The weekly roundup from VANEL on good governance, charity trusteeship and non-profit leadership. News, information, resources and ideas. Complemented by our monthly “View from the Top” e-newsletter (Trustee Network members only), our “aboutgovernance” online discussion space for leaders and trustees and our @aboutgovernance Twitter feed.
It’s always critical to understand the external environment and context in which we operate. If we operated in the retail sector we’d need to understand trends in fashion, buying habits, retail technologies and more. It’s no different in the voluntary, community, charitable and social sector. As trustees, committee members, directors or management we need to understand trends and context for our work. And this week the House of Lords has issued a report which very much looks at the context in which our organisations are operating now and into the future.
Stronger Charities for a Stronger Society
Entitled “Stronger charities for a stronger society” it’s a major piece of work, a major report (156 pages) and a lot of recommendations (42 of them). But it’s worth spending time on it as a board or as a trustee to understand the context.
The report is here. The context from the government is here. NCVO have summarised it all usefully here. They’ve also broken down the 42 recommendations here. NAVCA have given their feedback here. Worth looking at it all.
Importantly it’s really clear that governance is at the heart of better and stronger charities and the social sector. There are a number of recommendations arising from the report about governance. VANEL has been championing Good Governance for a very long time – it’s one of the reasons you’re reading this “Governance Weekly” column (or our “View from the Top” e-newsletter). So the challenge for VANEL and all of you as Trustees or leaders, is to do something about improving governance.
I expect I’ll be returning to the themes, issues and recommendations from this report over the coming months and we’ll be keen to get the discussions flowing around this. Feel free to contact me to discuss.
Other News
The NCVO Governance Round up for March 2017 is out. Take a read here. It pre-dates the Lords Report, but everything else is well worth a few minutes of your time.
I’ve published links in previous weeks to challenging articles about the value of Trustees and charity boards. Here’s a latest response from the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network espousing the good value of Trustees – the other side of the coin.
Another article on the Guardian site summarises the findings of a recent report which shows the continual and growing danger that lack of digital skills poses to voluntary sector organisations. The article is here. And the original report is here. VANEL is here to assist you and your board with digital and technology skills. Just contact us to start a conversation.
VANEL News
Do you have new or less experienced trustees on board?
If so, we’re continuing to run our popular “Induction and Refresher Training for Trustees“. We’ll be setting a new date very soon for the next of these two hour sessions. So if you or your trustees would like to be added to the list, we’ll be trying our best to choose a date and time that suits as many people as possible. Prices are £10 per head or £15 for non-members or (potentially) free for trustees aged under 30. Contact me direct (see below) to book or express interest.
To discuss governance, trusteeship or leadership, or to subscribe to the Trustee Network, please drop me a line.
Karl Elliott, Development Manager
www.vanel.org.uk/governance – for resources and information
www.theviewfromthetop.org.uk
www.youngleadersmatter.org.uk
@aboutgovernance