A guide to third sector trading - WCVA

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It’s an idea, but is it business? A guide to third sector trading 1: Getting started 2: First steps 3: Business planning 4: Legal and governance 5: Funding and resourcing 6: Financial controls 7: Managing growth 8: Management and governance 9: Social enterprise 10: Sources of support Board officers The Chair: The Chair is a leader as well as a figurehead. • S/he will have an important role in setting the pace – ie ensuring that key business decisions are taken efficiently, with the right information, and sometimes quickly and at short notice (eg to respond to contract opportunities, or to solve trading problems). • In trading enterprises it is even more important than in non trading charities and community groups for the Chair to minimise distracting irrelevances and internal dissension. Distractions include politics, unnecessary conflicts with outside bodies, and petty gossip. The directors need to work together as a team as much as possible. • The Chair and other officers should have written job descriptions. Training should be offered to officers, including the chair, as a matter of course. (This avoids the embarrassing implication that they cannot do their job properly, and provides the opportunity to address problems if they can’t.) The Vice Chair: This is often a neglected function. • The Vice Chair should receive the same training as the Chair. • They should be prepared and equipped to deputise for the Chair when necessary, and be regarded as a natural (not automatic) successor when the Chair retires. They should be trained and supported accordingly. • Boards which find themselves with the ‘wrong’ Vice Chair can consider appointing a second or joint Vice Chair with different roles. (It often happens that someone takes the role to fill a vacancy and someone else comes in later who would make a better successor.) The Treasurer has a critical role in helping to oversee (usually not to manage) the financial affairs of the business. The temptation to fill a vacancy with anyone who volunteers should be avoided. At least if the position is left empty everyone knows that this remains a recruitment priority. Company Secretary: Limited companies need a Company Secretary. The role is usually taken by a paid member of staff because the work is only occasional and continuity and familiarity are important. 224
It’s an idea, but is it business? A guide to third sector trading 1: Getting started 2: First steps 3: Business planning 4: Legal and governance 5: Funding and resourcing 6: Financial controls 7: Managing growth 8: Management and governance 9: Social enterprise 10: Sources of support Directors’ roles with special importance in social enterprises Policies and procedures: • The need for clear policies: All third sector organisations risk running into difficulties if they try to operate without clear written policies and procedures. But the survival of businesses is at stake because they will lose money. Some organisations, for instance, can grind to a halt and lose business in the winter snow because there are no arrangements in place to deal with management deputising, building access in emergencies, or home working. Others continue almost without interruption because they already know what to do. • Responsibilities: The board must ensure that all necessary procedures are drafted, adopted, made available to everyone who needs to know them, and acted on. This will include a wide variety of documentation such as: − the health and safety policy − the environmental policy − employment and recruitment policies − a code of conduct for staff and volunteers − procedures for costing contracts − service delivery manuals − procedures for dealing with members of the public, handling customer complaints. Monitoring progress: A primary responsibility for the directors is agreeing targets with senior staff and then monitoring progress – particularly with the delivery of the business plan and its financial and business goals. Section 6 discusses the details. Working effectively might involve several distinct activities: • monthly monitoring of management accounts (including, where necessary, supporting the role of the finance committee) • annual review and strategy planning meetings to examine progress and update priorities and targets • external project evaluation contracts if these can be funded • a social auditing approach to examine the impact of the enterprise on all its stakeholders, including customers and clients. − a policy on volunteering 225
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A guide to third sector trading - WCVA

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