MEAM (Making Every Adult Matter) is a national charity focused on improving how services work for people facing multiple disadvantage, including homelessness, substance use, mental ill health and contact with the criminal justice system. The charity works with local areas to help them redesign how support is planned and delivered, drawing on the MEAM Approach network alongside its policy, consultancy and systems change work. After its de-merger from Homeless Link and the appointment of a new Chair, MEAM returned to Peridot Partners to recruit up to three new Trustees, with the aim of adding specific, complementary experience to the Board, ensuring it was equipped to support the organisation’s next phase of development.
Context.
Following the long-planned de-merger, MEAM established itself as an independent charity. Alongside existing Board Members drawn from MEAM’s partner organisations, there was a clear need to bring in people who could add depth, broaden perspective and offer constructive challenge. This meant more than governance experience alone.
The brief reflected MEAM’s clear commitment to systems change, coproduction and intersectionality, and a desire for the Board to better reflect a mix of lived and professional experience. The aim was to build a Board with the credibility and judgement required to support a national charity working across policy, frontline practice and lived experience, and to do so at a time of transition.
Brief.
Our brief was to lead a trustee search that would strengthen the existing Board in three specific areas: lived experience of multiple disadvantage, public sector and commissioning expertise and commercial expertise in a social context. Alongside this, the person specification was clear that all Trustees needed to be strongly aligned with MEAM’s mission, charity governance, co-production, equity, diversity, as well as a solid grasp of how systems can create and sustain disadvantage.
Our role then was to turn the brief into a search that was both targeted and inclusive. We worked closely with MEAM to understand not just the skills and experience required, but where the Board most needed new voices, challenge and perspective.
Given the nature of the role, success depended on reaching beyond traditional trustee networks to engage people whose experience might not follow a standard governance pathway, while still ensuring they could contribute confidently around governance, strategy and values. We designed a selection process that was transparent, people-centred and accessible, helping the client assess candidates on their own merits, while also keeping sight of overall Board balance and effectiveness.
Outcome.
The campaign generated more than 20 applications, with 11 candidates interviewed and three Trustees appointed.
One appointee brought direct lived and professional experience of multiple disadvantage, as well as executive leadership in homelessness, recovery and social justice. Their background combined frontline credibility, business development and a strong commitment to coproduction, enabling them to contribute to MEAM’s work in a practical and grounded way.
The second appointee added significant public sector commissioning and public health expertise, with strong knowledge of complex needs, substance misuse, mental health and cross-system service design. This strengthened the Board’s understanding of how commissioning, pathways and partnership structures can either support or hinder people facing multiple disadvantage.
The third appointee brought valuable insight into systems change, charity governance and organisational transformation, including supporting organisations through merger and transition. This added capacity at board level to oversee strategic implementation and decision‑making during a period of change.
All together, these appointments broadened the Board’s mix of lived experience, public-sector insight, systems leadership and governance expertise. For MEAM, this meant a more rounded and capable Board at a point in the charity’s evolution. For us, it demonstrated the value of looking beyond conventional trustee pathways and focusing instead on how different forms of experience and perspective combine at board level.
“Clare and the team at Peridot Partners have provided excellent support in our recent searches for a Chair and new Trustees. They quickly understood our needs and were able to draw together a fantastic pool of relevant and committed candidates, resulting in focused interviews and great appointments.”
Oliver Hilbery, Chief Executive
