The View from the Top

“The View from the Top” is an e-publication about governance, trusteeship and non-profit sector leadership.  It is produced by VANEL and written for those involved in the leadership of their organisations.

Launched in October 2015, there were 7 issues up to the end of 2016. Support for recent editions came from VANEL’s Big Lottery funded “Young Leaders Network” project which has enabled us to kick start into 2017, hopefully with a monthly schedule.

What is it?

An e-newsletter covering third sector and charity governance, trusteeship, voluntary sector leadership and project management and social innovation leadership.  It’s not about news – that’s normally covered through VANEL’s “Governance Weekly” column and on our @aboutgovernance Twitter channel.  Instead, each issue contains a handful of longer articles designed to inform or challenge or inspire around difference governance and leadership related topics and themes.  We hope that each issue will at least get you and your fellow trustees/board members thinking a bit differently…

We don’t expect to be a substitute for the excellent and long running “Governance and Leadership” magazine from CivilSociety (here), but that does cost around £105pa for six copies, so maybe we can be an alternative read for you?

Who is it for?

“The View from the Top” should be of interest to charity trustees, committee members, social enterprise directors, managers or anyone running projects in the voluntary and community sector.

VANEL provides this as a Member Benefit to signed up Member or Friend organisations, and anyone interested from those organisations can receive a copy to their email inbox.  If you happen to not be on email (!?) then please make sure your Chair or Secretary is receiving a copy and can distribute it to you after each issue.

If you are not in North East Lincolnshire but would like to receive this for your board/committee members then you are welcome to join VANEL as a Friend (for the normal £25 annual fee including other membership benefits). You can then receive “The View from the Top” just as our local members do.

Get your copy

If you are not receiving “The View from the Top” but would like to (and are connected to a VANEL Member organisation) then simply email Karl Elliott via karl@vanel.org.uk with your details (or call 01472 361043).

What’s been covered so far?

Some of the topics covered in the issues up to the end of 2016 were…

– Demonstrating Good Governance
– Leadership on the Board
– Trustees are Volunteers too
– Follow your rulebook
– Digital Again
– Back to Basics
– A New Code of Good Governance
– Your Trustees are Volunteers too
– Every Board has a style. What’s yours?
– Impact assessment and your board
– Have you got a Technology Trustee on your board?
– Changing your thinking by wearing different hats
– Effective Trustee Recruitment
– How do you keep informed?
– How do you structure your meetings?
– Diversity, younger trustees and new perspectives…
– The 4 D’s of governance
– Can you confidently say you have good governance?
– Understanding your rulebook
– Digital again
– Finding new trustees
– Wired to Govern
– The Governance Wheel
– Living with the Code
– Wearing your Stewardship Hat
– Technology to bring the board together

Contributions

Got something you think you’d like to cover in an issue? Got a really important topic to discuss or a story to tell? Contact Karl and let him know.

Thanks

To Big Lottery for funding during 2016/17 for the “Young Leaders Network” which has enabled us to spend time compiling “The View from the Top” and getting it started.