Some thoughts on being a trustee of a UK charity
Friday, July 3rd, 2015
Our Chairman has just revealed her Calendar for 2016 and of course we are all expected to gasp at her tremendous talent! Not exactly shy about blowing her own trumpet she is already telling us how it is greatest in a long line of artistic masterpieces and you had best not dissent.
What many people who support the charity do not realise is that she is on commission, in my day it was ten percent but possibly it’s more now. I remember it being mentioned at a committee meeting but since it was pointed out that payments to charity trustees are illegal, it is now never mentioned.
The nature and extent of our Chairman’s business dealings with her own charity are shrouded in secrecy and a subject of great concern. As well as commission on her artistic efforts it is strongly suspected that she is paid for her time, as is at least one other trustee who’s paid position has been established beyond doubt.
However no trustees are officially paid with the ensuing tax liability. They are paid in cash which then entered in the accounts as being spent elsewhere. Of course this is several criminal offences – false accounting, fraud and theft as the recipients have no entitlement to the money they have taken.
Monday, June 1st, 2015
We now have a new lady on the charity’s committee since she was approved at the AGM. Is she a trustee or is she not?
Unlike normal charitys we have trustees who make the decisions and committee members who supposedly are not trustees and do as they are told.
It now gets a little murky as the committee members are none the less entered on Charity Commission records as being trustees.
Except in the case of our new lady member she has yet to appear on Charity Commission records.
In the old days new committee members were asked to fill in their name and address and sign a Charity Commission form which they did without question believing it was just red tape. This was an official record of their appointment as a trustee of the charity.
Our “gang of four” who run the charity and call themselves “The Trustees” must be worried their new colleague might actually read what she is signing and smell a very large rat.
Sunday, May 4th, 2014
Though our board of trustees nominally numbers 9 members, 4 of our trustees have decided that they are “super” trustees and will make all the decisions. Sadly, they see this situation as only right and proper. After all it is “their” charity and they are going to run it as they see fit, which seems to be for their benefit.
If we suggest good governance is important and that we should obey charity law this is treated with derision, these laws are just ridiculous red tape and an impedance. Anyway, they are not intended to be applied to charities like ours!
If you suggested this was in any way corrupt they would no doubt be outraged but it is definitely a state of affairs that spells long term doom for our charity.