10. Recruiting committee members

How do we recruit new committee members?

There are three main ways to recruit new committee members; election (from the membership according to the rules laid down in the constitution), invitation (to targeted individuals provided your constitution allows it), and advertisement (usually followed by some form of selection process to check that potential committee members are suitable). Read the section below, written from the individuals perspective, for a fuller guide to recruiting new committee members or read the Quick Guide to Finding Committee Members and the Quick Guide to Joining a Committee.

How many management committee members should we have?

One answer is to recruit how many you need. Another is to use you constitution as a guide: it should state the minimum for a quorum and may state a maximum for the committee. Although much is written on this topic there is no one right answer. It depends on what is appropriate for your organisation. If you have many stakeholders you may want a larger committee. For instance a national organisation may want representatives of all the regions. At the other extreme some committees find decision making easier with a smaller committee of 6 or 7 members. Larger committees tend to slow the speed of decision making and increase the costs of communication. Small committees can be more manageable but risk in quorate meetings or even collapse if a few committee members drop out at the same time.

Next FAQ: How do you become a committee member?
Previous FAQ : The different perspectives of committee members

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A Word About Words

This site is aimed at those who govern (control) small organisations - whether they are charities, companies, both or neither. Those who govern them may be called a variety of names. We have chosen to use mainly 'management committee' and occasionally 'committee member' or 'trustee'. more...
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