CHARITY DIVISION

Summer Newsletter July 2009 

Trustees - Are Yours The Valuable Resource They Should Be?

The enlightened charity realises that the appointment of experienced,enthusiastic Trustees is vital to the successful running of a charitable organization but often I see that Trustees have been selected for other reasons, their long association with the charity, their address books, often replicating the skills of people employed by the charity rather than complementing them.  Sometimes Trustees remain far longer than their enthusiasm, bringing in new blood on a regular basis is highly valuable in terms of new knowledge and ideas.  A term of between three and five years is recommended and this should be recorded in your Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The Charity Commission suggests:- Prospective trustees should be selected for their ability to make an effective contribution to your charity in terms of skills and experience and you should assess what skills are lacking from the trustee body. But where do you find these people, some Charities approach professional firms of solicitors and accountants, the NCVO http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk maintains details of trustee finding services, advertising in local press opens this up to a wider range of people in the community or you could speak to me!

HOW MANY CANDIDATES CAN YOU EXPECT TO APPLY FOR YOUR VACANCY?

Well it all depends on the nature of your vacancy - fundraising roles still attract a modest response whereas some senior management roles we have recently worked on have had between two and three hundred applications.  You have to read every one carefully and, even if you don't have the time to acknowledge receipt of every application, it is considered poor form if you don't bother with rejection letters in a timely and polite manner.  This is especially important for the charity sector, if it is important to maintain support from the community.  You don't want to alienate those of have taken the time and trouble to apply for your vacancy, probably filling in an application form, writing a supporting statement and sending you their cv.

However, what do you do when you receive that number of applications?  Well you could instruct Cathedral Executive to do the recruitment for you and you end up with a shortlist of five candidates who have all been interviewed and screened.  They then deal with the rejection letters.  Or you could just hand over the details of the unsuccessful candidates to us to take on the response management - for a modest fee of course.  Or you could spend a couple of days doing it yourself if you've got the time.

HAVE YOU WRAPPED UP YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE?

Ok, so you've got a website - we all know how important that is.  But is it any good? Do you know how many visitors you get to the site?  Can you fundraise from your site?   What else do you do online?  What else CAN you do online?  Does your organization Tweet?  Is social networking just for the youngsters or can your organisation take advantage of this free resouce?  We are planning to run a free seminar in association with Optix and Everys solicitors in October - more details in the Autumn newsletter.

 The World's Best Job

Ben Southall, a charity fundraiser from Hampshire, has beaten nearly 35,000 applicants to land a six-month contract as Island Manager on the Great Barrier Reef.  His job will involve travelling around the islands, liaising with the tourists and writing a blog.  In return he will be paid roughly £70,000 and will get to live in a luxury villa. I bet it took Queensland Tourism a while to deal with their rejection letters! What would your dream job be?

FOLLOW BEN'S ADVENTURES AT www.bestjobben.com

Annie Metcalfe DipSW, Dip Business Coaching, MNLP

Annie has a background in managing and developing services across a range of health and social care sectors.  She left her last senior management role within the public sector to set up aim2aim Consultancy in 2000.  Her clients range from private companies, charities and public sector organizations.  She specialises in leadership and management development coaching programmes as well as management supervision and facilitation of senior management teams.  She also offers consultancy on a wide range of organisational issues.. See her website www.aim2aim.co.uk.  Annie will be in Devon in August 2009, if you wish to meet with her to discuss your organisations needs in more detail.

CRACKING CANDIDATES - SUMMER 2009

Mike - Recently relocated back to Devon, most recent role as director of small charity with responsibility for growing income from £50k to over £250k over a five year period, the construction of a £1m community building and establishing a wholly owned trading subsidiary.  Displays a combination of entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to the charity sector.  Available immediately, seeking c£30k

Richard - Currently living in Devon and working in London as Operations Director with an overseas humanitarian charity.  Now seeking a role based in the West Country, his experience lends itself well to working with the homeless or ex-offenders.  Degree qualified, this candidate offers exceptional negotiation skills, the ability to develop funding sources and a dynamic and energetic working style.  Three months notice required, seeking c£40k