Applications: 0. (Post in London now slower than in Ethiopia - not a joke as I have experience of both). Coffee: not enough yet. Hours of sleep: 4. Ugh.
I have just come from a fascinating breakfast seminar at Clothworkers' Hall in the City, hosted by the European Association for Philanthropy and Giving and New Philanthropy Capital, whose work I like. (One of these links is a joke, by the way. See if you can guess which one.) It was all around Trusteeship, and was an opportunity to explore issues related to NPC's recent report on the topic.
From the perspective of a fundraiser in the an operational charity, I would guess that the most interesting discussion was around the question of the "donor-trustee". A cousin from across the pond noted that in the US, it is almost always expected that a trustee will either make a significant personal contribution to the charity, or be able to leverage, say $100,000 a year. That's the price for serving on the Board. Fail, or be unwilling, and you're out on your ear. As you will no doubt be aware, the UK model tends to avoid that sort of dynamic altogether, emphasising skills and volunteerism.
What do you think? Funding is of course the life-blood of a charity, and trustees are obliged to work in the beneficiaries' best interest. It may be assumed that they will press the flesh, especially if times are hard, but should it be expected? There are of course differing views. On the "assets" side, it narrows the gap between Trustees and staff, gets the former involves, and helps in securing the income base. On the "liabilities" side, could you end up with uncommitted or inappropriate trustees that you can't get rid of, because they're so financially valuable to the charity? Could there even be a spectre of a 'weighty' trustee inappropriately influencing the direction of the charity?
It's a tough-ee, as they say across t' water.
Whatever the ramifications of that particular conundrum, a lot of tessellating issues were raised about models of governance, recruitment of a Board and how to form a "team" rather than just a collection of skilled (and sometimes egotistical?) individuals, and how involved (or not) trustees should be in a charity's work.
