Organisations in the United States are attempting to create a national platform for U.S. nonprofits, to:

• Forge a common identity based on shared values;
• Develop a unified vision and message;
• and Exercise a collective voice.

The Nonprofit Congress will hold Town Hall meetings around the country leading up to a national meeting in October. http://www.nonprofitcongress.org.

As of last week, there is a ’single front door’ providing information on all current opportunities for funding through the Lottery, at http://www.lotteryfunding.org.uk. (Press release: http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=195691&NewsAreaID=2%20.)

Big Lottery Fund has launched a £155 million BASIS programme (Building and Sustaining Infrastructure Services) to fund support for the voluntary and community sector in England. Press release: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/newsroom/release.aspx?prId=2034.

Awards for All, the small Lottery grants scheme for local communities, has raised the ceiling for funding awards to £10,000, with a new lower threshold of £300. Press release at http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=194469&NewsAreaID=2, or see http://www.awardsforall.org.uk.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has published a guide to resources for projects focusing on next year’s 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. In pdf, 1.32Mb.

A Certificate in Credit Union Practice for those working in the Credit Union movement (volunteer, officer or employee) has been designed by the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland with Association of British Credit Unions Limited. It covers the law and practice throughout the UK.

See ABCUL news item at http://www.abcul.coop/page/news.cfm#295 (large page), or pdf leaflet, 482kb, at http://www.abcul.coop/lib/liDownload/85/CIOBSABCULCertinCUPractice.pdf.

A Voluntary and Community Sector Foundation Degree has been developed by New College Durham working closely with One Voice Network Voluntary Sector Academy, and open to anyone in the sector in the north east.

Study areas include Legal Skills for the Voluntary Sector, Voluntary Sector Finance, Managing Performance, Information & Communication for the Voluntary Sector. Expressions of interest are wanted by the end of April to assess demand for a September start.

News item http://www.onevoice.co.uk/news/332, or full details in Word document, 26kb, at http://www.onevoice.co.uk/uploads/explanation_of_foundation_degrees2.doc.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has been lobbied by six leading charities* over concerns the Charities Bill will not address the issue of high fees for services in the public benefit test it will introduce. NCVO still hopes that the Bill will start its journey through the House of Commons after Easter.

News item at http://www.communitynewswire.press.net/article.jsp?id=295589, or see NCVO’s Charities Act Campaign pages at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/policy/index.asp?id=1358.

(* British Red Cross, Citizens Advice, NCVO, Leonard Cheshire, RNID and Help the Aged.)

Mentioned here more as an example of what podcasts can be used for, than for its content, is an interview with Ted Cantle, Chair of the Institute of Community Cohesion and Associate Director of the IDeA, the local government improvement agency, on what the term ‘diversity’ means in 2006 and the role of local authorities in building a sense of local identity.

Podcasts are audio files made available online, usually in MP3 format, and downloadable to iPods and in other ways. http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=4422613

‘Let me in - I’m a researcher!’ is a report on how to involve people with learning difficulties in research has been produced for the Department of Health by a team of researchers with learning disabilities.

Download here.

‘Communities Taking Control’ contains key findings and recommendations of the Cross-sector Work Group on Community Ownership and Management of Assets, part of the government’s Together We Can action plan (http://www.togetherwecan.info).

It recommends a community development approach to public sector assets, an Incentives Fund plus consultation on a Community Right to Buy for England. In pdf format, 527 Kb.

‘Planning for Biodiversity and Geological Conservation: A Guide to Good Practice’ has been published by the government, giving guidance on how the planning system can help preserve and enhance England’s most valuable habitats.

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1164839.

A new Nutrition Network for Wales web site, hosted by NHS Wales, includes a Community Food Initiatives database for organisations to share learning, and related information: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/home.cfm?orgid=499.

(Source: xPRESS Digest)

Northern Ireland umbrella NICVA has published the results of its Viewfinder 5 survey. This asked voluntary and community organisations’ views on the smoking ban, childcare in the sector, attitudes to local council, attitudes to disabilities and an overview of the key issues likely to affect the sector in the next five years.

See http://www.communityni.org/index.cfm/section/Publications/key/Viewfinder5.

Recent changes in company law have substantially expanded possible protections for trustees. Charities which are incorporated as companies limited by guarantee must comply with the Companies Act rules which limit the extent to which they could protect trustees by indemnities. Changed rules permit:

• Provision of a loan to cover directors up front for legal costs when they are sued

• Indemnity against some liabilities

These new powers can only be used if the governing document allows it.

The old rules meant that a trustee had to use his own personal funds to pay legal costs if sued and was only reimbursed at the conclusion of perhaps lengthy proceedings. Trustees may now be lent funds by the charity to pay legal costs as they arise.

Under the Companies (Audit, Investigations, and Community Enterprise Act) 2004 Act companies are now able to amend their Articles to allow the provision of funds to cover directors’ legal costs up-front; but any loan must be made on terms that the director repays the loan if the case is lost.

Directors can also be indemnified against some liabilities to third parties.

The new act also allows for company officers, excluding directors or auditors, to be exempt from liability or indemnified against liability.

A loophole which allowed the circumvention of the restrictions by using associated companies to indemnify directors has been blocked. A parent company is now restricted in its ability to indemnify not only its own directors but also directors of its subsidiaries. A subsidiary is now restricted in its ability to indemnify not only its own directors but also directors of its parent company, or of a fellow subsidiary of that parent company.

This new law represents a less strict approach to director indemnity prohibition. Directors may not be indemnified against any liability for negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust, unless the liability is a “qualifying third party indemnity provision”. Three conditions have to be met for a liability to qualify:

• One cannot indemnify the director against a liability to the company itself, or to any associated company

• One cannot indemnify the director against payment of a criminal fine or a regulatory penalty

• One cannot indemnify the director against any liability incurred in defending any criminal proceedings in which he/she is convicted, in defending any civil proceedings brought by the company or an associated company, and in an unsuccessful application for relief form the liability under the provisions of relief in the Companies Act.

Any charitable company wishing to make use of these new rules will generally need to amend their Memorandum and Articles of Association, since standard indemnity provisions will not cover the new indemnification. As a trustee benefit, the wider indemnity requires explicit prior Charity Commission consent.

Organisations will need to decide whether the directors should have entitlement to the wider indemnity or whether the unconflicted directors should be in a position to decide whether or not to provide the indemnity in individual cases.

The new law removes the restriction against the making of loans to directors in connection with the up-front payment of legal costs, it does not confer on the charity organisation a power to make such loans. However, no explicit constitutional provision is needed for this purpose as long as the indemnity itself is authorised or required by the constitution, the making by the organisation of the loan to the director can be regarded as incidental. The board of directors should consider carefully whether it would be in the best interests of the charity to make a loan to provide up-front funding for the director’s legal costs.

Our own experience is that organisations often neglect reviewing governance documents. We find that these and other useful provisions are often lacking and have not been updated to reflect organisation and company law change.

For further information contact:

JAMES SINCLAIR TAYLOR
The Head of the Charity Team at Russell-Cooke

Direct Dial: 020 8394 6480
Email: taylorj@russell-cooke.co.uk