Trustees and Charity Law/ Corporate Governance Training

You will obviously know that one aspect of Charity Law and Corporate Governance  demands  that your Trustees must make decisions based only on what’s best for your organisation. Conflicts of interest are real elephant traps.

All trustees have a legal duty to act only in the best interests of their charity. The Charity Commission expects trustees to take appropriate steps in line with their guidance to ensure that they can do this.

Trustees cannot allow their personal interests, or the interests of people or organisations connected to them, to influence these decisions.

Recent high publicity cases continue to expose shortcomings and illegal practices which inevitably bring charitable and not for profit  organisations into public disrepute with high media coverage. This has a toxic knock-on impact for other trustees, staff, volunteers and of course can put valuable funding sources in jeopardy.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not reflect on the integrity of the affected trustee, so long as it is properly addressed .

But of course, there are wider complex issues too.

Conflicts of Interest -And Much More Beyond!

Our full one-day training course -Charity Law and Corporate Governance – puts a spotlight on “conflict of interests” as well as numerous other complex topics.

Participants will come away not only with a clear idea about the two common types of conflict of interest: financial conflicts and loyalty conflicts but also:-

• The Charities Act and related legislation

• Key governance frameworks and regulations

• The clear distinction between governance and management

• The Public Benefit requirement and the 13 descriptions of “Statement of      Purposes”

• The role of the Charity Commission

• How the Commission work with Ofsted and bodies such as the      Advertising Standards Authority, Care Quality Commission(CQC),      Equality & Human Rights Commission(EHRC),Information      Commissioner(ICO), Gambling Commission and of course courts and       tribunals including the police.

• The Charity Governance code and its seven principles-including conflict       of interests

• How these principles apply to any charity or organisation

• Managing risk and new regulations on fund raising

• The importance of your related policies to stakeholders with a focus on       the Nolan Principles

• Reporting requirements

• Sources of further information and support

The course comes with a takeaway self-assessment guide for people to test their own organisation in the following six areas:-

1. Delivering purpose

Could you be drifting into activities that your charity is not set up to do? Are you sure your charity’s activities help to deliver its purpose and comply with its governing document and the law.

1. Managing conflicts of interest

How would you identify and manage a conflict of interest? How do you make sure every decision made is in the best interests of your charity.

1. Reporting information

Is your charity reporting the right things at the right time?  Are you up to date on what information you need to send to the Commission and the support available to help you?

1. Safeguarding people

Is your charity keeping everyone safe from harm? Safeguarding applies to every charity, not just those dealing with children and adults at risk.

1. Making decisions

How do you make effective decisions? Do your Trustees work together to make the best decisions for your charity.

1. Managing finances

All trustees have responsibility for ensuring their charity’s money is safe, properly used and accounted for. Is this widely understood?