The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Good Governance: Future proofing for trustees conference
We'll be celebrating Trustees' Week 2024 at our Good Governance: Future proofing for trustees conference, 5 November 2024
On 5 November 2024 we’ll be bringing together over 100 trustees and charity and governance experts to celebrate Trustees' Week 2024 at our 'Good Governance: Future proofing for trustees' conference in Edinburgh.
We will celebrate the work trustees do and share inspiration, experience and knowledge. With interactive sessions and lots of opportunities for networking and learning, it will be an opportunity for you to reflect, and develop your knowledge and understanding of good governance.
On this page you'll find details on:
Event hosts and partners
The event is hosted by Scotland's Third Sector Governance Forum which brings together a range of partners with knowledge and expertise in governance issues. The partners work together to improve governance and leadership in the voluntary sector through a strategic approach.
We're grateful to CCLA and Foundation Scotland whose support has made this conference possible.
Conference agenda
We've a packed agenda for the day:
| Time | Title | Description |
| 9:30am | Arrivals and refreshments | Once you've arrived at Dovecot Studios and get yourself settled, enjoy some refreshments before we kick off the day's events. |
| 10:00am | Welcome and introductions | Welcome to everyone and outline of the day. |
| 10:10am | Session One: Why good governance is key to sustainability and success | In our opening session, we will be welcoming everyone and taking a look at the new updated Third Sector Governance Code, what's changed, and what you can do to ensure good governance in your organisation. Mercedes Jones from Foundation Scotland and Beth Mukushi from SCVO will explore the critical role trustees have in embedding meaningful climate action within their organisation. Alice Tucker, Third Sector Human Rights and Equalities, will explore how trustees can create an inclusive culture through their own behaviour and embed equality, diversity and inclusion across all aspects of their organisation to be more effective and informed, and to make better decisions. Chaired by Anna Fowlie (SCVO). |
| 11:20am | Refreshment break | |
| 11:40am | Session Two: New charity law in Scotland | The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023 is a new piece of legislation that builds on existing charity law in Scotland. Parts of the new Act came into force in April 2024, and parts of the Act will be introduced in the next few months. Changes include a new register of charity trustees and extensions to the list of disqualification for being a trustee. This session will explore what the changes might mean for your organisation and give you an opportunity to ask the Regulator and a charity law expert. With Charles Willis, Scottish Charity Regulator and Kenneth Pinkerton, Partner and Head of Brodies Charities & Third Sector Team. |
| 12:50pm | Lunch, networking and meet our event partners and supporters | Our event partners CCLA and Foundation Scotland will be available to answer your questions. Plus, take the chance to find out more about how to access further support from: • Chairs Network Scotland, ACOSVO • Aspen on trustee recruitment • Inspiring Scotland Specialist Volunteer Network • Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel • SCVO’s cyber resilience and digital teams • SCVO Trustee Network • Third Sector Human Rights and Equalities Project |
| 1:50pm | Session Three: Developing financial sustainability and resilience for the future | In our current economic climate voluntary sector organisations are facing increased challenges, from a changing funding landscape to increased demand on service delivery. The role of the Chair and the board of trustees in managing the additional pressures has meant it’s more important to understand the charity’s financial viability and be prepared to consider how to do things differently for the long term. All of this involves organisational and personal resilience and the board being prepared to make some difficult decisions along the way. ACOSVO will facilitate a leadership panel sharing their experiences and answering questions on how to plan ahead and be prepared to ensure all decisions align with your organisation's values, mission and purpose. With Celia Waring (CCLA), Dr Clare Mills (Charity Finance Group), Gail Burden (ACOSVO), Lynne Lamont (RBC Brewin Dolphin), Zoe Greenfield (consultant). Chaired by Lucinda Godfrey (ACOSVO). |
| 3:00pm | Closing thoughts, reflections and wrap-up | We'll sum up the day with the Governance Forum, reflecting on our highlights and looking to next steps. You'll have a chance to ask any final questions before we wrap-up for the day. |
Meet the speakers
Alice Tucker
Alice is the Senior Development Officer for THRE (Third Sector Human Rights and Equalities). THRE develops free resources and training to support third sector organisations towards taking a Human Rights and Equalities First Approach to their organisational development and delivery. As part of her work with THRE, Alice has produced a guide on applying human rights and equalities to board governance and co-developed an online training course on the same topic.
