What does a charity ceo do

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Key outcomes
Recommended practice

2. Leadership https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/en/2-leadership https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/@@site-logo/CGC_TextLogo.svg

Every charity is headed by an effective board that provides strategic leadership in line with the charity’s aims and values.

Rationale

Strong and effective leadership helps the charity adopt an appropriate strategy for effectively delivering its aims. It also sets the tone for the charity, including its vision, values and reputation.

Key outcomes

The board, as a whole, and trustees individually, accept collective responsibility for ensuring that the charity has a clear and relevant set of aims and an appropriate strategy for achieving them.
The board agrees to the charity’s vision, values and reputation and leads by example, requiring anyone representing the charity reflects its values positively.
The board makes sure that the charity’s values are reflected in all of its work, and that the ethos and culture of the organisation underpin the delivery of all activities.

Recommended practice

for larger charities
for smaller charities

Leading the charity
1. The board and individual trustees take collective responsibility for its decisions.
2. The chair provides leadership to the board with prime responsibility for ensuring it has agreed priorities, appropriate structures, processes and a productive culture and has trustees and senior staff who are able to govern well and add value to the charity.
3. In the case of the most senior member of staff (e.g. CEO) the board makes sure that there are proper arrangements for their appointment, supervision, support, appraisal, remuneration and, if necessary, dismissal.
4. The board’s functions are formally recorded. There are role descriptions defining responsibilities for all trustees that differentiate clearly those of the chair and other officer positions and outline how these roles relate to staff.
5. Where the board has agreed to establish a formally constituted subsidiary organisation/s, it is clear about the rationale, benefits and risks of these arrangements. The formal relationship between the parent charity and each of its subsidiaries is clearly recorded and the parent reviews, at appropriate intervals, whether these arrangements continue to best serve the organisation’s charitable purposes.
Leading by example
1. The board agrees the values, consistent with the charity’s purpose, that it wishes to promote and makes sure that these values underpin all its decisions and the charity’s activities (see also Principle 1).
2. The board recognises, respects and welcomes diverse, different and, at times, conflicting trustee views.
3. The board provides oversight and direction to the charity and support and constructive challenge to the organisation, its staff and, in particular, the most senior member of staff.
4. The board, through its relationship with the senior member of staff, creates the conditions in which the charity’s staff are confident and enabled to provide the information, advice and feedback necessary to the board.
Commitment
1. All trustees give sufficient time to the charity to carry out their responsibilities effectively. This includes preparing for meetings and sitting on board committees and other governance bodies where needed. The expected time commitment is made clear to trustees before nomination or appointment and again on acceptance of nomination or appointment.
2. Where individual board members are also involved in operational activities, for example as volunteers, they are clear about the capacity in which they are acting at any given time and understand what they are and are not authorised to do and to whom they report.

Leading the charity
1. The board and individual trustees take collective responsibility for its decisions.
2. The chair provides leadership to the board and takes responsibility for ensuring the board has agreed priorities, appropriate structures, processes and a productive culture and has trustees who are able to govern well and therefore add value to the charity.
3. If the charity has staff, the board makes sure that there are proper arrangements for their appointment, supervision, support, appraisal, remuneration and, if necessary, dismissal.
4. If the charity has volunteers, the board makes sure there are proper arrangements for their recruitment, support and supervision.
5. The boards functions are formally recorded. There are role descriptions that define trustees’ responsibilities for all trustees that differentiate clearly between the responsibilities those of the chair and other officer positions and outline how these roles relate to staff or volunteers where they exist.
6. Where the board has agreed to establish a formally constituted subsidiary organisation/s, it is clear about the rationale, benefits and risks of these arrangements. The formal relationship between the parent charity and each of its subsidiaries is clearly recorded and the parent reviews, at appropriate intervals, whether these arrangements continue to best serve the organisation’s charitable purposes.
Leading by example
1. The board agrees the values, consistent with the charity’s purpose, that it wishes to promote and makes sure that these values underpin all its decisions and the charity’s activities (see also Principle 1).
2. The board recognises, respects and welcomes diverse, different and, at times, conflicting trustee views.
3. The board provides oversight and direction to the charity and provides support and constructive challenge to the organisation and where they exist staff and volunteers.
4. The board supports any staff or volunteers to feel confident and able to provide the information, advice and feedback necessary to the board.
Commitment
1. All trustees give sufficient time to the charity to carry out their responsibilities effectively. This includes preparing for meetings and sitting on board committees and other governance bodies where needed. The expected time commitment is made clear to trustees before nomination or appointment and again on acceptance of nomination or appointment.
2. Where individual board members are also involved in operational activities, for example as volunteers, they are clear about the capacity in which they are acting at any given time and understand what they are and are not authorised to do and to whom they report.

Show captionOur experts' advice will help you overcome the hurdles to becoming a charity chief exectuve. Photograph: PPP

Live Q&As

We collate our experts' advice on how you can make it to the top of the charity ladder

Thu 9 Feb 2012 10.40 EST

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Preparation: According to 'How to Become a Third Sector Chief Executive' written by Cass CCE for Acevo, preparation is essential. Prepare yourself for the job search and ensure you understand the role and your motivations, as well as assessing your knowledge skills and leadership ability. Also prepare for the recruitment process, take due diligence when making your application and preparing for interview. Finally, prepare to take up the role by making the most of the countdown time and learning from the current chief executive.

Research: Research undertaken by the Work Foundation explores the difference between good leadership and outstanding leadership. It was based primarily on interviews with private sector organisations but is also applicable to leaders in the non-profit sector. The three main themes are: to think and act systemically, understand the whole and the connection between internal activities and the external environment; see people as the route to performance, build relationships and provide an environment in which they can shine; have self-confidence without being arrogant, a professional will and personal humility.

