Next in our series of guest blogs on the Community Action Suffolk website, Liz Brownsell, charity specialist at Birketts Solicitors, discusses the the importance of training for trustees.
We all know how important it is for the effective governance of charities that all charity trustees and senior managers within charities know and understand the role, duties and responsibilities of trustees. The Charity Commission also expects all charities to include in their Annual Report the steps that have been taken to ensure that all trustees have received appropriate training.
The importance of the role of Trustees has been highlighted in a variety of contexts, including by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in its review of the fundraising scandals of 2015. More recently, the House of Lords Select Committee on Charities in its report Stronger Charities for a Stronger Society emphasised the importance of induction training and ongoing development for charity trustees, describing it as “essential for charity trustees in order for the sector to work effectively” and explaining that “Trustees need to feel confident and well-informed in order to provide strategic direction, oversight and challenge”.
It was acknowledged that there is a lack of provision of local support for smaller and medium-sized charities in the provision of programmes of Trustee Induction training. Contributors commented that training offered by infrastructure bodies within the sector was “disproportionately London-based, which imposed prohibitive costs for organisations based elsewhere in the country” and that training is “not always affordable for charities”.
Birketts LLP offers a rolling programme of Charity Trustee Induction and Refresher Training, which provides a cost effective solution to these issues for charities in East Anglia. The training is offered at a cost of only £50 plus VAT per delegate. It is a half-day workshop, designed to provide charity trustees with essential legal training to enable them to comply with law and best practice in fulfilling their duties and furthering the success of the charity. The training runs four times per year, rotating around each of our office locations in Ipswich, Norwich, Cambridge and Chelmsford. The first workshop will take place on 13 June in Ipswich at Trinity Park. More information about the training can be found here.
- To book your place on the 13 June 2017 training workshop, visit here.
- Alternatively, Birketts also offers in-house training through its Shaping Excellence Programme. If you are interested in having Birketts come out to you to deliver training to your entire board and senior management team, please contact Liz Brownsell.
- CAS also runs a half day Trustee roles and responsibilities for good governance course. the next of these will be held on 22 September 2017 in Lowestoft. More information and booking available here.
To read more about the Select Committee’s report, you might be interested in this Birketts’ article or you can read the full report here.
Liz Brownsell | Senior Associate | Charities and Social Enterprise | Birketts LLP | www.birketts.co.uk
Follow Liz on Twitter @LizCharityLaw