Governance4Unitarians

Useful websites

2012-01-31T10:44:00.001Z

A couple of useful resources A property helpline for charities plus resources about property issues A guide about sustainable funding That's all folks!

Consistent priorities

2012-01-28T14:36:00.000Z

I have been waiting for inspiration - sometimes it's a long wait.Having been at a Unitarian district meeting on Wednesday and heard people expressing dismay at the significant focus and financial investment that the Executive Committee is giving to establishing new Unitarian congregations I was nudged into looking again at the strategic priorities presentation given at last year's (2011) annual

The General Assembly

2011-12-05T07:56:00.001Z

Not sure where this post goes but it is something that I have been musing and I think it fits best under governance. Recently postings on the UK Unitarians Facebook group have provoked my thoughts. There have been some describing the General Assembly (GA) as the national centre and about the GA trustees (EC) wanting to influence congregations. The GA is the national Unitarian organisation for

Glass half-full or glass half-empty

2011-12-01T17:43:00.001Z

At the beginning of the Facebook discussion as described two posts ago the EC member wrote - in corrected form Essentially, we've tried to focus our very limited numbers of people and funds on the few top priorities ... If I read the accounts correctly the General Assembly's income for the year 2009/10 was over £650,00. There are some 11 staff - not all full-time. When I did a count a

Public benefit

2011-12-01T10:09:00.001Z

All charities need to pass the public benefit test. Here's what the Charity Commission says about the needs to report on public benefit For smaller charities, below the audit threshold**, trustees are required to include a brief summary in their Trustees’ Annual Report of the main activities undertaken in order to carry out the charity’s aims for the public benefit. Trustees can, of course,

Trustees and beneficiaries

2011-12-01T08:02:00.001Z

I am so grateful for the Facebook discussion, part of which is outlined in the post below - I needed some inspiration for posts to this blog. This morning I have been thinking about the relationship between trustees and their beneficiaries. Trustees are in a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another. In the case of the General Assembly's (GA) Executive Committee members (

How to win friends and influence people

2011-11-30T17:34:00.001Z

Was in a discussion about the future direction of the Unitarian community. The thread started by an EC member (the only one who engages on Facebook) begins thus I'm on the EC. Throw things if you like! (But I think he was only joking!) My contribution was summed up by him as Louise Rogers questions's Jen's view that youth are essential to our future .... In fact I argued that we should

Measuring what we do

2011-11-03T11:21:00.003Z

I was meeting with colleagues last week discussing how we were going to measure the performance indicators that our paymaster had set us. We are working with local voluntary organisations mentoring senior staff and boards to help them to become, in the jargon, more sustainable. The first indicator was 'financial stability'. We discussed this and some thought that asking people at the beginning

Active trusteeship

2011-10-14T16:25:00.003+01:00

I am currently working with a voluntary organisation which is facing an uncertain future (like many) because of the uncertainty of funding from health agencies and local authorities. This year it is likely to have to spend £10,000 of its reserves. I have advised that this is brought to the Board's attention and it is minuted that this situation is understood and agreed. My advice was for the

Outside help

2011-10-10T16:15:00.000+01:00

This morning I met with someone whose organisation has been going for six months. They have achieved a lot and have several learning institutions and health agencies interested in working with them. Their problem is that they could do so much (as there is a real gap in the field that they work in) but as yet they are not a registered charity and have no permanent staff. My job this morning was

Conflicts of interest and loyalty

2011-09-22T17:16:00.000+01:00

In small organisations it is easy to slip into an informal way of doing things when people who are keen on following procedures are seen as killjoys - ruining the 'party'. I am all for informality but I am also all for ensuring one's own integrity and that of our organisations. There may be situations when we have a conflict of interest - but more often than not our trustees do not get any

Back to policies

2011-09-21T09:59:00.001+01:00

I wrote briefly about writing policies in February of this year. Here I am again writing about the importance of writing your own - or at least being heavily involved in what gets written. I have just written a conflict of interest policy and procedures for a voluntary organisation that I am working with. There's nothing like actually writing a policy yourself. Many people search the

Simply does it

2011-09-14T15:09:00.001+01:00

I am volunteering with a local Community Centre which has been open for three months - I am on the events team. Because I chair this I get to sit on other groups and get the opportunity to input into more general issues. At the moment the trustees are developing the structure and processes for governance. It is important to remember what stage organisations are at - starting a charity is very

Refreshing our vision

2011-08-30T10:05:00.002+01:00

I have started some short-term support for a local organisation which has been through a bit of turbulence with its board of trustees. Others have got involved in the disputes and it seems as if it were quite unpleasant for some time. The remaining board members seem a bit shell-shocked and tentative. Do they really know what they are doing? How can they stop this sort of thing happening

How do you counter absence?

