The next meeting for the Network will be on Monday 20th September 2010.  This will be a Governance meeting so is open to all Trustees and Committee members from charities and other constituted voluntary and community organisations.  Venue tbc soon.  More information about the agenda here.

The October meeting for the Network will be a special event to mark the start of National Trustee Week 2010.  The event will be on Monday 25th October from 2pm – 7pm and will be a Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre.  More information very soon.

The Compact is a longstanding agreement that sets out shared principles and guidelines for effective partnership working between government and the third sector in England.

It underpins the relationship all third sector organisations have with public bodies and is an important reference for all Trustees leading our local third sector organisations.

A key aim for the Thrive Trustee Network is to ensure that every Trustee in North East Lincolnshire is familiar with the Compact, our local versions and how it can be used to empower the relationship between their organisation and any public bodies.

Sources of information

www.thecompact.org.uk – for national information about the Compact

www.compactvoice.org.uk – practical support on making the Compact work

www.vanel.org.uk/compact – local North East Lincolnshire Compact as supported by VANEL

Downloads

“An introduction to the Compact” – national version

“The Compact” – national version

Visit www.vanel.org.uk/compact to download local versions of each part of the Compact.

the Future

The Coalition has re-affirmed its committment to the Compact, but after a refresh nationally in 2009, future development of our local version of the Compact has temporarily been put on hold.  This will enable us to guage committment & development of the Compact nationally first.  Watch this space (or rather, watch www.vanel.org.uk/compact).

Public Law

The Compact is underpinned by the priniciples of Public Law.

Information about Public Law on www.publiclawproject.org.uk, the website of the Public Law Project.

Direct support for the third sector is available on public law via the Empowering the Voluntary Sector project.
Visit te website of this NAVCA supported project here.  Lots of information, newsletters and details of training.

Training

VANEL promotes both the Compact and an understanding of Public Law.

We run occassional free briefings on Public Law, & the next is scheduled for 23rd Sept 2010.  (contact VANEL on 01472 231123 for more details).

If you and your board of Trustees would like to find out more about the Compact, please contact us to discuss how we can supply you with materials or even come and talk to your group.

Thanks to all who attended our Trustee Network meeting last nigtht (Mon 20th July 2010).

As promised, information and links related to the items discussed at the meeting are all being posted here and in other forthcoming articles.

Our key themes for the evening were:

the refreshed Code of Good Governance
the North East Lincolnshire Compact
a discussion around Trustee rercuitment, Trustee Week 2010 (in October) and our Trustee event on 25th October

article with information about the Compact is here…
an article all about the Code of Good Governance is here.

Our next meeting is on 20th September – see you there.

Advance notice about our main Trustee fair being held on 25th October.  More information soon.  Put the date in your diary.

Thanks.  Karl.

This years’ Trustee Conference takes place on Monday 18th October 2010 at the Brewery in London.

I shall be attending, but the more the merrier!  Attendees from the North are few & far between normally!

Information and full details on the event website here: www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/trusteeconf2010

Deciding the most appropriate legal structure for your charity or organisation is a critical decisions.  As Trustees, getting good, sound advice to help make this decision is important.

NCVO has just laucnhed a new website – Get Legal – at www.getlegal.org.uk.

The site contains advice, resources and a ‘decision tool’ to help you and your board decide on your legal structure.

If you’re already well established and safe in the knowledge that you are a Limited Company then the tool may be superfluous.  But if you’re still operating as an unincorporated organisation , with all the associated risks (& benefits) then it might be a good chance to use this new web resource to review your options.

This debate took place in January in the House of Commons.  Only just come across it, but the text makes very interesting reading.

The topic is “charity trustees” and is very much about the support available.

Visit the TheyWorkForYou.com website and read the article (or see the video here) : http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-01-18b.130.0

25^th – 31^st October 2010 will be the first national Trustee Week, led by the Charity Commission and other national partners.  VANEL, the Third Sector Hub and the Thrive Trustee Network will be starting the week off by holding an event – “Join us and make a difference : Trustee recruitment event” on Monday 25^th October, between 2pm and 7pm in Grimsby (venue tbc).

