The statutory duties of a trustee are:

1. To ensure that the charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit. This means that a Trustee should:
• understand the charity’s purposes as set out in its governing document
• plan what the charity will do, and what the charity should achieve
• be able to explain how all of the charity’s activities are intended to further or support its purposes
• understand how the charity benefits the public by carrying out its purposes

2. To comply with the charity’s governing document and the law. This includes charity law, company law and any other relevant legislation or regulations.

3. To act in the charity’s best interests. As a Trustee, you must:

• do what you and your co-Trustees (and no-one else) decide will best enable the charity to carry out its purposes
• with your co-Trustees, make balanced and adequately informed decisions, thinking about the long term as well as the short term
• avoid putting yourself in a position where your duty to your charity conflicts with your personal interests or loyalty to any other person or body
• not receive any benefit from the charity unless it’s properly authorised and is clearly in the charity’s interests; this also includes anyone who is financially connected to you, such as a partner, dependent child, or business partner.

4. To manage the charity’s resources responsibly. As a Trustee, you must:

• make sure that the charity’s assets are only used to support or carry out its purposes; its resources must be used exclusively in pursuance of its objects; the organisation must not spend money on activities which are not included in its own objects, no matter how worthwhile or charitable those activities are
• not take inappropriate risks with the charity’s assets or reputation
• not over-commit the charity
• take special care when investing or borrowing; ensure the financial stability of the charity; protect and manage the property of the charity and ensure the proper investment of the charity’s funds.
• comply with any restrictions on spending funds
• ensure that appropriate procedures and safeguards are in place and take reasonable steps to make sure that these are followed in order to prevent fraud or theft.

5. To act with reasonable care and skill. As a Trustee, you must:

• Make use of your skills and experience and take appropriate advice where necessary.
• Contribute actively to the board of trustees’ role in giving firm strategic direction to the organisation, setting overall policy, defining goals and setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets.
• Give enough time, thought and energy to the role, for example by preparing for, attending and actively participating in all Trustee meetings.

6. To ensure that the charity is accountable by compliance with statutory accounting and reporting requirements

7. To safeguard the good name and values of the organisation.

8. To ensure effective and efficient administration of the organisation. The Trustees have the power to delegate the performance of any act, including the exercise of any power or discretion, to a committee consisting of any two or more of the Trustees. The Trustees must exercise reasonable supervision over the committee and the committees must promptly report their acts and proceedings
to the Trustees.

9. To appoint the staff and monitor their performance.

Other duties

In addition to the above statutory duties, each Trustee should use any specific skills, knowledge or experience they have to help the Trustee Board reach sound decisions. This may involve:

• Scrutinising board papers
• Leading discussions
• Focusing on key issues
• Providing guidance on new initiatives
• Representing Trustees on the Events Committee
• Other issues in which the Trustee has a special expertise.

The Trustees of the Hallaton and Isabella Stenning Trust accept these as their responsibilities and role description.