Friday, 11 April 2008

I drove to Great Chesterton for a meeting of the Trustees Together group. This group has a focus on supporting trustees throughout the Eastern region and we had discussions on the successor to the Governance Hub, the regional plans, TrusteElearning, trustee conferences, recruitment, retention, training, networks and resources.

But the meeting ranged far wider too and we had good discussions on the LSC, Train to Gain, Quality Assurance, mergers, and development “toolkits”.

Resource pressures on the Charity Commission mean that it must focus its attention on large national charities “where the money is”. The Charity Commission is less and less able to properly regulate local charities and public confidence in charities has fallen to an all-time low. In these circumstances, what can a CVS do to safeguard the good name of its local charities and community groups? How can a CVS act as a consistent objective referee for tenders and funding applications from local groups? How can a CVS offer reassurance to local funders? How can a CVS ensure that it does not adopt a regulatory role?

It is a question which we all now struggle to answer.