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.
Who you need
The members of governing bodies go by a variety of names:
- Trustees
- Management board or
- Executive Committee Members
- Directors.
The name depends on your legal status, governing document and custom and practice. If you’re registered as a company, you’ll have a ‘Board of Directors’. If you’re a charity, it will be ‘Trustees’. What’s important is that the individuals involved are familiar with the duties and liabilities associated with their role. We’ll generally use ‘trustees’ to cover this range of roles.
Trustees are there to lead, control and supervise the organisation’s activities. It’s the part of the organisation with formal power and responsibility, which are detailed in the governing document, and backed up by law.
Collective responsibility and liability
Village and community hall trustees are often members of a local community who have decided to step up to help make sure a space can be run well and can do well. It’s often a role that requires creativity, patience and perseverance.
Some people considering whether to be a trustee may worry about taking on an official role because it comes with specific responsibilities and liabilities (meaning things you can be held responsible for). This can sometimes mean it is hard to get people involved.
All trustees share a collective responsibility for running a village hall, for the property management, financial policies and procedures, and oversight of any staff and volunteers.
The structure you choose will determine whether trustees are individually liable for any issues – some structures, like a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, limit liability for individuals.
There are specific roles that you’ll need on your board of trustees to make sure it’s running effectively. Sometimes people might take on more than one role, but you should be mindful of the amount of work involved to make sure people aren’t overwhelmed.
| Chair or convenor |
| The Chair or Convener has a leadership role and is usually delegated the line-management of the chief executive on its behalf. Key duties can include: - preparing agendas for the meeting in consultation with the staff and other trustees - ensuring meetings are run efficiently, and discussion and decision-making is democratic and fully participative - holding the casting vote in the event of a split decision - ensuring that AGMs and EGMs are carried out according to the governing document. The Chair may also represent the organisation at external events and meetings, act as a cheque signatory, and take part in staff recruitment. Many organisations also appoint a Vice-Chair to share the workload and deputise for the Chair. |
| Treasurer |
| All trustees are responsible for financial oversight. The treasurer’s role is to provide the information needed to do this. Specific duties can include: - controlling and accounting for the organisation’s finances - issuing receipts for cash received, keeping records of cash paid out, and being a counter signatory to any major banking transaction - overseeing bookkeeping - presenting financial reports, raising issues and answering questions at regular meetings and the AGM - liaising with the auditors or financial examiners for the annual review of accounts - ensuring statutory returns are made to any relevant regulators. |
| Secretary |
| The Secretary can be responsible for many specific tasks, some of which will be regular practical administrative duties of paid staff in larger organisations. These can include: - convening meetings and booking rooms - dealing with correspondence and being a cheque signatory - preparing agendas for meetings (in consultation with the Chair)taking the minutes of meetings and ensuring back-up information is available where required. |
You might want to also bring in trustees who have specific skills and experience, for example technical knowledge on electrics, plumbing or restoration, or people with experience of running events. If there’s something you would really like to do more of – like working with young people, increasing your digital skills, or focusing on the environment, then you could recruit for or invite people who have experience in those areas.
While some of what's involved in having a trustee or management board can sound quite formal, there are lots of ways to do things flexibly and collectively too. If you're trying to get new people on board, they could shadow existing members or job-share for a while to help them understand what's involved. There are also some responsibilities you can share to stop someone getting bored or burnt out - like rotating who chairs your meetings or takes notes.
You can also create subgroups on your board to look at specific projects or activities, like events or sustainability.
Read more about roles and responsibilities of trustees.