The 1-5 November 2021 is National Trustees’ Week, an annual event which aims to highlight the work done by charity trustees throughout the UK. At Shipston Home Nursing, we’re occasionally asked why we need trustees and what they do, so we’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a little more about our trustee team.
Simply, the role of our trustees is similar to that of the Directors or Management of a company; trustees have overall control of the charity and responsibility for making sure we’re doing what we were set up to do.
Trustees may be known by other titles, such as:
- Directors
- Board members
- Governors
- Committee members
Whatever they are called, trustees are the people who lead a charity and decide how it is run. Being a trustee means making decisions that will impact people’s lives and making a difference to our local community and to society. Trustees use their skills and experience to support the nursing, fundraising, operational and leadership teams and help us to achieve our aims.
What do they do?
A Trustee has 6 main duties:
- ensure the charity is carrying out its purposes for public benefits
- comply with the governing document of the charity and the law
- act in the best interest of the charity
- manage the resources of the charity responsibly
- act with reasonable care and skill
- ensure the charity is responsible
Charity Trustees make decisions about their charity together, working as a team. Decisions don’t usually need to be unanimous as long as the majority of trustees agree. They’re usually made at charity meetings.
When trustees are making decisions about your charity, they must:
- Act within their powers
- Work in good faith, and only in the interests of the charity
- Ensure they are sufficiently informed, taking any advice needed
- Take account of all relevant factors they are aware of
- Ignore any irrelevant factors
- Deal with conflicts of interest and loyalty
- Make decisions that are within the range of decisions that a reasonable trustee body could make in the circumstances
Significant decisions should be documented in case they need to be reviewed or explained them in the future.
Thank you to our trustees
We currently have nine trustees led by our Chair, Dr Clive Irwin. Our Board of Trustee have a diverse skill set, which is put to good use to help us to achieve the charity’s objectives and they generously give us their time and expertise free of charge.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our trustees for playing a vital role in Shipston Home Nursing, volunteering their time and working together to support the development and ongoing sustainability of the charity.
Become a Trustee
Becoming a trustee is an exciting opportunity to benefit society and make a real difference to a local community. It can be very rewarding and is an important and interesting role. We are always keen to hear from people who would potentially like to be a trustee. If you are interested please email our Executive Director: andrew.revell@shipstonhomenursing.co.uk