Securing high quality and non-industry board members for a rapidly growing charity
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is the only recognised non-statutory organisation in the UK operating an internet “hotline” for the public and IT professionals to report their exposure to potentially illegal content online. When the IWF, having recently completed a governance review, required four new board members, they wanted to attract the best talent to increase the strategic focus of their board.
Rockpools won the assignment to carry out the recruitment for these board members, and was tasked with finding four talented, non-industry individuals with credibility in their own field and an understanding of the strategic issues around IWF. Following consultation with the client and relevant stakeholders to finely tune the role specifications, the Rockpools team felt that a re-branding exercise was required to challenge the perceptions of third sector trustees from outside the sector, broaden the search and to attract the highest calibre of candidates for the roles. Rather than marketing the role as “charity trustees”, the emphasis was placed on finding “non-executive directors” for the board – in doing so, more private sector, non-industry candidates would be attracted to the roles.
With this in mind, and with a strong focus on the skills required for the roles, the team searched through their extensive, diverse network of talented individuals from every sector to find suitable potential candidates. To complement their search, a unique recruitment microsite was developed and tailored advertisements were placed in national newspapers.
The use of re-branding and tailored marketing received a very positive response: over 80 candidates applied for the roles, each from varied backgrounds. The team filtered through the applications and following meetings and interviews with the potential candidates, the Rockpools team compiled a strong shortlist. The four outstanding individuals who were successful were: Sir Rodney Brooke, currently Chairman of the General Social Care Council; Naomi Cohen, formerly Head of Strategic Communications at the British Standards Institution; Stephen Locke, specialist consultant and adviser on consumer policy and regulation; and Suzy Walton, a chartered scientist and chartered occupational psychologist.
