have experience in financial management of an organisation or investment management, a professional qualification in accounting, finance or investment management, or expertise in the charity's purposes which can be used to ensure the investments are furthering the purposes?
• how will the charity's purposes be kept to the forefront, for example does an individual on the committee have expertise in the charity's purposes or will there be collaboration between the committee and the wider trustee board and staff regarding the charity's purposes?
• does the individual have current finance or investment management experience? If the experience is not current, how has the individual kept up-to-date with developments in investment management such as ESG or responsible investment?
• does the individual have expertise in or experience related to the charity's purposes, for example via lived or learned experience?
• does the individual require reimbursement of expenses or missed earnings? Does restricting the role to only volunteers limit the involvement of those from under-represented backgrounds?

Board shadowing can be a helpful way to introduce individuals from under-represented backgrounds to trustee participation. Smallwood Trust ran a programme focused on ‘women with lived experience of gendered poverty and/or working at grassroots community level. The programme aims to demystify the roles of trustees and boards, especially within grant-making and funding organisations.’ John Ellerman Foundation's programme includes inviting individuals to shadow the Finance & Investment Committee, with a training budget and reimbursement for expenses.

• ICAEW volunteers
• Honorary Treasurers' Forum
• Charterpath
• Action for Trustee Racial Diversity
• Trustees Unlimited
• Post an advert on LinkedIn and share broadly
• Contact headhunter/recruitment agencies specialising in the charity sector
• Investment Committees of the future (social investment)
• Women in Social Finance‍
• Getting on Board

If investment oversight cannot be provided by trustees in line with the recommended practice (see P2 - Governance structure), then options might include seeking expertise from a volunteer with suitable expertise or from a paid investment adviser.

Length of term will depend on the charity's needs and the individual's availability. Terms of an initial 4 years plus an additional 4 years if suitable for both the charity and individual are fairly typical.

In line with the Charity Governance Code, any term over nine years (for trustees and committee members) should be subject to particular scrutiny.

There is a balance to be struck between ensuring stability and continuity in the committee, with the need for new perspectives and fresh ideas. Careful succession planning can help to achieve both.

The scale of the induction will depend on the complexity of the charity's investments. All trustees should be familiar with the charity's investment policy. Induction can also include:

• the charity's purposes and how investments support and further the charity's purposes
• how any conflicts or reputational risks in relation to the investments are identified and managed

• how investments are held (eg bank account, pooled fund, bespoke portfolio)
• how risks are managed (eg FSCS protection, investment committee oversight)
• the trustee's legal duties (see CC14)
• the governance structure for investments
• social investment (if applicable)

Induction might take the form of:

• if the charity has a relatively small amount of investments held in cash then the induction might involve a short introduction to the charity's investments run by a trustee or staff member, including information about the trustee's duties in relation to investments (see Principle 1)
• if the charity has a large amount of investments not just in cash, then trustee induction might involve a longer (eg 2 hours, half day) introduction to investments run by a trustee, staff member or committee members, and/or attending introductory investment training run by a charity membership body or a professional provider (eg law firm, investment manager)
• where there are opportunities for further training (for example training run by a charity membership body or professional provider), these should be circulated to all trustees

Charity Finance Group

NCVO

Association of Charitable Foundations

Directory of Social Change - charity training

British Universities Finance Directors Group

Learning may be formal (eg a training course) or informal (eg discussions with a broader group of trustees and staff with expertise in the charity's purposes or investments). Learning can also include EDI training to ensure those with delegated investment oversight responsibilities understand how EDI relates to investments.

For more on ensuring all voices are heard, see Principle 6 - Inclusion.

The board has an opportunity to meet with, learn from and constructively challenge any staff or committee members with delegated investment oversight responsibilities.

For charities with a smaller quantity of investments held in cash or cash-like products, the individuals with responsibility for overseeing investments may report briefly to the full board at each trustees' meeting. Items to be covered might include the amount held, the rate of interest, any issues which have arisen.

For charities with a larger quantity of investments and those holding more complex investments, reporting to the board by individuals with responsibility for overseeing investments might include:

• a written or verbal update for each board meeting
• a more fulsome annual report on how the investments are performing relative to the investment policy, for example financial performance, performance relative to the charity's risk appetite
• an annual opportunity for the board to have an in-depth discussion on the charity's investments in relation to its purposes (for example opportunities to further the purposes through responsible, impact or social investment; information on how conflicts with the purposes and reputational risks are being managed; whether the investment approach still serves the charity's overall strategic approach; negative impacts of the investments)

Impact Investing Institute - Evolving your endowment: Driving change through impact investing

Meetings held with the charity's investment managers or investment advisers are designed to ensure trustees/staff/committee members can effectively discharge their delegated responsibilities. This includes:

• papers are circulated in advance to give enough time for trustees/staff/committee members to prepare.
• ensuring there is an individual to chair the meeting (this might be the chair of a committee, or an individual nominated to chair)
• a clear, pre-agreed agenda for the meeting with an identified purpose and list of topics to be covered
• ensuring any presentation focuses on the charity's investments and developments in the external environment relevant to the charity's investments
• giving the investment manager or investment adviser sufficient time to report on the charity's investments, this might be achieved by having less frequent but longer presentations
• discussions are focused on topics relevant to the charity's investments and make best use of the available time
• jargon is avoided and the individual chairing the meeting acts to ensure all present understand the information being presented and the parameters for any discussions- any items needing follow-up are addressed swiftly

If only one individual or a small number of individuals on the board has financial or investment expertise, there can be a tendency to avoid questioning or challenging the views of those individuals. Methods to avoid power dynamics or imbalances that may lead to poor decision-making include:

• is training on investments provided to all new trustees?
• are trustees without investment knowledge given opportunities to contribute to discussions on investments?
• does the Chair of the board/committee ensure all individuals have an opportunity to contribute to discussions?
• do members of the board/committee have regular opportunities to provide feedback on the functioning of the board/committee, including anonymously?
• do the board/committee have sufficient expertise to hold any professional providers (eg investment managers or investment advisers) to account?
• where stakeholders are involved, how are they given voice and agency?

Investment training is provided by membership bodies (Association of Charitable Foundations, Charity Finance Group) and by professional providers.

Where charities are making social investments, there is an additional risk of an imbalance of power between the charity making the investment and the investee. There is significantly less funding available for social investments in comparison to mainstream financial investments, and investees are at risk of accepting unfair or unbalanced terms from an investor. A range of projects has been established to attempt to tackle this (see Principle 6 – equity – social investments).