2011-08-15T10:57:00.000+01:00

I am currently volunteering at the new community centre down the road. I am helping with events. However I sit on the Development Group as I am chair of the Events Team and then get involved in governance although this is not my role. They are setting up the governance arrangements and I have been slightly concerned with the lack of clarity. So I have spoken to the governance lead and written

Finding free solutions for communicating

2011-08-03T09:41:00.001+01:00

I was working with a voluntary organisation last night - they have been talking about developing a piece of land for many years and I work for a mentoring scheme to help chief officers and boards helping them to move forward. This is a small community group with very big aspirations - the two main people involved have high levels of skill and motivation and are eager to learn. I am not

Working with our beneficiaries

2011-07-30T17:13:00.003+01:00

Having an interview certainly does stimulate my thinking. One of the questions that is often asked at an interview for voluntary sector jobs is about user-involvement. This can be a bit tricky especially if you are a user-involvement cynic like myself. If you have money you can buy services and if you don't like them no-one expects you to then answer questions about why you don't like the

Finding the right person

2011-07-29T17:48:00.000+01:00

I had a job interview this week - to become a grants assessor for a national foundation. I already do this voluntarily in the borough where I live and I've lost count of the number of bids that I've put in myself to funding organisations and central government. Most often it's been done with others - the biggest was for £20m and I was doing amongst other things the finances - 60 linked spread

Thinking outcomes

2011-07-14T07:54:00.014+01:00

Trawling the net looking for things about organisational development and I found this by Richard Piper who is the Head of Strategy and Impact at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Here's a part of what he writes In 10 years of supporting organisations on ‘outcomes’, I have found it helpful every single time to clarify the three main things you can ‘do’ with outcomes: plan your

10 useful questions for avoiding problems

2011-07-07T09:04:00.001+01:00

I just love the Charity Commission and the way that it produces easy to understand guidance for charities - I guess that that's it job but it does do it very well. Here's a very useful ten questions which can also be found here. These 10 questions cover some of the most important things that trustees need to think about to avoid common problems. 1. Do your activities match the charitable

Making sure that your organisation keeps up with your ambition

2011-07-03T08:11:00.005+01:00

In my paid work I support community and voluntary groups to grow. More often than not my role is to ensure that people keep their eye on the organisational tasks. Most of us are happy to dream about what our groups and organisations could be like. Probably there are fewer people who are committed to acting to make things happen - like organising a new kind of worship, helping at a social and

AGMs and charity membership

2011-06-22T08:44:00.008+01:00

I was working with a community group last week and someone from the local CVS (council for voluntary services) who was supporting them spoke about AGMs, saying that there was no guidance about how to run them. I assured her that there was (and sent information via email the next day) but the first port of call has to be your constitution. It should perhaps be my theme song, 'Look to your

Putting values into practice

2011-06-17T12:52:00.002+01:00

I have been working lately with a few quite small organisations. They want to grow or are just growing naturally as they get more members and they need to prove to themselves and to others that they are working with integrity. I am reminded by some of the conversations that I am having how people feel that they need to show to others that things are being done properly. They appreciate that

Updated versions of its model Articles of Association, Constitution and Trust Deed.

2011-06-17T12:45:00.002+01:00

The Charity Commission has launched updated versions of its model Articles of Association, Constitution and Trust Deed. These model documents now have the same provisions for benefits and payments to trustees and those closely connected with them. These provisions are also consistent with the CIO model constitutions. More information and links to these documents can be found here.

New Charity Commission guidance on Charities and Insurance

2011-05-24T16:25:00.000+01:00

The new guide Charities and Insurance (CC49) can be found here.

Action planning

2011-05-21T10:36:00.007+01:00