She currently serves on the board of Health in Mind and was involved in the development of their current strategy, which embeds human rights approaches throughout the organisation. Last year, Alice co-led the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Stakeholder Group as part of the review of the Scottish Governance Code for the Third Sector.
Anna Fowlie
Anna joined SCVO as Chief Executive in April 2018. Before that, she was Chief Executive of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) for nearly 9 years. The SSSC is the professional regulator for social workers and people working in adult and children's social care.
Her career started with 18 years working in HR in local government, after which Anna joined COSLA as part of the employers' function working on, for example, national pay negotiations. She then became lead for all policy relating to children and young people followed by a secondment to Scottish Government to lead on corporate parenting for children and young people in the care system.
Anna was on the board of Who Cares? Scotland for 8 years, and joined the Oversight Board for The Promise. She is on the board of Dads Rock, and of Prosper (formerly Scottish Council for Development and Industry). She has a degree in History of Art from Edinburgh University, a postgraduate qualification in Human Resources and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Beth Mukushi
Beth Mukushi leads Support Services at SCVO. This includes oversight of a range of services to help charities and community groups run effectively, including support with climate action, digital, governance and funding.
Beth has worked in the voluntary sector for more than 20 years, with experience running UK-wide information and advice services, digital inclusion programmes, online mental health support services and international development. She is currently a trustee with Paths for All, and on the board of Locohome Retrofit CIC.
Celia Waring
Celia is a Client Investment Director at CCLA who exist to harness the power of investment markets to help our clients maximise their impact on society. A previous career in charity fundraising and experience as a state school governor has given Celia helpful insight into the pressures and challenges facing the third sector. She has regular strategic discussions with trustees about the role investments can play in building financial resilience and how charities can optimise returns.
Charles Willis
Charles is a senior manager at OSCR, responsible for engagement with the voluntary sector and key stakeholders on the implementation of the Charities Act. Previously, he has worked with the European Commission and individual European nations, ministers and their teams, government departments, politicians, and key stakeholder organisations to create public policy across a range of policy areas.
Starting his career in the Cabinet Office and then the House of Commons, Charles has worked in every aspect of policymaking across the public, private, and third sectors.
Dr Clare Mills
Clare is Deputy CEO of the Charity Finance Group, leading their Policy and Communications Team and HR Team. Her career spans a range of policy, political and communications roles, focused on charity and not-for-profit roles since 2015. Prior to moving into the charity sector, she developed her keen interest in public policy, working for an MP for over a decade.
She is a Chartered PR Practitioner and Member of the CIPR and has a long track record of board level volunteering with several charities, schools and the NHS. When she’s not working, she can usually be found outside in beautiful Northumberland, where she’s lucky to live, and often on her lovely bike.
Gail Burden
Gail Burden is a highly accomplished charity CEO with extensive experience serving in chair and vice-chair roles, where she has overseen governance and strategic direction at both board and operational levels. Her deep knowledge of charity finance allows her to navigate complex financial landscapes, ensuring sustainability and growth while maintaining transparency and accountability. Gail is also skilled in long-term planning that aligns strategy with purpose and values to drive lasting impact. Her approach is built on strong personal resilience, which she has developed over years of leading organisations through change and challenges. Gail’s leadership is characterised by a focus on sustainability, mission alignment, and a commitment to creating resilient, values-driven cultures.
Kenneth Pinkerton
Kenneth Pinkerton, Partner and Head of Brodies Charities & Third Sector Team, specialises in charity law and governance, providing advice and guidance to charities and third sector organisations. Kenneth's clients have included philanthropists, Royal Charter bodies, large umbrella membership bodies, family foundations, culture bodies and sports organisations. He has also worked on several high-profile governance cases involving the Scottish Charity Regulator. He is a member of the Charity Law Association.
Lucinda Godfrey
Lucinda joined ACOSVO in October 2022 following 16 years as CEO at Dundee Carers Centre and started her career as a youth worker. Lucinda has significant experience of leadership, service design and community engagement and has previously served as a Trustee. She has undertaken several other leadership roles on advisory groups and panels. Lucinda works closely with the Trustees and leads the ACOSVO team to deliver our vision of excellent Voluntary Sector Leadership.
Lynne Lamont
Lynne is Head of Charity & Institutional Clients at RBC Brewin, leading the eight specialist Charity Investment Management teams up and down the country. In her role, she is responsible for strategic planning, the investment offering and the development of the client base and team. She is keen to ensure that all RBC Brewin Dolphin charity clients receive the same level of tailored investment advice and service and has a particular interest and expertise in Responsible investment, ESG and Trustee training on investment matters.
