Charity Trustee Networks and Small Charities Coalition merged on 12 March 2011.
Click on the logo below for
more information.
.thumbnail.jpg "Small Charities Coalition")
Small Charities Coalition
Roger Howarth
What with Trustees’ Week fast approaching, we’ve decided to break from our traditional question and answer format and share the experiences of Roger Howarth, Chair of the British & Foreign Schools Society (BfSS), as this week's Trustee of the Week.
In the following article Roger discusses BfSS' recent Innovation Forum and the importance for trustee boards to revaluate their organisation's charity's strategic direction.
We hope you find it interesting and enjoy the many events coming up at the end of the month.
Reflections for Trustee Week
Most charity trustees, when asked what gives them the most pleasure and satisfaction from their role, will say something along the lines of seeing how the funding of a project has changed the lives of the beneficiaries for the better. It is indeed the same for the Trustees of the BfSS when they reflect on the fruits of their giving of over half a million pounds each year to really worthy educational projects around the world. But there can also be other rewards. In this case it was the thrill of Trustees coming together to engage in dialogue about future policy, strategy and practice and in particular engaging together on how we could be more innovative in the work that we do.
The request to discuss ‘Innovation in the work of the BfSS’ came initially from one Trustee who recognised that Joseph Lancaster, whose legacy is the foundation of our charitable objects, was himself an innovator. What finally evolved as a means of giving the topic justice was a half day forum attended by all Trustees at which we shared thoughts and ideas via prepared papers, small group work and finally a plenary session to tie down what we wanted to do. In one sense this may not seem out of the ordinary but in reality I have found that with smaller charities, the notion of innovation and seeking to address it in this way, is well down the priority list, if indeed it is a priority.
For the BfSS the Innovations Forum was held at a time when some six new Trustees had been appointed through a skills and experienced based recruitment process. It was an ideal time for bonding and sharing fresh ideas and thinking on a topic aimed at making Trustees consider what the Society could do in a different way to make a difference. In searching for a view of what innovation meant for the BfSS, the Trustees were saying we no longer want to simply work the way we have always done if there are more creative, and more importantly effective, ways of improving the benefit our giving will have to beneficiaries.
So we are now in the process of putting together the ideas that came out of the Forum and will be working with our Director to give a refresh to our future strategic and operational thinking. This will be based on the outcomes of the innovative approaches that we explored. I was moved by the depth of thinking, and the breadth of initiatives, that came out of the Forum and moreover, the request from more than one Trustee that we hold a similar day each year to explore our strategic direction and thinking in order to maintain an effective presence in an ever changing world.
Roger Howarth
Chair, British & Foreign Schools Society (BfSS)
If you are interested in becoming our next Trustee of the Week please click on the following link and complete the survey attached: http://www.clicktools.com/survey?iv=1kqx0tudm8fuoe
Most charity trustees, when asked what gives them the most pleasure and satisfaction from their role, will say something along the lines of seeing how the funding of a project has changed the lives of the beneficiaries for the better. It is indeed the same for the Trustees of the BfSS when they reflect on the fruits of their giving of over half a million pounds each year to really worthy educational projects around the world. But there can also be other rewards. In this case it was the thrill of Trustees coming together to engage in dialogue about future policy, strategy and practice and in particular engaging together on how we could be more innovative in the work that we do.
The request to discuss ‘Innovation in the work of the BfSS’ came initially from one Trustee who recognised that Joseph Lancaster, whose legacy is the foundation of our charitable objects, was himself an innovator. What finally evolved as a means of giving the topic justice was a half day forum attended by all Trustees at which we shared thoughts and ideas via prepared papers, small group work and finally a plenary session to tie down what we wanted to do. In one sense this may not seem out of the ordinary but in reality I have found that with smaller charities, the notion of innovation and seeking to address it in this way, is well down the priority list, if indeed it is a priority.
For the BfSS the Innovations Forum was held at a time when some six new Trustees had been appointed through a skills and experienced based recruitment process. It was an ideal time for bonding and sharing fresh ideas and thinking on a topic aimed at making Trustees consider what the Society could do in a different way to make a difference. In searching for a view of what innovation meant for the BfSS, the Trustees were saying we no longer want to simply work the way we have always done if there are more creative, and more importantly effective, ways of improving the benefit our giving will have to beneficiaries.
So we are now in the process of putting together the ideas that came out of the Forum and will be working with our Director to give a refresh to our future strategic and operational thinking. This will be based on the outcomes of the innovative approaches that we explored. I was moved by the depth of thinking, and the breadth of initiatives, that came out of the Forum and moreover, the request from more than one Trustee that we hold a similar day each year to explore our strategic direction and thinking in order to maintain an effective presence in an ever changing world.
Roger Howarth
Chair, British & Foreign Schools Society (BfSS)
If you are interested in becoming our next Trustee of the Week please click on the following link and complete the survey attached: http://www.clicktools.com/survey?iv=1kqx0tudm8fuoe