Trustee Boards often come to us highlighting their difficulties with getting the right quantity of applications for their Member Nominated Director (MND) roles – but they also highlight a lack of diversity amongst those that apply. Which can impact how representative of the scheme’s membership the Trustee Board is.

Representation is important, it’s a key factor in building trust and connection with the membership, as well as the Trustee Board being able to truly manage the scheme in the best interests of all members.

It’s also a key part of the new equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) guidance launched by The Pensions Regulator – this guidance aims to drive improvements in Trustee boards.

This is the challenge one of our clients recently asked us to help them solve.

An effective Member Nominated Director (MND) campaign needs to make people feel differently about becoming a Trustee and grab the interest of those members who may otherwise disregard the role of a Trustee as being ‘for them’.

It must address the emotions that drive behaviour and action – as that’s what will lead to applications.

We did this through a combination of ideas, words and pictures – delivered through a number of different communications channels.

As well as a printed newsletter, we filmed our client’s Trustee Board in action, and put the footage together with animated visuals aligned with the printed materials, to really give members a feel for what being on the Trustee Board would be like.

This approach met our client’s objectives to:

• Increase the number of members applying to be an MND

• Increase the diversity of members applying

And as a result of the campaign, over 45 members joined an information session – and every single person applied to become a Trustee – suggesting that the initial communications provided a really accurate picture of what it would be like to be part of the board, which was carried through the whole recruitment process and beyond.