The Sustain food and farming alliance is seeking Trustees to help guide our work. We are holding our annual Trustee elections in October/November 2025, with up to six Trustee positions available, plus three 'Trustee role-share' positions for younger people to gain experience in charity leadership. Please get in touch!
Sustain's Council of Trustees are highly valued advisors on our governance and strategic direction. They are elected by the Sustain alliance membership to form a governing body. Trustee positions are open to Sustain alliance member and observer organisations.
Sustain’s Council of Trustees meets quarterly with the senior leadership team to guide the work of the alliance. Some also work in collaboration with the Sustain team in other ways. We greatly appreciate involvement of Sustain alliance member and observer organisations in this way, to help guide our work.
The usual term of office is three years, after which Trustees either stand down, and either resign or often choose to stand again for re-election. Our AGM and Trustee elections this year will take place in the period October to November 2025.
Do you have the skills and experience our alliance needs?
This is an exciting time for the alliance. Serving Trustees, and those newly elected, will oversee implementation of Sustain’s refreshed strategy influencing our movement’s priorities and activities for the next five years.
We are especially keen this year to welcome as Trustees people from the Sustain alliance who have expertise, connections and interest in the following alliance areas: climate- and nature-friendly farming; farmer-focused supply chains; environmental policy and nature conservation; solutions to household food insecurity; food in schools and early years. We would also be interested in welcoming Trustee nominations from people with skills and experience in: HR; fundraising; and developing connections with the academic sector.
Please note that as part of our formal alliance governance, full Trustee positions are open only to people representing Sustain alliance members and observers. For Trustee role-share positions, these would usually be from Sustain alliance members, but we can consider applications from young people from diverse backgrounds working with e.g. Sustainable Food Places food partnerships and not-for-profit groups closely involved in our work. Get in touch and we can discuss options.
Interested in standing for election as a Trustee? Download a Sustain Trustee election nomination form – you can use this for either a ‘registered Trustee’ or ‘Trustee role-share’ nomination (or both). Nomination deadline is 5pm Thursday 17 October, but if you can get it in before that, all the better!
Want to find out more about being a Trustee or role-share Trustee? Get in touch with Sustain's Chief Executive Kath Dalmeny: kath@sustainweb.org
Trustee role-shares
We are also offering up to three places as Trustee role-shares (joining two people already serving in this way, for a maximum of 5 role-share places). The aim of this scheme is to welcome younger people – specifically those from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds and others with personal characteristics under-represented in our sector – to gain experience in charity leadership and governance, and to contribute their unique perspectives. Is this you or someone you know? We’d love to hear from you!
Some people in Trustee role-share positions participate for around a year, to observe, learn and contribute in particular areas; others become more involved over a longer period, perhaps for one full Trustee term of office (three years), or perhaps for a longer period if they choose to stand again for re-election, either continuing in the role-share, or standing as a Sustain Trustee in their own right. We were delighted when two people in these role-shares became Trustees in their own right in 2022, and we welcome their expertise, perspectives and ongoing contributions.
Read our guidance: Sustain’s Trustee role-shares for diversity in leadership: What are they for and how does it work?
Note: From November 2024, Sustain has offered honorarium payments to people in Trustee role-share positions for some activities, to help value contributions and overcome barriers to participation.
Recruitment for diversity
Watch this short documentary film, sharing personal insights from Sustain trustees Shefalee Loth, from Which?; Dr Kawther Hashem from Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH); Jyoti Fernandes, from Landworkers Alliance and Raksha Mistry, formerly of the Soil Association.
They speak about challenges and opportunities in their roles and sectors, from access to land to perceptions of being a woman of colour, and touch on cross-cutting issues in food justice and public health.
“Every Sustain Council meeting I attend is like a masterclass in governance. This is building my understanding, my capacity as a potential future charity leader. I don’t think I would have got into board-level matters for quite a while if it hadn’t been for the role-share opportunity.”
Comment from a Sustain Trustee elected to a role-share for cultivating new talent and charity leadership, who went on to become a full Sustain Trustee in their own right.
Sustain is a majority female-led organisation, and has been since its founding in 1999. Across the past 25 years, there has always been a healthy balance of gender representation, and we have always welcomed people from diverse backgrounds and identities to take part, with warm welcome and without prejudice, including people from a range of sectors, professional, cultural and ethnic backgrounds and people with a range of personal characteristics and identities.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge that across the first 20 years of Sustain, the leadership was predominantly White and probably not very diverse in terms of other personal characteristics. Since 2020, Sustain now takes proactive steps to welcome greater diversity into our staff team and onto the Council of Trustees, with a priority commitment to recruitment for diversity.
As a result of these initiatives, (using self-declared information following Trustee elections that took place in November 2024), our Sustain Council of Trustees diversity profile was:
- 79% female (15 people out of 19);
- 21% male (4 people out of 19);
- 37% Black people and people of colour (BPOC) (7 people out of 19);
- 63% White people (12 people out of 19);
- 32% people (6 people out of 19) with additional or intersectional personal characteristics in terms of religious affiliation or cultural background, disability, sexual orientation or identity, long-term health conditions or other protected characteristics.
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
