Our new strategy: BOATS, COATS, TOATS and GOATS

We have just published our new charity strategy at the Association of Chairs. It has taken us a while, but strategies are not things to be rushed.

I put a set of the big questions for the organisation to our board of trustees soon after I became chair last year. The ideas needed to be discussed and debated, and this is something we did, at length.

The importance of a new charity strategy

For me, a strategy is vital for a small organisation like the Association of Chairs (AoC). Why?

• It gives us focus
• It makes us accountable
• It makes sure that we use our limited resources to best effect
• It gives the organisation a sense of coherence

The five strands of our strategy

There are five big strands to our strategy:

1. We want to broaden and deepen our relationship with our members and with chairs of charities.
2. We want to earn more of our own funds – we can’t grow if we are largely dependent on the amazing grant-makers who fund us.
3. We want to diversify who we are for – not only chairs but board leaders broadly. We also want to diversify who become chairs and trustees, and their ways of thinking about leading their organisations.
4. We need to update the infrastructure that supports our work – notably our CRM, our website and our brand.
5. We need to work with others to develop and professionalise the sector’s approach to charity and non-profit governance.

Bringing our new charity strategy to life

We have a number of themes in how we work:

• We will harness the wisdom of chairs and boards – we don’t pretend to have all the answers. Our WhatsApp group shows this approach perfectly.
• We aim to inspire and inform chairs and boards in their work.
• We are vocal supporters of the importance of chairs and trustees across the sector and beyond.
• We aim to innovate (we know that we will fail sometimes, but we will learn and grow as a result).
• We want a diversity of ideas, diversity of demographics and diversity of approach to be at the centre of our thinking.
• We are tiny. We can only achieve our goals through collaboration with others.

The reasons for doing all this are not abstract. We want to make sure that charities have boards of all the talents, led by Chairs of all the talents, supported by trustees of all the talents, driving governance of all the talents (or BOATS, COATS, TOATS and GOATS).

Charities will only be delivering to the peak of their talents if we harness and reflect all parts of the skills and experience of our society.

Find out more about our strategy

Our strategy is available in a number of formats:

• Read the full 10-page version
• Watch a 5-minute video of me talking through the key points
• Download a one-page PDF document giving an overview of the strategy

If you’d like to get in touch, find out more about our strategy, or chat to us about chairing, please don’t hesitate to contact me on [email protected].