You should consider taking appropriate advice about any changes. People with knowledge of the community – for example, as users of services or as local residents - can make very valuable trustees. The Commission may have to take regulatory action to protect the charity from further harm or to deal with any misconduct or mismanagement by the trustees. All trustees should be able to demonstrate values such as honesty and integrity. Company law and the Charities Act impose similar duties on directors of charitable companies and trustees of CIOs (see section 11 of this guidance). A charity’s beneficiary group is usually defined in its governing document. ‘Have regard to’ does not have a strict legal definition, but generally means ‘take into account’ or ‘consider’, rather than ‘comply with’. See section 11 of this guidance for more detail. Remember, those trustees who sign the trustees’ annual report and accounts are signing on behalf of the whole trustee body so all of the trustees are responsible for the accounts. Involving the charity’s staff, volunteers and others with an interest in the charity in the planning process can be helpful. The company directors of a charitable company are also its charity trustees. The Commission’s guidance on risk management sets out the basics of dealing with risks and includes a risk management model, made up of the following steps: Institute of Risk Management guide for charities, Charities: how to protect vulnerable groups including children. How you prevent a conflict of interest from affecting a decision will depend on the circumstances and the seriousness of the conflict of interest. All charities face some risks. You may find it simplest to vest the land in the Official Custodian for Charities. Growth Schemes: These schemes are appropriate for investors who are looking for capital appreciation in the long run. Read about The Official Custodian for Charities’ land holding service. Some trustees have special roles, such as the chair and the treasurer. This is called the voluntary principle. ‘Beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ means a person or group of people eligible to benefit from a charity. Charities vary in terms of their size and activities. If your charity has a wider voting membership in addition to the trustees, your governing document may contain specific provisions about when to involve members in decisions, for example through general meetings. Be careful to follow the rules in your charity’s governing document and the law when appointing trustees. Vicarious liability of a charity or its trustees. This exchange takes place at a predetermined time, as specified in the contract. Some decisions are simple and straightforward; others can be complex or far reaching in their consequences. You should read this guidance if you are a trustee of any charity based in England or Wales, including: You should also read this guidance if you are thinking about setting up a charity or becoming a trustee in England or Wales. Trustees have specific duties that should be set out in your organisation's constitution or governing document. know your donor (for example, if your charity receives large donations, particularly anonymous or cash donations or with conditions attached), know your partner (if your charity relies on partners or intermediaries to carry out any of its work), know your beneficiaries (for example if your charity makes grants of cash or other financial support directly to individuals), children and young people under 18 years of age, fundraising (asking for donations, legacies or grants), the costs, benefits and risks of different methods of generating income, any legal requirements that the charity must comply with, including fundraising regulations, and restrictions on commercial trading, the charity exists for charitable purposes, but the trading subsidiary exists to generate income; their aims and interests are different; you need to distinguish between them, if the trading subsidiary starts to fail, the charity must not bail it out; this would be putting the charity’s funds at risk, charity trustees who are also directors of the subsidiary have a conflict of interest, if a charity trustee is also a director of the trading subsidiary, the restrictions on payments and benefits to trustees also apply to any payments or benefits as a director, put in place clear policies and procedures to deal with income and expenditure, ensure the charity keeps accurate records of income and expenditure, put appropriate safeguards in place for money, assets and staff if, make sure the property is recorded as belonging to the charity - see, ensure it’s properly maintained and being correctly used, make sure the charity has sufficient insurance, obtain written advice, including a valuation, from a qualified surveyor before agreeing a sale or granting a lease for more than 7 years, advertise the sale or lease, unless the surveyor advises otherwise, the loan is needed and used for an activity that fits with your charity’s purposes, the charity will be able to repay the loan, the charity complies with relevant law including employment, pension, equality and health and safety law, volunteers are clearly distinct from employees in terms of responsibilities and rights; for example by not requiring volunteers to work set hours, nor paying them more than expenses they actually incur, people are clear about what they are supposed to do, through appropriate job descriptions for staff or role descriptions for volunteers, people are aware of the rules and boundaries within which they must work, for example, when representing or speaking on behalf of the charity, people know what to do if there’s a problem, people know what they need to report and who they report to, senior managers are not be disqualified (see below), must use reasonable care and skill, making use of your skills and experience and taking advice when necessary, buying or selling land (most charities must take advice from a surveyor or other qualified person when selling charity land), entering into novel, long-term, complex or high-value contracts, prevent or minimise any further loss or damage, if appropriate, report it to the Commission, the police if a crime has been committed, and any other regulators that the charity is accountable to, plan what you will say to your staff, volunteers, members, the public or the media, take reasonable steps to prevent it from happening again - review controls and procedures, take appropriate advice, harm to your charity’s work, beneficiaries or reputation, use enforcement powers to protect the charity’s assets or secure their proper application, income up to £10,000 should complete the relevant sections of the annual return, which include updates to trustees, income above £10,000, and all CIOs, must prepare and file an annual return form, income above £25,000, and all CIOs, must also file copies of their trustees’ annual report and accounts, benchmarking (comparing and learning) with another organisation, an independent review by a suitably qualified adviser, to their charity, for a financial loss caused by them acting improperly, to a third party that has a legal claim against the charity that the charity can’t meet, can relieve trustees from liability if they have acted honestly and reasonably and have not benefited from their actions, rarely enforce liability on an unpaid trustee who has made an honest mistake, expect higher standards from trustees who act in a professional capacity or are paid for being trustees, breaches of an employee’s terms, conditions or rights, failing to pay for goods or services, or to fulfil the terms of a contract, a member of the public being injured on the charity’s premises, ensure trustees understand their responsibilities, ensure the charity can meet its financial obligations, particularly before agreeing to any contract or substantial borrowing, ensure the charity can meet any obligations to staff pension schemes, hold regular trustee meetings and keep proper records of decisions made and the reasons for those decisions, ensure you prevent conflicts of interest from affecting decisions, ensure any transactions with and benefits to trustees or connected persons are properly authorised, take appropriate advice from a suitably qualified person when you need to, if you delegate any powers, give clear written instructions and make sure the instructions are being followed, ensure the charity has effective management and financial controls including, keep receipts and records of income and expenditure, ensure the charity is complying with other laws that apply to it, consider whether the charity needs additional insurance or needs to become incorporated, the charity itself can enter into contracts or employ staff, or the trustees must do these things personally, land is held by the charity itself or by the trustees (or someone the trustees appoint for that purpose), trustees have specific legal duties that go with that legal structure, making sure the charity keeps proper accounts, reviewing the charity’s financial performance, drawing up or reviewing policies for finance and investment, ensuring that the charity has robust and effective financial controls in place, liaising with finance staff and with the charity’s independent examiner or auditor, reporting on financial matters to the members, in a membership charity, helps plan and run trustee meetings (and in a membership charity, members’ meetings), takes the lead on ensuring that meetings are properly run and recorded, takes the lead on ensuring that trustees comply with their duties and the charity is well governed, might have a second or casting vote if a vote on a trustees’ decision is tied, but only if this is specified in the charity’s governing document, may act as a spokesperson for the charity, acts as a link between trustees and staff, line manages the chief executive on behalf of the trustees, falls within one or more of 13 ‘descriptions of purposes’ listed in the Charities Act, is for the public benefit (the ‘public benefit requirement’), a ‘custodian trustee’ is a corporation appointed to hold property for a charity; it isn’t a charity trustee and must act on the lawful instructions of the charity trustees, ‘holding trustees’ are individuals appointed to hold property for a charity; they aren’t charity trustees, they must act on the lawful instructions of the charity trustees and in accordance with any provisions in the governing document.