What it means to be CHAS Trustee

Trustees are volunteers who bring their skills, experience and different perspectives to help charities make sound decisions and fulfil their purpose. Yet the role can sometimes feel difficult to understand from the outside. For Trustees’ Week, we spoke to CHAS trustee Nicola Buchanan about what trusteeship involves, what she brings to the Board and why more people should consider using their skills for a cause they care about.

Growing up in Kinross, Nicola remembers the excitement around the opening of Rachel House in 1996 and what it meant to the local community. Her connection with CHAS has continued ever since: she fundraised for Scotland's first children's hospice when she was younger, and her own children now take part in CHAS fundraising through their schools and nurseries.

That lifelong connection helped inspire Nicola to join the CHAS Board. A chartered accountant, she is Senior Financial Control and Treasury Manager at global law firm CMS. She serves on both the CHAS Board and its Finance and Audit Committee, using her experience in audit, financial control and investment to scrutinise information, ask constructive questions and provide an independent perspective.

Nicola describes trusteeship as an “overseeing lens” and a sounding board for the senior leadership team. The Board’s role is not to manage day-to-day work, but to offer scrutiny, challenge and support while trusting staff to apply their own expertise. No two meetings are the same, and trustees hear from teams across CHAS to understand the full range of care and support provided to children and families.

The role requires real commitment. Board papers can be lengthy, so Nicola sets aside time to read them carefully and prepare for meetings. She is grateful for the support of her family and her employer, CMS, which enables her to balance trusteeship with a demanding career and family life. Her advice is simple: understand the commitment, make sure you can give the role the attention it deserves and then be fully present.

You do not need to arrive with all the answers. Nicola believes useful trustees combine relevant knowledge with curiosity, good listening, respect for other people's expertise and a willingness to learn. A Board benefits from people with different backgrounds and skills - from finance, medicine and law to communications, digital and technology - and from trustees who know when to ask questions and when to listen.

Trusteeship has also given Nicola a wider perspective. Hearing directly from families and colleagues has deepened her understanding of CHAS - not only the clinical care provided to children, but also the support available to siblings and grandparents, help for families with practical and financial concerns, and the training CHAS provides to other professionals. "There's so much more that goes into it," she says. "I wish we could shout even more about how great CHAS is."

For anyone considering becoming a trustee, Nicola recommends starting with a cause that matters to you. Think about the skills and perspective you can contribute, be realistic about the time involved, and remember that you can learn as you go. She would particularly like to see more younger people on boards, bringing experiences and viewpoints that charities might otherwise miss.

Her message to prospective trustees is: "Absolutely do it." For Nicola, the more she has learned about CHAS, the more she has wanted to be involved - at Board meetings, fundraising events and in the wider CHAS community. "Any time I get to talk about CHAS, any time I get to go to an event, I feel proud," she says. "Everyone is doing the absolute best they can for children and families, and that comes through so much."

Interested in becoming a Trustee? Drop us an email: support@chas.org.uk