Kreston Reeves Seminar – Charity Trustees’ Responsibilities

A poll carried out during the webinar looking at some of the key issues for trustees highlighted:

• 45% of charities carried out a skills audit of the trustee board when recruiting new trustees, 25% carried this out less than 2 years ago, 12% between 2-4 years ago, 3% more than 4 years ago and 15% had never carried one out.
• 83% of the charities represented had a conflict-of-interest policy and 65% had it on the agenda for every board meeting.
• 88% of the charities represented were mindful of their impact on people and the planet as it goes about its work and activities.

Chaired by Kreston Reeves Partner Lucy Hammond with charity experts Kimberley Foulkes and Coral Curtis who all have trustee experience, the webinar focused on key governance responsibilities for trustees including:

• Trustee board skills and diversity
• Main board duties
• Running meetings and decision making
• Conflicts of interest
• Managing risk
• Making changes to governing documents
• Reporting to the Charity Commission
• Environmental and Social responsibility

During the webinar there was also a useful Q & A session covering a range of ‘real life’ scenarios.

Lucy Hammond, Partner in Audit and Assurance at Kreston Reeves comments: “Whilst many charity trustees are aware of their responsibilities, they need to ensure they have a trustee board with the right skill set to help them to achieve their long-term objectives and surprisingly 15% had never carried out a skills audit. I would urge all trustees to stay up to date with their responsibilities and a good place to start is to watch this seminar to remind them. We also have many free resources to help trustees upskill.”