Lynne regularly attends Board and Executive meetings as both a trustee and trusted professional advisor. She is very much aware of challenging discussions that are taking place, and difficult decisions that are having to be made, particularly in terms of reserves management and sustainability. She takes a practical and reasoned approach to providing advice, ensuring that the reserves and investment policies remain relevant and can be communicated with all stakeholders to enhance understanding and future resilience.
Mercedes Jones
Mercedes Jones is a Fund Adviser with Foundation Scotland and leads the Climate Action Working group within the Foundation. Through a governance lens, she will explore the critical role of trustees in advancing meaningful climate action and share learning on how building trustee buy-in can empower your organisation to adopt effective environmental strategies and create lasting impact
Zoe Greenfield
Zoe has worked with charities and social enterprises for fifteen years. She brings international perspective having worked with organisations in more than 40 countries, and across varied sectors and causes including publishing and media development, homelessness, health, international development and the arts.
She was previously CEO of the Ethical Journalism Network, and prior to this held senior roles at the International Network of Street Papers. Now, as a freelance consultant, she provides strategic and operational guidance as well as hands-on support to a range of third sector organisations. Recent work includes governance support for the Public Interest News Foundation and Demos.
She is an Associate with Community Enterprise, supporting organisations across Scotland. She also works as a grant assessor, is a member of the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel and a trustee of Glasgow Film Theatre. Zoe is part of The Decelerator's network of practitioners supporting and enabling better endings in civil society organisations.
Helpful delegate information
Here's some information to read in advance to help you and your fellow delegates make the most of your day at our 'Good Governance: Future proofing for trustees' conference' on Tuesday 5 November at the Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh.
Registration and refreshments will begin at 9.30am and the event itself will begin at 10am. We aim to finish at 3.15pm. We'll provide lunch, refreshments name badges to help us all to network and connect.
Our friendly SCVO events team will welcome you on the day and will be available throughout the day to help you with any queries.
We're fully booked and operating a waiting list for this in-demand, free event. If you can no longer attend, please let us know so that someone else can benefit from your place. We appreciate your support with this!
Wifi
There is free Wifi available. The Wifi is called Dovecot Guest and the password is Studios10 which will be on signs in your event space.
Photographs and social media
We encourage our delegates to share their event experience on social media. Please tag us when you do! Please be mindful of your fellow delegates and if you plan to take a photo that includes them, please ask them if that's ok first.
Team members from SCVO may take photos at the event for use on corporate social media channels and on corporate websites. If for any reason you do not wish to be photographed on the day of the event, there will be yellow ‘no photo’ badges at the main registration for you.
Fire
There is no fire alarm test scheduled so if the fire alarm sounds, the venue staff will direct delegates to the exit routes and meeting points. Please familiarise yourself with the fire evacuation notices displayed in the room and the nearest escape route, indicated by the green signage above the doors. The fire assembly point is the High School Yards, to the right as you exit the front door.
NOTE: In the event of a fire do not use the lift and don’t re-enter the building until you have been notified by security or the Fire & Rescue services that it is safe to do so.
SCVO is committed to making the our events greener, to help us reduce our carbon footprint and to take positive climate action. With that in mind, we always encourage you to make sustainable travel choices where possible, we provided as few printed materials and merchandise items as possible and offer vegetarian catering as standard at all our events.
If you'd like to learn about steps your organisation can take to address the climate and nature emergencies, please visit our Growing Climate Confidence resources which are packed with helpful information to support your organisation to take positive climate action.
Food
All refreshments breaks and lunch will be served in the Ladies Baths. All dietary requirements and special meals will be labelled accordingly. Catering staff will be on hand to assist and answer any questions. As part of SCVO’s commitment to reducing our environmental impact, lunch will be vegetarian.
Travel and parking
Please use public transport, walking, cycling or wheeling to get to the venue if you can. If you’re travelling from out with Edinburgh and public transport is not an option for you perhaps consider car sharing with other organisations from your local area.
If you are travelling by car, there is no onsite parking. The nearest car park is St Leonards Car Park which is a 10 minute walk from the venue.
We’ll be looking at the newly revised Third Sector Governance Code at the conference, and you’ll be able to pick up your own free copy.
If you’d like to assess what you’re doing well and get a plan for areas to improve on your board, check out SCVO’s Good Governance Checkup which is based on the Code.
Get in touch
Got questions, feedback or just want to get in touch about the conference? We'd love to hear from you!