The agenda for the next meeting on 11th May at Grimsby Town Hall is now available online. Click here to go to the event page where you can also download the flyer.

See you there.

The next "Trustees Together" networking event will take place on Monday 11th May 2009 at 5pm at the Town Hall in Grimsby. More details coming soon, but for members or prospective members of the Network put the date in your diary now!

While you're at it, the dates for the future meetings for the rest of this year are also now scheduled...

Monday 6th July
Monday 7th September
Monday 9th November
Monday 11th January 2010

As the Network develops and decides amongst the group the direction of travel it may well be that additional meetings or workshops are added into this calendar.  Regardless of this the dates are your chance to network with other Trustees.

Watch this space for more information about the events as they get planned.

The next "Roles and Responsibilities of Trustees" training course on 24th April 2009 is now full.

Each course we have run so far has filled quickly and we're now on a holding list for the April training in case people drop out.

If you're still interested in developing your Trustees then the next opportunity will be 23rd June. Book your place soon!

Firstly a big thanks to all those who attended the inaugural “Trustees Together” meeting on Monday evening at the Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby. There was great contribution from everyone there and the scene has been set for future meetings of the Trustee Network.

We now have our first few signed up members, both organisations and individuals and we’re looking to expand the Network significantly before the next “Trustees Together” meeting in May.

As hoped, there was plenty of discussion at the meeting and plenty of sharing of experiences. A number of new connections were made between Trustees from different organisations who met for the first time. Who knows where these connections may lead.

At the meeting I presented an overview of the new Trustee Network and also outlined a number of opportunities for Trustees. The opportunities included free e-training, other new training courses, discounts on publications and an option for good value trustee indemnity insurance. Details of all of these are in our resources section.

A number of topics were thrown open for discussion, including how the Trustee Network meetings could work in the future. It was agreed that a speaker on a topic of relevance would be a good focus for each meeting, but that the networking opportunities themselves and the chance to share and discuss experiences were to remain a key focus.

Together we explored a number of issues and scenarios that Trustees face regularly and tried to determine what was the most pressing. Have a look at the list we worked through here. My presentation is also available here.

A couple of specifics were identified. Understanding more about managing risk was key issue, but so too was a need for simple reminders of the role of charities and Trustees. We’ll start looking at how the Trustee Network can start addressing issues such as these.

For now keep watching the website for more information about the development of the Network or contact us to learn more or to join up. Karl

Thanks to all those who attended the "Roles and Responsibilites of Trustees" training workshop yesterday. A full house again and well received by everyone attending.

A few of the notes from the course are being added into the resources section of this site as a number of useful websites were mentioned on the day.

Thanks too to Howard and Alan who joined the Trustee Network on the day and took advantage of our discount offer on "The Good Trustee Guide".

The next "Roles and Responsibilities" course is on 24th April (repeated on 23rd June) and places are filling fast. Contact us to book your place.

The date for the first masterclass targeted at Chairs & Co-chairs of Trustee Boards has now been set.

Tuesday 24th March at  Melbourne House, Town Hall Street, Grimsby.
The Session will run from 10am until 1pm.
Registration will be from 9.30am and a light buffet will be served at the end of the event. Places will be very limited so please book early.

Price is £15 only for those in Trustee roles within North East Lincs. 50% discount (as on all training) for Thrive Trustee Network members - just £7.50 ! (Price for those outsde the area or outside the sector is £35 each).

The masterclass will run again in May, July and beyond but book early if you need a place.

For more information or to book call Charlotte on 01472 231123 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (contact details here).

A reminder that the first Trustee networking event will take place on Monday 9th March at 5pm at the Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby.

There's now a simple flyer that you can download to remind you. Please pass it around your board and to other Trustees - the more the merrier.

There's also a flyer about the Trustee Network itself.

There will be proper markeing materials available soon, but in the meantime please feel free to spread word to other organisations and Trustees using this flyer or by directing them to the website www.thrivetrustees.org.uk.

For all Trustees, there's no better reference work than "The Good Trustee Guide" from NCVO.  The latest version was updated only in October 2008.

Trustees in North East Lincolnshire can take advantage of some great discounts we are now able to offer through the Thrive Trustee Network.   If you are a member of the Network then the offers are better still.

Normal cover price for the book is £25 or £17.50 to NCVO members.  Through bulk purchasing we are now able to offer this at just £15 per copy [see note below]  if you order through the Third Sector Hub. 

