CELEBRATING TRUSTEES WEEK 2025

Reflections for Trustees’ Week 

Dylan Harper, Chair of The Dementia Trust 

As we celebrate Trustees’ Week, I invite you to join us in recognising the quiet strength, commitment and courage that define trusteeship, and to support our shared vision to accelerate innovation, champion diverse voices and transform understanding of dementia. 

This Trustees’ Week, I’ve found myself pausing to reflect on the quiet strength, commitment and courage that define trusteeship, especially in a charity like ours, where the mission carries both head and heart. 

The Dementia Trust exists to back innovators, practitioners, researchers and community builders who are challenging what support for people living with dementia can look like. 

This year’s Disruption Award winners embody that mission beautifully. The Bessie Makatini Foundation, based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is leading vital community-based work to raise awareness of dementia within local communities, challenging stigma and building understanding through storytelling and education. The Chichester Festival Theatre is using creativity as a force for inclusion, bringing together older men and participants from global majority backgrounds in its B(Old) project to foster confidence, connection and shared humanity through participatory arts. And at Queen’s University Belfast, a collaboration with Dementia NI is reframing what it means to learn with people living with dementia, not simply about them, co-designing a postgraduate module and global online course delivered by people with lived experience. 

Together these projects remind us why the Trust exists: to enable bold ideas, champion diverse voices and accelerate innovation that transforms understanding and improves lives. 
We do not deliver frontline services; instead, we enable the people who do. That means our trustees play a very particular role. We are custodians of purpose. We steward resources. And we hold space for bold ideas that can reshape what is possible.  

Trusteeship as stewardship, not status 

I’ve always believed trusteeship isn’t about title or hierarchy. It’s about responsibility. 
It’s about showing up, asking difficult questions and being prepared to listen to answers that challenge us. It’s about balancing ambition with governance, optimism with diligence. And it’s about remainingrelentlessly focused on those our mission exists for, including families like mine, who are walking or have walked the path of dementia personally. 

For me, trusteeship is both a privilege and a discipline. It asks us to be reflective, principled and brave. It also asks us to be collaborative, supportive and human. 

A community of changemakers 

I am proud that our Board embodies those values. This year we have strengthened our governance, expanded our ambition and begun shaping a refreshed vision for the Trust’s next chapter. We have welcomed new perspectives and expertise, sharpened our governance framework and continued to invest in projects that push boundaries and accelerate impact. 
Our trustees bring deep professional knowledge and lived commitment, but beyond skills it is their compassion, curiosity and willingness to lead with purpose that make the real difference. 

Looking ahead 

In dementia, change rarely comes from one breakthrough moment. It comes from relentless progress, creative thinking and coalitions of people who refuse to accept limitations. Trusteeship at The Dementia Trust means holding steady to that vision. 
As we continue to grow the Trust and expand programmes such as our Disruption Awards and other initiatives, I am energised by what lies ahead and grateful for those who choose to serve alongside me. 

To every trustee across the UK and beyond, thank you. Your dedication turns mission into momentum and ideas into impact. This week, I hope each of us takes a moment to recognise the weight and the privilege of the roles we hold and the communities we are here to serve. 

How you can support our vision 

If these reflections resonate with you this Trustees’ Week, there are many ways to make a difference: 

💜 Donate – Help us fund bold ideas that improve the lives of people living with dementia. 
🤝 Partner with us – Collaborate to develop projects that advance innovation, inclusion and global learning. 
📲 Share our story – Amplify our work by sharing, following and talking about our mission. 
✅ Join us – Get in touch to explore how your expertise, network or organisation could contribute to the next phase of our journey. 

Together, we can continue to accelerate progress, support innovation and reimagine what is possible for people living with dementia.