RDF Trustee Profile & Role Guidelines

RDF TRUSTEE PROFILE & ROLE GUIDELINES

Role Description

As the primary decision-making body of The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF), RDF Trustees have specific responsibilities. The Board of Trustees must accept responsibility for directing the affairs of the Charity, ensuring it is solvent and well-run, and that it acts within its Constitutional objectives. Trustees are accountable for their decisions and actions to the Charity’s governance structures, the public, courts, funders and service users. 

Role Purpose

To agree and regularly monitor the Charity’s strategic directions and ensure that it pursues its objectives in keeping with these strategic directions.
With the other Trustees, ensure that the organisation functions within the legal, charitable and financial requirements of a charitable organisation and strives to achieve best practice.
To actively contribute in giving clear strategic direction to the organisation and the Charity and setting overall policy together with the Charity's chief or senior executive.
To act in the interests of RDF as a whole and the wider society as laid out in the charity's Constitution.
To ensure effective and efficient administration of the Charity.
To ensure the financial stability of the organisation and the proper investment of funds in accordance with the charity’s stated aims and objectives and relevant legislation.
If deemed by the board as required, to appoint the Charity’s Chief or Senior Executive and monitor his/her performance.
To use any specific skills, knowledge and experience to help the Board of Trustees reach sound decisions.
To chair and /or attend committees or meetings given delegated authority by the board.

Duties of Trustees

Trustees have, and must accept, ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of their charity, ensuring that it is solvent and well-run, and delivering the charitable outcomes for the benefit of the public for which it was set up. Trustees need to keep in mind the following areas of responsibility:

Ensuring Compliance

Trustees must ensure that their charity complies with:

Charity law, and the requirements of the Charity Commission as regulator; in particular you must ensure that the charity prepares reports on its work and submits annual returns and accounts in accord with any requirements by law.

The requirements or rules, and the charitable purpose and objects, set out in the charity’s Constitution (which is its primary governing document). All trustees will be provided with a copy of this document and be familiar with it.

The requirements of other legislation and other regulators, if any, which govern the activities of the charity; these will vary according to the type of work the charity carries out, and whether it employs staff or volunteers, for example Employment law.

It is the requirement for Trustees to act with integrity and avoid any personal conflicts of interest or misuse of charity funds or assets.

Duty of Prudence

Trustees must:

Ensure that the charity is and will remain solvent; this means that you need to keep yourself informed of the charity’s activities and financial position.

Use charitable funds and assets wisely, and only to further the purposes and interests of the charity.
Avoid undertaking activities that might place the charity’s property, funds, assets or reputation at undue risk.
Take special care when investing the funds of the charity or borrowing funds for the charity to use.

Duty of Care

Trustees must:

Exercise reasonable care and skill as trustees, using personal knowledge and experience to ensure that the charity is well-run and efficient.
Consider getting external professional advice on matters where there may be material risk to the charity, or where the trustees may be in breach of their duties.

Dealing with Complaints

If a member of staff, a beneficiary, a volunteer or another Board member makes a complaint to a Trustee or the Board of Trustees: If the Board deems it appropriate to get involved - it should take extra special care to investigate thoroughly all the circumstances and background details of the specific incident referred to. You should take care not to take actions based on knee-jerk reactions. You should also take care not to form superficial, subjective, emotional or character judgements from complaints that express negativity about a person, but do not have a specific incident that can be fully investigated - or sufficient evidence that proves the complaint without element/s of any doubt. You should guard against getting caught up into (taking sides in) internal operational staff politics. 

Consider getting external professional advice when it comes to investigating complaints. Involving independent professional bodies to investigate may normally be considered as a wise and prudent move, especially when complaints are difficult or complex. The charity should have a reserves or HR issues budget enabling them to meet such costs.

Management/Governance Structure:

The Trustees can appoint or elect a Chief Executive who reports directly to the Board of Trustees. If the CEO operates under another title it should be recorded in writing that person is the Senior Leader and what The Charity Commission would normally consider as the CEO. All other members of 'operational' staff operate or function under the CEO and report only to the CEO. It is the CEO's responsibility only to appoint, hire or dismiss all other members of operational staff. 

The Trustees and Board of Trustees have no jurisdiction with speaking to operational staff unless this has been arranged or permitted by the CEO.  Such arrangement or permission can be ended by the CEO at any time. Exceptions to this might be when there is a serious complaint or allegation being investigated by the board of trustees, or where disciplinary procedures have been properly enacted. 

Person Specification

Who cannot stand as a trustee?

The Charity Commission’s full explanation of the automatic disqualification rules for charity trustees include:

Anyone who has an unspent conviction for an offence involving deception of dishonesty.
Anyone who is an undischarged bankrupt.
Anyone who has been removed from a trusteeship of a charity by the Courts of Charity Commission for misconduct or mismanagement.
Anyone who is disqualified from being a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
  

Essential Skills and Abilities

A commitment to the aims and objectives of The Roger Diamond Foundation and to promoting its activities.
A willingness to devote sufficient time and effort.
Strategic vision.
Good, independent judgement.
An ability to think creatively.

Any specific skills required by the organisation.

An understanding and acceptance of legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship, or willingness to learn.

An ability to work effectively as a member of a team while contributing an independent perspective.
A commitment to Nolan’s seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

Terms of Appointment

The term of appointment will normally be 1, 2, or 3 years. Retiring members of the Board are eligible for re-appointment for a further term of 3 years. A Trustee who has served two consecutive terms of office shall, if invited to do so by the Chairman and the Chief Executive, be eligible for re-election for three consecutive periods of one year each. 

Trustees are required to attend the AGM, and (additionally) at least 3 General Meetings of the Board a year. There may also be further meetings and events to attend. It is recommended therefore, that you are able to volunteer for RDF on average a minimum of about 24 hours each year, or the equivalent minimum of approximately 2 hours a month.

You may be required to attend training events relevant to the role, as necessary.