Trustees Unlimited, a new recruitment service for not-for-profit organisations, launched in London yesterday to enable charities and voluntary groups to recruit vetted and experienced trustees cost effectively.

Trustees Unlimited is a joint venture set up by the National Council for Voluntary Orgainsations (NCVO), Bates Wells and Braithwaite (BWB), a leading firm of solicitors for the charity and not-for-profit sector, and interim management provider Russam GMS.

Combining the joint contacts of the three organisations, including Russam’s database of 10,000 interims, Trustees Unlimited aims to source a wider variety of future trustees for the UK’s 150,000 plus charities, many of which struggle to find volunteers with the relevant skills and experience.

Peter Bennett from BWB told Recruiter at the launch: “There are 1m charity trustees in the UK and their age and diversity profile is not changing. One of the aims of Trustees Unlimited is to source a new profile of trustee.”

Ben Kernighan, deputy chief executive of NCVO, added that becoming a trustee “is a great way for younger people, especially, to develop their skills and raise their own profile, as well as contributing to the charity”.

Russam’s head of charity/not-for-profit practice, Ian Joseph, told Recruiter: “An effective board is a diverse board. People really want to get involved. In the first week of the website going live, we have had 700 people registering to become a trustee already.”

Russam will carry out the initial vetting and sifting of suitable applicants for a charity. The costs and terms of business are shown on the website, which aims at the middle-range and above charities.

Charities and people interested in becoming trustees should visit Trustees Unlimited’s website for more information. www.trustees-unlimited.co.uk