This Trustees’ Week we are shining a light on the important work our trustees do.
A trustee oversees a charity’s operations, ensures it fulfils its mission, manages funds responsibly, complies with laws, and acts in the charity’s best interests without personal gain. Our eight trustees provide their time and expertise voluntarily to Tom’s Trust, and we are incredibly grateful for the time and energy that they give.
We spoke with our trustee Anil Malhotra, who is currently Chief Marketing Officer at Bango plc, a publicly listed company that powers mobile payments for some of the world’s biggest internet companies, about his experience as a trustee at Tom’s Trust.
Could you tell us a bit about your day job?
I am Chief Marketing Officer at a Cambridge-based tech company called Bango, which provides a software platform used by well known brands like Amazon, Google, Netflix, Disney and Microsoft. They use us to offer their popular subscription services to customers across the world. My day job is to look after all of the marketing activities worldwide for Bango – the company is growing fast as more people take out subscriptions for an ever-expanding range of products and services.
That sounds like a demanding role, what does your role as trustee of Tom’s Trust entail?
As well as the marketing role, I am also on the board of directors at Bango. In that role as a director of a publicly listed company there are comparisons with the role and responsibilities of a trustee for Tom’s Trust. Clearly Tom’s Trust is very innovative and ambitious – looking to expand reach and scope; my thinking as a businessperson is quite aligned.
As trustees we have a responsibility for ensuring that the organisation works to the best of its abilities to meet the goals of the charity. We have responsibility for making sure that the funds that the charity generates are maximised towards meeting these goals. For Tom’s Trust the ‘ignition funding’ to get the support for children and their families in place and operational is vital.
One aspect of the commitments as a trustee is to know that on a regular basis you can make space to review financial statements, performance reports, and planning documents (long term strategy and tactical execution). You need to stay informed and in-tune with the progress of the charity. The second thing is to keep your eyes and ears open in your day-to-day life. If you see opportunities or identify learnings for Tom’s Trust, bring that to the table. You also need to be able to connect well with and support the senior management team, particularly the CEO.
Why did you volunteer to be a trustee of Tom’s Trust?
The most important reason is personal, I knew Tom. He was in the same school year as my daughter. Therefore, I knew Tom’s parents. That was a key driver. There are a couple of other things about the charity that I like though. Firstly, it’s addressing a critical need that is not provided for so far. I like the original idea here, and how Debs and Andrew have taken their life-changing experience and turned that into something incredibly positive, fuelled by a very entrepreneurial way of thinking.
The thing that really made me want to get involved at trustee level was seeing how the model that Tom’s Trust had created in Cambridge (originally) could be replicated in other centres. It’s almost like franchising the expertise, support, know-how and infrastructure in Tom’s Trust to as many centres as possible, to reach as many children and their families as possible. It was that opportunity for scaling Tom’s Trust’s unique, psychology-led recovery model to as many people as possible that really motivated me to get involved.
What do you get out of the role?
I enjoy the sense of learning and discovery as we go on this journey as a group, but also the life-affirming impact on the families and children we help. As a pioneering charity, Tom’s Trust is not afraid to take-on difficult challenges, which is demanding and incredibly rewarding and stimulating for everyone involved. We have a great mix of skills on the board of trustees, and I take comfort in knowing that every pound put into Tom’s Trust is going to be deployed to maximum effect in pursuit of the goals of the charity. We have outstanding talent and commitment to the cause across the day-to-day team at Tom’s Trust and it is a great organisation to be part of.
What would be your advice to someone considering joining a charity’s trustee board?
You must be able to commit. That doesn’t mean lots of time necessarily, but it does mean the willingness to dedicate some of your time, and certainly your brain power, your experience, and your connections when called upon. It does require you to consider your role as a set of duties that you have to enact for those who both support and benefit from the charity.
If you are interested in contributing to an organisation that is doing something life-changing and innovative and has significant ambition in the goals it has set itself, Tom’s Trust is a great place to be.
Would you like to be a trustee? Get involved!
We have two spaces to join our trustee board in the Thames Valley and North West regions. If you are interested in these roles, please do get in touch. Email rebecca@tomstrust.org.uk for more detail.