Could you be a future trustee/Council member of the Suffolk Horse Society? If you are a fully paid up member, then you are eligible.
The Council is the Suffolk Horse Society’s governing body, and is responsible for the strategic direction of the Society and monitoring its operations and overall performance. The Society is both a registered charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee, and a Council member is therefore both a charity trustee and a company director.
Trustees are the volunteers who lead the charity and
decide how it is run. Volunteering as a trustee gives you the opportunity to make a difference at a strategic level and ensure that a charity’s resources are used effectively. You share, with all members of that body, equal responsibility for the charity.
As trustees, the Council has a duty to ensure that the charity complies with the governing document, that is, the Articles of Association. These Articles of Association were updated at the 2024 AGM with members giving almost unanimous approval to bringing the Articles up to date. View the current Articles of Association.
The Council currently meets six times a year. In addition, Council members are expected to attend the AGM and certain other events, and also serve on a committee. Members elected to the Council serve for four years before retiring by rotation. Trustees are not expected to be perfect – they are expected to do their best to comply with their duties. Charity law generally protects trustees who have acted honestly and reasonably.
Trusteeship can be rewarding for many reasons – from a sense of making a difference to the charitable cause, to making use of the unique skills and experiences that each trustee brings to the role. It’s also likely to be demanding of your time, skills, knowledge and abilities. The Charity Commission of England and Wales states: “Charity Trustees are the people who form the governing body of a charity. They are responsible for controlling the management and administration of a charity. They should work together as a team, and have ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, ensuring that it is solvent, well-run and delivering charitable outcomes for the benefit of the public for which it has been set up.”
The Charity Commission website has much interesting and useful information about what is involved in being a charity trustee, or speak to any of the current trustees to find out what is involved.