Chair

The chair is a trustee with a specific role on the board. The chair is elected or appointed to this role as set out in the charity’s governing document.

The role of the chair is to chair meetings of the trustee board. 

In addition, some chairs take on a number of additional roles. The chair can only take on these additional roles if they have been authorised to do so. This authorisation might be set out in the governing document or related procedure, or agreed by the other trustees in a role description or some other document.

Additional roles of the chair sometimes include:

• Supporting and supervising the head of staff or chief executive and acting as a channel of communication between board and staff
• Acting as a figurehead for the charity (for example, representing it at functions, meetings or in the press).
• Leading on the development of the board and ensuring its decisions are implemented.
• Taking urgent action (but not decision making unless authorised) between board meetings when it isn’t possible or practical to hold a meeting.

The roles above are not exclusively roles of the chair. For example, in some charities the development of the board might be led by another trustee; in others, the charity’s press spokesperson might be a member of staff.