This is a chance for anyone thinking of volunteering as a Trustee to find out more and to meet local third sector organisations wanting to recruit trustees or committee members.  For local organisations it is an opportunity to promote themselves to new potential board members.

The event will take the format of a focused recruitment fair, but with talks and presentations throughout the event from organisations and experienced trustees explaining the value of trusteeship.  The event will replace the October meeting of the Thrive Trustee Network and many of our local trustees will be helping with the event.

More information coming soon (see www.thrivetrustees.org.uk for more) or contact Karl Elliott at VANEL for information or to get involved.

This article will be added to.

Books

The Charity Trustee’s Handbook
published June 2010.  available from DSC.
more information

Some useful links

http://www.cipd.co.uk/nedresource/charitytrustees.htm

The refashioned Principles of the Code of Good Governance, slightly revised in the light of the consultations are now available.

The full Code including supporting material is being prepared by the Code steering group and should be available in July.

The next networking meeting for the Thrive Trustee Network will be held on Monday 19th July 2010.

Venue:  Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre, Grimsby
Time:  5.30pm start (refreshements from 5.15pm), concludes 6.30/6.45pm

This meeting will be a Members meeting.  The event is free to attend for any member of the Thrive Trustee Network.

Book online via our Eventbrite page here, or contact us to book.

Agenda for the meeting

The Code of Good Governance has been relaunched (more here).  We will be discussing and reviewing the detail of the new code and how we can bring this into effect within our organisations.

We will also be looking at Trustee recruitment again (a recurring theme for our network) in light of new tools and resources just released nationally.

We will also be taking a first look at Trustee Week 2010 which is planned for late October 2010.  How can we gain benefit for our local charities from this national initiative.

We will also introduce a new regular slot – the “ten minute topic”.  This month we’ll be looking at the Compact.

This meeting will be the first members meeting to include a formal Peer Group Action Learning Set.  Come along ready to share your issues as Trustees and help each other to tackle these issues.

As always, we’ll conclude with an information and resource sharing session.

Related articles

Programme for the Trustee Network members events is here
or the programme for the Governance networking meetings is here
full networking diary here

Networking meetings for the Thrive Trustee Network take place approximately monthly.  Meetings alternate between those for members of the Network and those with a more general Governance stance which are open to all trustees, committee or board members of third sector organisations.

Governance meetings therefore take place approximately every two months.  Meetings are free to attend for anyone interested in, or involved in governance within the third sector.  You may be a trustee, a committee member or board member of a charity, a social enterprise or a community or voluntary group.

Whereas bi-monthly Member meetings are for members only, Governance networking meetings are open to all.

2010/11 Programme for the Governance meetings

The emphasis for both the members network and for the Governance network will continue to be around the development of an “effective board” (and by consequence, effective trustees or committee members).

We’ll use some of the nationally established frameworks to develop our skills and efficiency, namely:

The Code of Good Governance
The National Occupational Standards for Trustees and Committe Members
The Charity Commission Hallmark

We’ll look to provide national quality training, support, resources and networks locally in North East Lincolnshire.

More specifically…

The Code of Good Governance has been relaunched (2010) so we shall be discussing this during our 2010 meetings in some detail.

Meeting schedule

20th September 2010
The Code of Good Governance has relaunched.  Introducing & disussing the code…
Exploring principle 1 of the Code:  An effective board understands their role…
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

22nd November 2010
Exploring principle 2 of the Code:  An effective board ensures delivery of organisational purpose…
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

January 2011
Exploring principle 3 of the Code:  An effective board is effective both as individuals and as a team…
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

March 2011
Exploring principle 4 of the Code:  An effective board exercises control…
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

May 2011
Exploring principle 5 of the Code:  An effective board behaves with integrity…
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

July 2011
Exploring principle 6 of the Code:  An effective board is open and accountable…
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

October 2011
Trustee Week 2011
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

December 2011
theme yet to be defined
Regular agenda items:  ten minute topic, news & information & resources sharing

Related articles

full diary of networking meetings
details of the programme of Trustee Network members meetings
details about the very next Networking meeting
information about membership