{"id":15693,"date":"2017-11-15T13:35:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T13:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/?p=15693"},"modified":"2017-11-17T11:44:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T11:44:13","slug":"trusteesweek03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/2017\/11\/trusteesweek03\/","title":{"rendered":"Current trends, issues and themes around governance and trusteeship and their relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday (14th November) it was the NCVO\/BWB Trustee Conference<\/strong> in London which I attended. There was of course a huge range of briefings, talks and discussions at the event. So what were the key themes and issues that were discussed?<\/p>\n

The overall theme of the conference was \u201cGood Governance in Action\u201d<\/em>. One keynote speech made the point that getting our governance right – \u2018good\u2019 governance is not about doing it for the sake of it, but to ensure our charities and voluntary sector organisations do the right things for the right reasons. It\u2019s not about just putting better processes in place or improving policies or documentation. It\u2019s much more than that. Our organisations play their part in making the world a better place – in our communities and for our beneficiaries. The better governed our charities are, the better our impact can be.<\/p>\n

Two key documents were explored during the conference:<\/p>\n

The recently re-launched \u201cCharity Governance Code\u201d<\/a>. Endorsed across the sector this provides us all with a workable framework to analyse our governance approaches and to improve them. More about the code here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A major investigative report from the Charity Commission – \u201cTaken on Trust\u201d<\/a> launched at the start of Trustees\u2019 Week and exposing the status of governance across the sector. Highlights were the positive value of perhaps \u00a33.5bn worth of volunteering on committees and boards that the sector enjoys, or the more negative problems with the real lack of diversity across charity boards. Read the report here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another very key theme of the conference was around Data Protection. The keynote speaker was from the Information Commissioners office and with the new GDPR regulations<\/a> arriving in May 2018 (which we all have to comply with), a key theme is getting the legalities right around the management of data and personal information.<\/p>\n

Other themes throughout the conference were covered through each of the briefings and workshops. Extra themes included:<\/p>\n