Classic form

Board member application form with a skills matrix on it

A nominations committee is filling gaps, not collecting resumes, so a board application has to produce something comparable across twenty candidates. This fourteen field form puts a six row skills matrix at the centre, asks for directorships as dated rows, and makes the conflicts declaration a required box that will not accept silence.

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Apply to join the Riverbend Housing board

Three vacancies, a three year term, and a board that meets eight times a year. Directors are not paid. The skills matrix below is what the nominations committee compares applications against.

About you

Your name *

First

Last

Email *

Phone *

City or region you live in *

Why this board

About 300 words. The committee is trying to tell the difference between somebody who wants a board seat and somebody who wants this one. Housing is a sector with waiting lists, arrears and a regulator, so say what draws you to it rather than to governance in general.

Why do you want to join this board? *

Your professional background, in short *

Skills

Rate yourself honestly. A board with six people who all claim to have led finance is worse off than one that knows where its gaps are, and the committee reads a row of working knowledge as a useful answer rather than a weak one. There is no expectation that anybody is practised in every row.

Where do you sit on each of these? *

	No experience	Working knowledge	Practised	Led it
Financial oversight, budgets and audit
Property development and asset management
Social housing, tenancy and support services
Legal, regulatory compliance and risk
Fundraising, philanthropy and government relations
Digital, data and cyber security

Governance experience

List current and recent board, committee and trustee roles, paid or unpaid, including school councils and body corporate committees. Leave a row blank if you have fewer than four. A first board role is not a barrier here and two of the current directors started that way.

Boards and committees you have served on

#	Organisation	Role	From	To
1
2
3
4

Governance training *

A formal company directors course

A not for profit governance short course

In house induction and training at a previous board

None yet, and I would do the induction course

The time commitment *

I can do the eight meetings and one subcommittee

I can do the eight meetings but not a subcommittee

I could chair a subcommittee as well

I would need to discuss the load before committing

Lived experience of social or affordable housing *

Yes, I have been a social or affordable housing tenant

Yes, through a close family member

I have worked in the sector but not lived in it

I would rather not answer

Conflicts and declaration

Declare anything a reasonable person might see as a conflict: a contract with Riverbend, a role at a funder, a competing provider, a development interest in the region, or a close relationship with a director or staff member. A declared conflict is managed. An undeclared one is the thing that ends a directorship.

Conflicts of interest to declare *

One referee, and how to reach them *

By signing you confirm that you are not disqualified from managing a corporation, that you would consent to a police check and a bankruptcy search, and that the information in this application is true and complete.

Signature *

Every field, and what it collects

The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.

Your nameNameRequired
EmailShort textRequired
PhoneShort textRequired
City or region you live inShort textRequired
Why do you want to join this board?Long textRequired
Your professional background, in shortLong textRequired
Where do you sit on each of these?Rating gridRequired: Statements:
Financial oversight, budgets and audit
Property development and asset management
Social housing, tenancy and support services
Legal, regulatory compliance and risk
Fundraising, philanthropy and government relations
Digital, data and cyber security
Boards and committees you have served onTable: Columns: Organisation · Role · From · To
Governance trainingSingle choiceRequired: Options: A formal company directors course · A not for profit governance short course · In house induction and training at a previous board · None yet, and I would do the induction course
The time commitmentSingle choiceRequired: Options: I can do the eight meetings and one subcommittee · I can do the eight meetings but not a subcommittee · I could chair a subcommittee as well · I would need to discuss the load before committing
Lived experience of social or affordable housingSingle choiceRequired: Options: Yes, I have been a social or affordable housing tenant · Yes, through a close family member · I have worked in the sector but not lived in it · No · I would rather not answer
Conflicts of interest to declareLong textRequired
One referee, and how to reach themShort textRequired
SignatureSignatureRequired

A skills matrix is what a nominations committee actually uses

Boards recruit against gaps. A committee that already has three accountants is looking for a development or a cyber person, and no amount of resume reading produces that answer as quickly as six rows rated on the same four point scale. The scale matters as much as the rows: no experience, working knowledge, practised, led it. The paragraph above it does the real work, saying that a board of six people who all claim to have led finance is worse off than one that knows its gaps, which is the sentence that makes people answer truthfully.

Conflicts and lived experience, asked properly

Two questions here are easy to ask badly. The conflicts box is required and its paragraph lists the specific things that count: a contract with the organisation, a role at a funder, a competing provider, a development interest, a close relationship with a director. It also asks for the word none rather than an empty box, so silence never has to be interpreted. The lived experience question offers a prefer not to answer option, because a provider that wants tenant voices on its board has to make it safe to say yes and safe to say nothing.

How to adapt this form

A sports club or association swaps the six skill rows for coaching, competition administration, facilities, sponsorship, member engagement and child safety, and keeps the same four point scale. A school council adds a parent or community category and a conflict question about enrolment. A larger charity with a paid board adds a remuneration disclosure and a directorship cap question, since an overcommitted director is the risk that a dated table of boards is really designed to surface.

What makes this form work

Six skill rows on a four point scale

Financial oversight through to digital and cyber, rated no experience, working knowledge, practised or led it. A committee reads twenty applications on one scale instead of twenty resumes in twenty formats.

The conflicts box is required and names what counts

A contract, a funder role, a competing provider, a development interest, a close relationship with a director. It asks for the word none rather than a blank, so an empty answer never has to be interpreted.

Board history is four dated rows, not a paragraph

Organisation, role, from and to. Dates show whether somebody has served a full term and how many seats they currently hold, which is the capacity question a nominations committee most needs answered.

Questions people ask

Why rate skills instead of asking for a resume?

Because resumes are not comparable. Twenty documents in twenty formats tell a committee very little about where the gaps are, while six rows on one scale can be read across every application at once. The matrix exports as a single column pairing each skill with its rating, which is enough to sort a shortlist before anybody opens a background answer.

Should a board application ask about lived experience?

A provider that serves a community usually wants that community represented, so the question is worth asking. What makes it safe is the option set: a tenant, a close family member, worked in the sector, no, and prefer not to answer. Offering the last two means the question invites a contribution rather than forcing a disclosure.

How should conflicts of interest be collected?

As a required free text box with a paragraph naming the specific conflicts that count, and a request to write none rather than leave it blank. Making it required is the point. An optional conflicts field is answered by the people who have nothing to declare and skipped by the ones who do, which is exactly backwards.

Why a table for previous board roles?

Because dates are the useful part. Organisation, role, from and to, in four rows, shows a committee whether somebody has served a full term anywhere and how many seats they hold right now. A paragraph of prose hides both. The note above says fewer than four is fine and that two current directors started with none.

What does the declaration signature cover?

Three things named in the paragraph above it: that the applicant is not disqualified from managing a corporation, that they would consent to a police check and a bankruptcy search, and that the application is true. Those are the standard director eligibility questions, and having them signed at application saves a difficult conversation after a shortlist.

Is fourteen fields too long for a volunteer board role?

It is the right length for a three year fiduciary appointment. Every field changes a decision: the matrix decides fit, the table decides capacity, the conflicts box decides eligibility, and the two written answers decide motivation. The welcome screen warns it takes about twenty minutes, which sets the expectation before anybody starts.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 12 September 2026.