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

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.

Member Networking meetings therefore take place approximately every two months.  Meetings are free to attend for members of the Network.  If you are considering membership then you are welcome to attend one of the sessions to see if membership is appropriate for you and/or your board.

2010/11 Programme for members

The emphasis of the group and the Network this year 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 mid 2010 meetings.

October 2010 introduces the first national Trustee Week.  We will be using our meetings to explore how we can tap into this national initiative locally.

We will continue to keep Trustee recruitment (and retention) as a key practical focus for the group.  New resources and tools have been recently launched and we will explore these, as well as putting together practical steps which will help our local charities and groups with trustee or committee member recruitment.

The 5 S’s of Governance are a way of looking at aspects of Trusteeship & Governance.  We will explore these 5 S’s over a series of meetings to try and learn from this approach and to try and put together more practical benefits for our local organisations.

Each session this year will also include a Peer Group Action Learning Set.  We’ll use the tried and tested Action Learning Set approach to help each other in the group to explore and tackle real issues about Trusteeship or Governance that need solutions.

Meeting schedule

19th July 2010
The new Code of Good Governance
Trustee Recruitment – new tools for 2010
Preparing for Trustee Week 2010
regular items:
the ten minute topic – the Compact
Peer group Action Learning Set
Information, news and resorces sharing

25th October 2010
Trustee Week 2010
Feedback from the 2010 Trustee Conference
Trustee Recruitment
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

13th December 2010
Hallmarks of an Effective Charity board
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

February 2011
The 5 S’s of Governance – “Support”
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

April 2011
The 5 S’s of Governance – “Stretch”
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

June 2011
The 5 S’s of Governance – “Scrutiny”
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

September 2011
The 5 S’s of Governance – “Stewardship”
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

November 2011
The 5 S’s of Governance – “Strategy”
Feedback from Trustee Week 2011 and the national Trustee Conference
regular agenda items; ten minute topic, action learning set, info share

Related articles

full diary of networking meetings
details of the programme of Governance networking meetings
details about the very next Networking meeting
information about membership

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 next meeting of the Thrive Trustee Network will be on Monday 24th May 2010.

It will be at the Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre.
arrival from 5.15pm (light refreshments available), start at 5.30pm, finish by 6.30pm.

Free for existing members of the Thrive Trustee Network.

If you are a charity trustee or member of a governing committee and your third sector organisation is based in, or operates in North East Lincolnshire, then please come along and find out more about the network.  Meetings are free to members, normally £10 for everyone else, but one session free if you want to find out more.

Please let us know you are coming.  Either let Karl or Vicky at VANEL know if you are able to come.  (contact details here) – 01472 231123.

Topic for the evening

This months meeting is a Trustee meeting (alternates with governance meetings every other month), and our topic will be to look at Board Effectiveness.

The Charity Commission hallmark requires that:

‘The charity has a trustee body that take responsibility for evaluating its own performance’

The Good Governance code for the Voluntary Sector says:

‘The board should periodically review its own and the organisation’s effectiveness and take any necessary steps to ensure that both continue to work well.’

So how well is your board doing?  Do you evaluate yourselves?  How should you do this?

We’ll be tackling the issue of board effectiveness on 24th May, looking at tools and techniques and working out practical steps we can take as trustees or boards to help improve our effectiveness, keep us fit for the future and help strengthen the longer term sustainability of our organisations.

Contact us to confirm if you can make the meeting.

related articles

Article on Board Effectiveness
Diary of networking meetings

How do you know if your board is doing what it should do?  Is it doing it effectively?

We’ll be discussing the topic of board effectiveness at our next meeting on 24th May 2010 and this article will be filled with useful information following that!

related articles

Welcome to the new website for the Thrive Trustee & Governance network.

Bear with us whilst we develop the site, but articles will be coming soon to help individual Trustees, boards of Trustees and governing committees to function better.

Whilst we’re ‘under development’, please feel free to contact me (Karl Elliott) at VANEL to discuss anything at all about the network or the support we offer to Trustees.

karl@vanel.org.uk / 01472 231123

There are a huge number of resources available to help Trustees, governing committee members, and boards themselves.  We’ll review individual resources one by one, but here are links to a number of external sites and directories you should start with:

The Charity Commission website – large number of documents you need to read
TrusteeNet website resources section – links to the most common and useful documents

[last updated 18th May 2010]