Charity Commission: Trustee Guides

Charity Commission launches a new push on trustee guides as sector faces challenging year with ‘Here to help’ 5-minute guides, raising awareness of core trustee duties.

The Charity Commission’s latest research shows that just 7 out of 10 trustees answered basic role requirements correctly – demonstrating a knowledge gap that could lead to unintentional governance failings. Their 5-minute guides act as a core syllabus offering trustees engaging, informative content covering the basics all trustees should know. The Commission encourages trustees to refresh their knowledge and fill any gaps so that they can best serve their charities – and those who rely on them.

The core suite of 5-minute guides covers advice on the following subject areas (click on the links to access):

• Delivering purpose – how to use your charity’s governing document, how to deliver on your charity’s purposes and the law.
• Managing finances – how to ensure your charity’s money is safe, properly used and accounted for.
• Conflicts of interest – how to identify and deal with conflicts of interest in your charity.
• Making decisions – advice on how to make valid trustee decisions that are in your charity’s best interests.
• Reporting information – how and what you need to report to the Commission.
• Safeguarding people – your responsibilities to keep everyone who comes into contact with your charity safe from harm.
• Political activity & campaigning – charities that want to support, or oppose, a change in government policy or the law.

Each guide is accompanied by a video (apart from Political activity and campaigning) which can be accessed either by clicking on the links above or the video screenshots below:

posted 7 February 2023