Trustees’ Proceedings

Irrespective of the legal form in which a charity is set up, its trustees must discuss and make decisions about the affairs of the charity. They will do so routinely by means of formal trustee board meetings at regular intervals during the year – typically every three months – and they will additionally do so when particular non-routine matters need to be dealt with by them. 

These discussions and decisions are usually dealt with at in-person meetings, but if a charity’s constitution permits it, one or more trustees can take part remotely.

In each case, the meeting should be minuted and board decisions recorded in detail. For this purpose, you might find it helpful to make use of a template form of minutes for routine board meetings such as Minutes of Board Meeting of CIO Trustees, Unincorporated Charity: Trustee Board Minutes – Ordinary Meetings, or Minutes of Regular Board Meeting of CCLBG Trustees (Standard). 

In certain cases, it is possible for the trustees to make decisions without having a meeting where the charity’s constitution permits it. The trustees can instead pass written resolutions, and this can include approving the charity’s signing of certain legally binding commitments or arrangements. You might find it helpful to make use of a template form of written resolution such as the Trustees' Approval by Written Resolution: Charitable Company, Trustees' Approval by Written Resolution: Charitable Trust, Trustees' Approval by Written Resolution: Unincorporated Charitable Association or Trustees' Approval by Written Resolution: CIO.

It is also possible for trustees to appoint a committee comprising two or more of the trustees or to delegate authority to such a committee to sign certain documents or deal with certain other matters. There are templates at Trustees – Guidance Notes and Documents for the delegation by trustees of signing authority as well as board minutes for appointment of a committee.

Before trustees decide how they will deal with any routine or non-routine matters, including calling and conducting meetings, passing resolutions at meeting or in writing, establishing any committees or delegating any matters to any committee, they will need to consult the constitution of their charity to find out what they may do and how they may do it in that regard. There are template constitutions at Charity Constitution Document Templates.