Trustees play a crucial role in any charity and can often determine whether an organisation flourishes or flounders. As a trustee, you are ultimately responsible for the charity, even if you are not involved directly with the day to day running, which is a duty that cannot be taken lightly.
Many trustees are appointed because they bring expertise and skills, and almost all will have a particular interest in their charity. However, having a passion for your charity’s cause and vision isn’t enough to be an effective trustee.
Trustees have a responsibility to ensure the charity is run correctly and not only abides by its own constitution, but that it operates in accordance to UK charity laws and regulations.
From maintaining your charity’s corporate effectiveness and protecting its reputation, to exercising due diligence in all matters so as not to expose it to unnecessary risk, trustees are ultimately accountable for the guardianship of the charity and, as such, must act responsibly and compliantly in all related matters – which includes limiting any conflict of interest that may arise between their personal, professional and charitable activities.
You may find yourself responsible for serious governance issues, which can range from hiring – and even firing – employees; health and safety matters; legislation and regulation; performance management and financial challenges.
All of which can be somewhat daunting if you are unsure of exactly what your trustee role entails.
10 tips on good governance and best practice for charity and voluntary sector trustees:
- Check that your trust deeds and other important documentation such as insurance and licences are current and stored together in a safe and secure location. Make sure that all trustees know where these documents are kept, and that they all have access to them.
- Keep your risk register up to date – the Charity Commission has excellent resources on risk management for smaller charities .
- When you’re appointing new trustees look at your Board’s existing skills’ set and invite professionals with particular expertise, e.g. IT, finance, HR, marketing or legal to fill any gaps. Review the manner in which you recruit your trustees – are you widening the net enough or simply relying on word of mouth recommendations. The introduction of social media means that charities now have a far wider reach when it comes to advertising for new trustees. Consider the skills you require to enhance your Board and then advertise the role where it is more likely to be viewed by your desired candidates – if it is educational, try advertising on your local university’s intranet, if it’s financial, try contacting suitable organisations in your area such as banks and investment companies.
- Check that new trustees are appointed in accordance with your constitution and go through a full and comprehensive induction process to ensure they understand their roles and obligations.
- Minute all meetings properly, and file the minutes securely.
- Make sure that you have lodged all necessary documents with the Charity Commission.
- You must be confident that your accounting requirements and methods are robust and that your financial records are kept up to date. If not, you might want to consider inviting a local accountant to join your board of trustees.
- If your charity recruits volunteers, you need to be sure that the processes for selection, induction training, support and management of these ‘employees’ is formalised and includes any statutory obligations you may have such as equal opportunities, health and safety and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Volunteers may not have the same ‘rights’ as paid employees, but it is still important to ensure that your charity’s ‘employment’ practices towards volunteers are fair and non-discriminatory, not only to avoid legal sanctions, but to protect your reputation and retain a highly beneficial and economically vital part of your workforce.
- Charities must adhere to the same statutory regulations as other employers. If your charity employs paid staff, then it is ultimately the Board’s responsibility to ensure that the charity complies with UK employment law. Failure to do so could result in a claim from an employee - which could be financially crippling and reputationally damaging. Don’t get caught out on complex issues and changes to the law - take expert advice if necessary.
- Your charity must observe data protection laws. Public sector organisations have received six figure fines for breaches such as losing confidential data or not storing it securely. The Information Commissioner’s Office has some useful information on its website which is specifically tailored for charities and not for profit organisations.
As a charity, you have a legal obligation to tell the people you engage with what you are doing with their data and who you will be sharing the information with. Your employees must all receive data protection training which details how they are to store and handle personal information and you must ensure that your records – both online and in paper format are secure. When data is no longer required, it must be destroyed or deleted completely from your records.
Being a trustee does come with many responsibilities, but it also provides a real sense of fulfilment and purpose that many of us would struggle to find elsewhere.
Written by Michele Todd, partner at hlw Keeble Hawson
For more information on this, or any charity related legal issue, please email micheletodd@hlwkeeblehawson.co.uk or telephone 0114 2906207