CCE | The future charity chair

A research project looking at the essential attributes that charity Chairs of the future will need to embrace.

The past decade has seen monumental change and uncertainty all around. Despite this, the UK charity sector has continued to make an ever-increasing contribution to society. As the pace of change looks set to continue, it is likely that the world will look very different ten years from now. Charity leaders will need to continue evolving and developing, to meet the needs that the role demands.

This research was under the lead sponsorship of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City St George's, University of London and was supported by sponsors Green Park, the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, Brewin Dolphin, the Association of Chairs and Crowe UK LLP. Early-stage seed funding was given by the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

The steering committee driving the project comprised of Alex Skailes (Bayes CCE), Daniel Chan (PwC), Helen Baker (Shelter), Kai Adams (Green Park), Lynne Berry (Bayes CCE), Malcolm McCaig (United Response), Ros Oakley (Association of Chairs), and project managed by Dawn McNish (Crowe UK LLP).

The report

The Future Charity Chair report was published on 12 June 2024 and is available for download here.

The research was co-lead and conducted by Véronique Jochum and Leila Baker, including the design of the research methodology and the development and reporting of the findings and conclusions.

The concluding recommendations were written  by the Steering Group.

Approach and scope

The research aimed to:

• Contribute ideas that will help to shape the future development and recruitment of charity Chairs.
• Enhance the future sustainability of the charity sector by highlighting longer term considerations for Board discussion.
• Provide fresh thinking to positively influence regulation and best practice guidance for the sector.
• Emphasise the value of good charity governance and the need for it to continually evolve to remain relevant.

This project was approved by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City St George's, University of London Ethics Committee. All data and comments from those participating were confidential and are not identifiable unless permission was given.

Report Launch

The Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) was delighted to host a launch event for the Future Charity Chair report on Wednesday 12 June at Bayes Business School.

The event speakers included Alex Skailes (Director, CCE), Malcolm McCaig (Chair, United Response), Helen Baker (Chair, Shelter), Peter Hay (Chair, Turning Point UK), Véronique Jochum (Researcher), Milla Mazilu (Chair, Association for Project Management), and Segun Olowookere (Chair, The Blagrave Trust).

A recording of the event is available on YouTube.

What a difference a decade makes

The Future Charity Chair steering committee held their first workshop in July 2023, inviting representatives from a range of charities to come and share their valuable insights and experience. Please see the write up from this workshop below.

What a difference a decade makes! And what will it take to be a Charity Chair in 2033?