Sourcing a Trustee

How do I prepare for a trustee to step into or transition out of the trustee role?

Sourcing a Trustee (formerly Trustee Basics Module 3) helps learners think through what it takes to set a trustee up for success at key transition points. It focuses on how to define the trustee role, evaluate fit, clarify expectations, and support a thoughtful handoff when a trustee is joining or leaving. Learners will consider the practical and relational elements of trustee transitions, including job descriptions, interview preparation, compensation expectations, onboarding practices, stakeholder communication, and continuity between outgoing and incoming trustees.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Draft a trustee job description that reflects the trust’s purpose, complexity, stakeholder needs, and desired trustee characteristics.
• Prepare interview questions that help evaluate whether a trustee candidate has the experience, judgment, temperament, and availability the role requires.
• Compare individual and corporate trustee candidates using consistent criteria tied to the needs of the trust and beneficiaries.
• Clarify trustee compensation expectations by identifying the responsibilities, complexity factors, and communication practices.
• Use onboarding and offboarding best practices to help a trustee enter or exit the role with clearer expectations, documentation, relationships, and continuity.

The Experience

In this module, participants work through the trustee transition process from defining the role and preparing for candidate conversations to supporting a trustee’s entry into or exit from the role. The experience uses practical examples, interview categories, compensation considerations, onboarding checklists, and transition prompts to help learners think through what should be clarified before, during, and after a trustee change.

Participants will be invited to consider trustee transitions from multiple perspectives, including the trust creator, beneficiary, incoming trustee, outgoing trustee, and advisor. Rather than treating onboarding and offboarding as administrative steps, the module emphasizes preparation, communication, role clarity, and continuity to ensure trustee transitions are handled with greater confidence and less ambiguity.