Skills: Skills are dependent on the type and size of the organisation and the sort of work that the charity undertakes. For example, the skills required for the chief executive of a campaigning charity may be different to those required to run a hospice. Given those considerations, the basic skills are: outstanding leadership; understanding how to lead and manage volunteers; understanding the difference between governance and management, and working with the board; fundraising and tight control of finances; strategic thinking particularly in a complex external environment; managing resources effectively; advocacy, lobbying and the ability to communicate.

Expectations: To be an effective charity chief executive, whatever the size of your organisation, you need three things: courage, commitment to your cause and the ability to communicate that across a range of stakeholders. You need to demonstrate a deep understanding of what makes people tick. The biggest part of the job is not your professional expertise but being able to demonstrate that you know how to get the best out of others' professional expertise. You have to demonstrate humility, a belief in the qualities of others and an understanding that being the chief executive is the least important position in relation to delivering against the cause. The 'compensation' will only ever be what the charity can afford, never what you're worth, so you need to accept that.

Business acumen: Many charities now look for commercial experience because of the growth in social enterprise activities. There is a trend of increasing transfers between public, private and not-for-profit sectors, which I think is a good thing. Also, an increasing number of charities have social enterprise activities with the intention that they will make a surplus (profit) which then becomes unrestricted funding for the charity. That said, it's hard to imagine a time when all other sources of income (for example, donations, legacies, trust funding, community events) will dry up.

Cause: A deep understanding of and a passion for what the organisation is trying to achieve makes for a great internal and external advocate. Future trends to watch out for may include: the continuing need to do more with less; measuring and demonstrating impact; looking to increase our collaborative and co-operative working inside and outside the sector and making better use of technology to drive effectiveness and efficiency. But all of this will be in the context of asking the fundamental strategic question, whether what you do and how you do it is the best way of making a difference.

Mentors: Approach one of the chief executives you admire, ask them to be your mentor and spend some time with them. Work out where you have gaps in your skills and how to fill them. You might be missing out on the breadth of the issues they manage on a day-to-day basis and the more contextual issues about the passion for the vision and the need to persuade others.

Pinpoint: Do your research and target the right person in the right organisation with your CV - identify a shortlist of organisations that would be perfect for you. If that doesn't help, explore other ways of getting involved and getting more understanding and experience - freelance work can also be a way in. We should also remember that organisations aren't always looking for the same things in equal measure in their chief executives. Some may favour a legal background and others will be looking for different skills. All charities will require different skills at different stages of their development.

Future trends: Social investment and finance is a key trend. Charities can no longer survive and develop with a single form of income so an entrepreneurial flair is increasingly important. Communications is another, with the rapid rise of social media and 24 hour news it's important that a chief executive can understand the context and harness the potential for the people they serve. Conviction, integrity and courage remain essentials but they will only be fulfilled if the chief executive can keep pace. Being entrepreneurial is more a state of mind than an in-depth knowledge of commercial practice. The chief executive will need to have access to commercial skills in the organisation but they don't necessarily need to be experts themselves, just open to the approach. One way to learn more is to watch what others are doing in this area, look at how the leading charities do it. Analyse the way some charities for older people have developed their commercial arms; how organisations like Mumsnet and Netmums have built their online user base and how charities like 4Children have moved into delivering services such as children's centres.

Frontline: The desire to be altruistic and make a difference is strong but this can begin to wane for some over time. Spending time on the frontline working with the people you help always reinvigorates the chief executive and it's worth reflecting this in career choices as time goes on. Keeping in touch with the reason that got you involved in the first place is priceless; the organisational processes and infrastructures - important though they are - are always a means to an end.

Endurance: Stamina is absolutely critical. There is very little let-up for leaders in our sector, and because of low capacity, the chief executive is often the one handling matters directly. It can also be the nature of the work; you are supporting vulnerable people, campaigning on critical issues or supporting organisations who are up against it, all of which require all hands to the pump.

Cross-sectors: There is a wider need for greater mobility of leaders across sectors. The challenges our society faces should not be left to any one sector or group to deal with. They require effort from public, private and voluntary sectors to adequately meet future challenges. The knowledge and skills one gains from cross-sector partnerships, getting involved strategically in other sectors, or even seconding or transitioning to other sectors can help spread knowledge, skills and learning. One of the best things about the voluntary sector is the value base and ethos it operates with, and we shouldn't be shy about sharing this.

Traits: The Leadership 20:20 Commission ran an open consultation last year and asked, amongst other things, what competencies people looked for in a leader. The results ranked 'visionary and strategic change-maker' and 'insight, judgement and decision making' highest. Interestingly, the lowest ranked were 'connector and networker' and 'respect and celebrate difference.' All of these things are important, and should not be sidelined, but it is interesting to see where people's priorities lie.

Governance: One of the key attributes for the chief executive or senior manager of a charitable organisation is their ability to support the effective governance of the organisation through working with a board of trustees. Any experience of working with committees, boards and partnership groupings is relevant and transferable. How much your people management skills are required will depend on how far the recruiters - usually the board - think that they are important in the top post. If you don't have line management experience, consider mentoring or becoming a charity trustee as ways to develop skills in this area.

Vision: Charity trustee boards will increasingly be interested in candidates with an entrepreneurial streak and business nous. Social enterprise and new models of social finance are important future trends for the sector and it is really positive that more organisations are shifting towards thinking in a more enterprising way. However, it isn't a sticking plaster or a life raft. For more traditional charities to move to alternative sources of income generation requires a long-term cultural change. It also does not invalidate philanthropic fundraising or delivering services through grants or contracts. These are all important for the sector to develop a mixed income spectrum.

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