However, members of the Thrive Trustee Network can get the book much more heavily reduced as part of our initiative to fully support Good Governance principles through Trustee boards.

Individual Trustees who are signed up as individual members (i.e. who paid the £25 membership fee) can get the book for just £5 !  (one per person and whilst stocks last)

Organisations signed up to organisational membership of the Network can purchase up to 5 copies of the book at just £10 per copy.  Of course you can go on to buy other copies from us at £15 as just mentioned.

The discounts are very significant and are likely to be snapped up quickly.  And it's thanks to the financial support of Yorkshire Forward that the Third Sector Hub has been able to initiate the Thrive Trustee Network in the first place and subsequently this book offer.

There are limited supplies at this discount so please join up with the Network and take up this book offer soon.

There are of course a few other points to mention.  If you can pick it up from VANEL offices then P&P is free, otherwise you'll need to pay postage.  And of course we don't have all of them in stock so we'll let you know delivery times.  Availability and eligibility for the offers are also entirely up to us, so snap up a copy now before the offer ends.

Let Karl or Charlotte know you want a copy (01472 231123 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and we'll sort it out from there.

Note:

Offer open to affiliate or associate members of VANEL.  Also open to organisations or individuals resident or working in North East Lincolnshire who are willing to share their details with the Third Sector Hub - i.e. so we can record who has received copies of the book through this scheme.

I keep being asked - and all the details are not yet online - so in summary this is how you join the Thrive Trustee Network.

If you are a Trustee then you can take up a years "individual membership" of the network for just £25.  That's barely £2 per month!  And for that you get to come to each of our bi-monthly "Trustee Together" networking events for free!  Of course you get more than that, but I'll come back to that.

Of course you may be a Trustee of several different organisations (whew) - but you only join once.  You are the member and you get the support you need regardless of your background, time and experience as a Trustee or how many roles you hold.

If you are an organisation/charity with a board of Trustees then because you value your board and want them to provide you with excellent leadership and governance you should sign up your organisation for "organisational membership" of the Network.

Organisational membership costs £125 for the year.  For that ALL of your Trustees become members of the Thrive Trustee Network automatically.  That's a massive saving if you were going to be paying for some of your Trustees to become members anyway.

That means that each and every one of your board Trustees can attend any or all of the "Trustee Together" networking events for free throughout the year. 

Of course there are other benefits too...

Don't forget the 50% discount on training courses that the Third Sector Hub runs.  You'll get your Trustee Network membership fee back in no time.

And all members get access to dedicated information and resources on the thrivetrustee.org.uk website & have access to content (such as discussion areas) that are not open to non-members.

There will also be other discounts and offers made available exlusively to indivdual members or organisational members as the network progresses.

And members of course have a say in how the network evolves.

Tip for organisations.  Why not include Board of Trustee development in your next funding/grant application.  £125 for Trustee Network membership and a bit for training courses will be great value for money in demonstrating and achieving development of the board.

What if you don't want to join?  Fair enough.  All the courses can be booked by anyone - you just don't get the 50% discount.  You can even (assuming you are a Trustee) attend the "Trustee Together" networking events but it will cost you £10 each time (instead of 6 events for £25 over the course of the year with membership).  And you don't get access to other offers or parts of the website.  So we'll be pleased to see you at an event, but why not get involved.

Answers to more of your questions should be on our Help pages very soon.  In the meantime call Karl for a chat or to answer your questions. (contact details here)

If you want to join simply give Charlotte or myself your details and we'll get an invoice out to you and keep you up to date with things as the Network comes online.

If you're still not sure, book a place on the launch "Trustees Together" evening on Monday 9th March at 5pm at the Fishing Heritage Centre. It will cost you £10 but you'll get that refunded if you decide to sign up to join the Network on the evening.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Karl

Holding the role of Chair or Co-chair of a board brings a specific set of responsibilities and issues.

To help you take a fresh look at this role we will be running a new training session "The View from the Top: A masterclass for Chairs and Co-Chairs" later in March.

This will be a half-day workshop/masterclass. Price is £15 only for those in Trustee roles within North East Lincs. 50% discount (as on all training) for Thrive Trustee Network members - just £7.50 ! (Price for those outsde the area or outside the sector is £35 each).

The masterclass will run in March, May, July and beyond. There are limited places so please put your name down now if you'd like first refusal on a place. The date of the March course will be confirmed very soon.

Call Charlotte on 01472 231123 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (contact details here).