One of our partners – Community Action Norfolk – have put together some resources to help show off how trustees work, and the role that they play in the VCSE sector for Trustee Week 2022.

People are often understandably confused about what being a trustee really involves. A good deal of governance work can go into resolving this for them. There are four distinct categories of trustee, each with a specific range of responsibilities and obligations:

• Holding Trustee – people who are specifically named as holding the title deeds to the property in a governing document. they may (or may not) also be Managing Trustees, but this is a separate role.
• Managing Trustee – a board of trustees who manage the charity – however, to hold title deeds for a property they must be an incorporated organisation.
• Custodian Trustee – an outside body who, like the Holding Trustee, has the title document but does not otherwise manage the charity
• Sole Trustee – another outside body (with village halls this is usually a Parish Council) who are the title holder and manage the charity.

Training for trustees:

In October we put on a training session for trustees. Empowering Communities Partnership are planning to offer a further free online Trustee Training session for Norfolk VCSE groups.

CAN’s Community Development Team will seek to cover the basics of Trusteeship. They will also help new and established Trustees better understand their roles. The session will cover:

• Different types of Trustees
• Appointments and Decision-making
• Liabilities and Conflicts of Interest
• Reporting requirements

To find out more: email tasha.higgins@communityactionnorfolk.org.uk

Social Media

Another one of our partners – Voluntary Norfolk – have put together a suite of graphics and other resources that VCSE organisations can use. They highlight what trustees do and how they are so important to the sector. These graphics are designed to be used on Faebook, Twitter and Instagram during Trustees week. This will be running from 7th-11th November.