BULLETIN No. 103: September 2011

This is a monthly bulletin going out to around 10,000 clients, contacts, friends, friends of friends so forth, to keep them in touch with what's going on in the world of charities. Tip: if like me you have a low attention span or this came to you by mistake, scroll down to the …And Finally.

Daryl Martin

SOCIAL NETWORKING:
The great thing about FB and Twitter is their immediacy. Those of us who have a tendency to type before we have engaged our brain can find unlimited ways to get into trouble. Some are even languishing in prison as I write this. Don't forget that more than a few normally sober upright churchgoing men and women got caught up in the recent madness in our cities and towns. Take sensible precautions to avoid anyone in your organisation bringing it into disrepute, or even laying it open to a lawsuit. Require all staff members and volunteers to agree that all postings will comply with common standards of respect and decency, and they should at all times conduct themselves in a professional manner.

PUBLIC BENEFIT REQUIREMENTS:
Trustees often tell me that they know their accounts are OK because they have been accepted by the Charity Commission. The CC commissioned Sheffield Hallam to do some research on this. They found that almost half the year end accounts they surveyed failed to meet the requirements and almost 90% failed to meet public benefit reporting requirements. One participant even said, 'we flagrantly disobey our objects', having been refused permission to change them; adding that, they have better things to do than b****r around and are consciously working outside their objects (colourful turn of phrase, indicating a degree of frustration). If you do need help or guidance on any of these issues (governing documents, change of objects, public benefit, yearend reporting etc.), write to me to see what we can do for you. (1402 charities surveyed: 30 spoken to, sample skewed to bigger charities.)

ARE YOU QUORATE?
Reading recently about the sole trustee of a charity convicted of embezzlement. Leaving aside my amazement at the fact of a sole trustee being tolerated, I'm aware that a lot of boards are below the number that's appropriate for them. Different reasons: getting harder to find the right people, inertia so forth. If you are below the number you should have, remember, if you don't have a quorum, you are restricted in decisions you can make as a board. This could seriously prejudice the work of the charity because effectively it can only mark time until there is a quorum in place. Contact me if you need help on this, and I'll talk you through. When you do recruit new trustees it's vital that they are right for you; I've done a lot of work on this lately. I have space in my diary (at present) to come and do some training or induction if it'll help (which it will).

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
Trustees can get confused over this at times. Where there is a conflict of interest it must be declared and managed. There was an issue recently where a trustee stood to benefit financially if a decision went a certain way, which it did. Of course then they are accused of influencing the decision. Well, they may or may not have done, but it's important that there be no appearance of mismanagement. Every trustees meeting should start with a request that any possible conflict of interest be declared. If you forgot to do this and a discussion has been progressing towards a decision, I suggest you step into the light before it's too late. I'll take confessions by e-mail. There's a court case pending where 2 trustees benefited by £150,000; I bet they forgot to declare a conflict of interest. If they are found guilty they are likely to have to pay it back.
What a dour bulletin this is turning out to be. It gets worse, but I'll make up for it in the ...And Finally.

PUBLIC BENEFIT (again):
The Charity tribunal will begin a hearing in November that will have significant implications to some thousands of charities, particularly those holding benevolent funds. Under the Charities Act 2006, the presumption that all charities benefited the public was removed. The question to be addressed is whether an organisation which relieves poverty among a restricted group, for example former professional footballers, can be regarded as charitable. This is going to be an important ruling for a lot of existing charities, including some of ours, and also benevolent societies attempting registration. I'll keep you posted on this one. The issue will boil down to how far reaching does public benefit have to be, and where does the line have to be drawn. Hopefully common sense will apply as opposed to the political correctness that has distorted so many decisions in recent years.

BLOGS:
Subjects covered in the last month include, how to say sorry: which is all about creating a culture of honour, a practical blog on what to do if you are the trustee worrying about the financial implications of a board decision, and another on keeping things simple. Don't forget my booklet, 'Fundraising Without Fuss'; some common sense thoughts on the subject. I'm working on getting some of my material onto Kindle. The blog about the dog that inherited $12m is getting record viewings.

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE:
Don't forget the new rates from 1st October:
Workers aged 21 or over: £6.08
Workers aged 18 - 20: £4.98
Workers aged under 18: £3.68

Remember that if you pay a 'volunteer', it's likely that they may slip over into employed status with employment rights. (thanks to Stewardship for this)

IT:
We just spent a sum of money, which we really don't have, on a cloud based customer relationship management (CRM) service. This will give us a quantum leap in having detailed information about our clients at the press of a button, and improve the service we provide. It'll also help us stay in touch with charities that haven't yet benefited from our services. Tony, our IT director says that registered charities can obtain 10 free licenses for the same service (worth over £10k per annum). If this could benefit you, get in touch with him. He's about to roll it out internally. I had a preview this week. It's very impressive.

WHERE DO CHARITIES TURN FOR ADVICE?
Now that the Charity Commission is scaling down its advice service, don't forget that we have a team in place with good experience and understanding to be able to help you. I'm currently working with a charity to ensure its overseas donations comply with HMRC regulations, and another on resolving board room conflict. We are also working with another charity on the tax implications of providing live in accommodation for an employed trustee.

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
We are looking to take on 20 to 30 new clients before the end of the year. May we quote for the preparation and examination of your yearend accounts? We can often make significant savings for you especially if you are in the medium size range. Of course we provide a range of other services as you'll see from our website. I'm especially interested in coming to you to provide trustee training or induction.

AND FINALLY...

The news gets unrelentingly worse by the day and people across the world get ever more fearful. Remember these words of Sam Gamgee in the Return of the King:

'It's like in the great stories, Mr Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you don't want to know the end, because how can the end be happy? How can the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.'

Some people see things that are and ask, 'why?' Some people dream of things that never were and ask, 'why not?' Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that. (George Carlin)

The only way to find out if you can trust someone is to trust them. (Me)

Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing himself. (Leo Tolstoy)

The only graceful way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved. (Essayist Russell Lynes)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. (George Eliot)