The Board of Trustees met at the end of March, and we had a packed agenda to keep us busy!
Back in May 2022, the Board approved our first environmental policy and made a commitment to exploring what more we can do to become a more sustainable organisation in the future. Staying true to our commitment, we spent some time in our March 2023 board meeting reflecting on this policy and asking ourselves four key questions:
- How are our beneficiaries impacted by environmental change and what does that mean for us?
- Where are there opportunities for us to collaborate with others to support wider environmental and climate action?
- How can we embed environmental and climate action in our strategy and business planning?
- What do we want to say about our progress in regards to our commitment to environmental and climate action in our annual report?
From representing our members views by speaking about climate change at party conferences to forming a staff working group on environmental and climate action and being more conscious about the food that we offer at in-person events, it was great to hear about all of the positive changes that the charity has been able to make in the last 12 months to become more environmentally conscious in how we behave. There’s more to come from us in this space, so keep your eyes peeled!
Next up, we spent some time reflecting on the progress that we have made against the objectives set out in our membership strategy, which was first agreed by the Board in March 2022. Since becoming a Trustee, attending members meetings has been one of my personal highlights – it’s wonderful to be in a virtual room with people from across the country who care deeply about making sure that young people’s voices are heard. If you’re a member and haven’t yet been able to make it along to one of these meetings I’d really encourage you to do so! We’re really excited to see how our membership offer continues to develop in the next few months, and keen to think about what more we can do to champion the great work our members do. Again, watch this space!
Finally, we had a chunky discussion about our priorities for the next round of Trustee recruitment, thinking critically about the makeup of our board, considering how we collect data from applicants in a sensitive yet effective way and considering the potential barriers to engagement for particular groups of young people. We also reviewed some governance related proposals for Search Group, the Trustee working group who oversee the election and recruitment of Trustees at the British Youth Council, to ensure that this group has a clear place in our governance structures with well-defined authority, responsibilities and accountability.
We’ll have a good number of trustee positions coming up for election/appointment in this year’s recruitment cycle, and we’ll be sharing further information over the coming months. Yet again, I find myself telling you to watch this space – who knows, maybe you could be the person writing one of these blogs in six months’ time!
