The Charity Governance Guide
Training and advice for charities and for charity trustees
There are approximately 700,000 charities in the UK. Their collective annual income is generally well over £50 billion.
Charities are governed by their trustees, most of whom are dedicated volunteers who are willing to give up their time to help a cause that they are passionate about.
£50 billion, and all the responsibility of looking after the people, animals and places that the charities support. In the hands of volunteers. What could possibly go wrong??
Volunteer trustees are the backbone of the UK charitable sector and have ultimate responsibility for the governance of almost every charity in this country. Salaried executive staff may run the charities on a day to day basis, but the vision and strategies which shape the organisations’ work are the legal responsibility of unpaid individuals. People may take on a trustee role for a number of reasons, perhaps because they want to support a cause close to their heart, or simply because they want to make a difference and ‘put something back’ into their community. They bring a plethora of knowledge and experience into the sector, but inevitably many will have little or no experience of charity regulation and the way charities work.
Stepping forward to volunteer as a trustee is a wonderful step. But it is only the first step. The Charity Governance Guide seeks to help trustees to do their job better. This may be through the provision of training courses, bespoke workshops and sessions, or governance reviews. But in each case, it is all about helping trustees to focus their efforts and thus make their charity more efficient.
The Charity Governance Guide’s aim is to give both new and experienced trustees the knowledge they need – as quickly, painlessly and efficiently as possible. We recognise that time is a valuable asset, and we know that trustees do not have much of it. So we concentrate on getting across what they need to know – not on red tape and box ticking.
Please feel free to have a look around this site to see if we might be able to help. Our aim is to work with you to strengthen your charity – by ensuring that your Board is well trained, well prepared and working within a governance structure which allows the charity to focus on delivering its objects whilst meeting the expectations of charity regulation. We’d love to help if we can.
(The Charity Governance Guide is registered with HMRC as a Sole Trader).