Minutes of Trustee Meeting – Oct 2019
Subject: Summary of Trustee meeting 20 October 2019
Dear Members
We would like to share with you a summary of key actions from our recent Trustees meeting on 20 October 2019.
1) Risk assessment and safety policies.
Trustees have a responsibility to make sure the charity has assessed risks in a number of areas. These include: Safety of people attending the Centre, theft of valuables, fire, loss of building from termination of lease, failure of IT systems. The Trustees will be asking the Heath, Wellbeing, Safety and Protection team if they could please include risk assessment and safety policy (with reference to the Charity Commission website) as part of the procedures they are developing . We will also be consulting our legal advisor about our liability and insurance cover both at the Centre and at retreats and events held by partners/ off the premises.
It was noted that although Trustees have responsibility for keeping an overview, responsibility for risk assessment and awareness of health and safety issues should be part of the Council’s remit.
2) Finance Report
Concern was expressed at a projected £9K loss in the annual budget. The Trustees will be consulting with the Finance team and inviting them to look at ways of reducing this loss, including considering possible reduction of fees to Shambhala Europe, and investigating whether our contractual obligation to decorate the hall this year could be deferred.
3) New team-based governance structure
The Trustees noted a positive start to the new team structure, with enthusiasm at Harvest of Peace, and reports of a good first Council meeting.
It was noted that Marketing and Communications had some volunteers for specific roles, which was good news – however it would not be meeting regularly as a team or sending a rep to the Council. The Trustees will request the Finance team to keep marketing on their radar as much as possible, being such a key factor in healthy finances. Further consideration of marketing will also be included on agenda for next Trustees meeting.
4) Conducting business between meetings
It was agreed that one Trustee should act as Chair for each 3-month period between meetings, with the minute-taker immediately becoming the next chair after the meeting. Other Trustees may still lead on particular actions, but the Chair takes responsibility that emails/ queries etc are replied to in a timely manner. If the Chair is away and offline for a period they can find a replacement. Tessa Watt to chair from Oct ’19. Jane Hope from Jan ’20.
Our next meeting will be held on 11 January 2020.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Cohen
David Hope
Jane Hope
David Rule
Tessa Watt
Trustees of the London Shambhala Meditation Centre
