Trustee Ready is out today. It’s a 60-page guide for volunteer charity trustees, written for England and Wales, and it’s the first paid guide in my No-Nonsense Nonprofits range.
Why I wrote it
I’ve chaired boards, sat across the table from them as a funder, and spent twenty-five years helping charities set themselves up and keep themselves straight. In all that time I’ve met very few bad trustees. I’ve met a great many frightened ones.
Frightened of getting it wrong. Frightened of the money. So they do one of two things. They do everything themselves, or they do nothing and hope somebody else is watching. Neither works.
I grew up in Grimethorpe, and I watched what happens to a community when its reason for existing is taken away overnight. I also watched the people who held it together anyway: the committees, the clubs and the volunteers who kept things going with no money and no thanks. That’s who this guide is for.
It’s short on purpose. Most trustees are volunteers with a day job, a family and three other commitments. You don’t need everything. You need the right things, said plainly.
How it works
Every section opens with one line in bold. Read only the bold lines and you’ve got the short version in five minutes. Read the whole guide in about an hour, and come back for the detail when you need it. Each chapter has a story from my own experience, with the details changed so groups cannot be identified, and a short list of the jargon in plain English.
What’s inside
- Six chapters: the job and what it isn’t; who does what on the board; the money; plans, risk and keeping people safe; meetings and the trustee year; when it goes wrong
- The six legal duties on one page, ready to pin up
- A trustee year calendar with a column for your own dates
- Ten questions to ask at every meeting
- A common risks crib sheet, to start your own risk register
- A checklist for before a trustee or someone connected to one is paid
- A plain-English glossary, and further reading for every chapter with links to official guidance
- A section each for Scotland and Northern Ireland
Who it’s for
Volunteer trustees of charities in England and Wales, whether you’re new to the board, you’ve been on it for years, or you’re thinking about stepping up. It’s written for volunteer-run boards, where the trustees do the governing and often the running too.
Who it isn’t for
It isn’t legal advice, and if you have a specific legal problem you should get advice. It’s also written for charities. If you run a CIC, a social enterprise or a community group that isn’t a charity, the legal rules are different, although most of the good practice still applies. If your group isn’t registered with the Charity Commission yet, it’s still best practice to run it this way. Scotland and Northern Ireland each have an appendix on where the rules differ, but the guide doesn’t cover them in full.
Getting a copy
Trustee Ready is £9.99 on the resources page, as an instant PDF download. There’s one download per purchase, so save the file as soon as it arrives. If you lose the link, email me at connie@3rdsss.com and I’ll send a new one.
This guide gives general information about charity law and good practice in England and Wales. It is not legal advice. I checked the rules against official sources in November 2026, and rules change, so if you face a specific legal problem, get advice.
Which part of being a trustee do you wish someone had explained to you on your first night?
Trustee Ready: A practical guide for volunteer charity trustees
A 60-page guide for volunteer charity trustees, written by someone who is still doing the job. Plain English, checked against official sources in November 2026, and about an hour’s read. Instant PDF download.