Help centre / Risks, policies & compliance / Map your board's skills
Map your board's skills
The board skills matrix shows every current trustee against the skills you choose to track, rated from 0 (none) to 3 (expert). Any skill nobody rates well is flagged as a gap, which tells you exactly what to recruit for.
Boards tend to recruit people like the people they already have. A skills matrix makes the gaps visible, so your next trustee search starts from what the charity actually needs.
Set up your matrix
- Go to Governance, then Board skills matrix.
- Choose Manage skills and add the skill areas your board wants to track. Give each a Name, for example "Fundraising", and an optional Category to group related skills.
- Keep the list short. Eight to twelve skills is plenty for most charities.
- Back on the matrix, rate each trustee. Tap a dot to change its level: it cycles from 0 (none) through to 3 (expert). Darker dots mean stronger skills.
- Check the gaps the matrix flags, and rename or remove skills as your needs change.
How gaps are spotted
A skill counts as a gap when no current trustee rates 2 (good) or higher in it. If Meadowbank Community Trust has nobody above a 1 in "Safeguarding", the matrix flags it, and the board knows what its next recruitment advert should lead with.
Common questions
Who appears in the matrix? Current trustees only, taken from your appointments register. When a trustee's term ends, they drop out of the matrix automatically.
Who can set ratings? Trustees can rate anyone and manage the skills list. Other people can rate their own skills only.
Do ratings need to be precise? No. Honest, rough answers are more useful than flattering ones, and you can change a rating at any time with a tap.
What else are gaps good for? They're a ready-made answer when a funder or the Commission asks how the board reviews its own effectiveness. They also point at training worth arranging, and pair well with the induction quiz for new trustees.
The governance behind this: our free guide on charitycontrol.org explains the why in plain English.