Trustees Week 2020: 2 – 6 November 2020
Trustees’ Week is an annual event showcasing the great work of the 700,000 volunteer trustees who run charities in England and Wales. As an organising partner NCVO is delighted to play a role in supporting the campaign.
Trustees’ Week 2020 will take place 2–6 November. It’s an opportunity to highlight the excellent work of trustees, support boards to improve their governance, and encourage new people to consider trusteeship and volunteering opportunities. During the week, we’ll be running a variety of online activities, offering open access to all of our member governance tools and resources.
Our activity during the week will include:
- We’ll be publishing blog posts during the week highlighting our activities and key governance resources. Sign up to hear from NCVO
- Publishing an online training session to help you carry out a board effectiveness review. Which will be available from 2 November.
- A webinar hosted by the Code steering group will explore the newly updated Charity Governance Code
- An online panel will discuss organisational resilience for trustees
You can find out more about all our plans and sign up for alerts here and I’ll be in touch at the start of the week to share more.
Our Trustees Week partners are also running lots of exciting events and activity which you can view on the Trustees Week website this includes a festival of trusteeship hosted by Getting on Board.
Webinar 28 October 2020: Building good trustee relationships and what to do when things go wrong
Strong and effective board relationships – and good teamwork – are key to good governance. Building these relationships takes time and effort. When board relationships break down, the effects can be felt across an organisation. The pandemic has presented many challenges for boards – it has meant trustees have been forced to make difficult and complex decisions; it has changed the way boards meet and at times put strain on relationships.
In this webinar, two of NCVO’s governance consultants will explore what trustees can do to support their board to build strong and effective relationships. We will offer practical tips and guidance to help trustees develop a positive board culture, that allows for support and challenge. We will also give suggestions for what trustees and executives can do when tensions and conflict arise.
The webinar is free, and you can sign up here.
Extension to Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020
In June 2020 the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) made temporary changes to the law. These changes were designed to provide organisations with flexibility during the pandemic. They included the power to delay or hold member meetings remotely and breathing space to avoid insolvency.
Initially these temporary changes were in place until the end of September but new secondary legislation now in force means that many of these changes will now continue until either December or the New Year. Bates Wells law firm have detailed the practical implication of this extension.
Young Trustee Movement workshop
The Young Trustee Movement are hosting free 1 hour workshops across October and November that are intended to equip trustees in championing diversity on boards. By the end of the workshop trustees will:
- Be able to articulate and understand how young trustees can enable organisations to better: navigate uncertainty, future proof decisions and reflect the interest of their communities.
- Have a framework to understand how to approach diversity on boards.
- Be able to run a session with a board to take practical and achievable next steps.
Trustee Training
NCVO’s Trustee Training is now being delivered by Zoom. Our interactive sessions are split over two half days and offer an induction or refresher for board members. These have been hugely popular and we continue to add new dates. To browse our governance courses and other sessions visit our training pages.
Dan Francis is NCVO’s lead governance consultant. For more regular updates follow @mynameisdanfran or @NCVO on Twitter.
Dan is responsible for NCVO’s governance consultancy offer, focusing on governance reviews, board performance and trustee training. He joined NCVO from the National Union of Students (NUS) where, as a long standing consultant, he supported the organisational development of local students’ unions as charities. 
