The cover theme of G&L in March is trustees’ annual reports and accounts, and specifically, what makes a good one. Price Bailey partner Helena Wilkinson has been analysing the trustees’ reports of the top 100 charities by income for the last eight years, and has seen great improvement over that period. She outlines what makes a great report and identifies areas where charities could still do better.
We also carry two case studies from charities that Helena singled out as having particularly good annual reports and accounts, Barnardo’s and RSPCA, exploring the process each goes through to compile their reports.
As always, the March edition also carries the report of the Foundation Practice Rating project spearheaded by Friends Provident Foundation, which assesses 100 charitable grantmakers on their approach to accountability, transparency and diversity. Encouragingly, this bit of research also shows good progress over the three years the project has been running. UK foundations, it seems, are becoming more transparent, accountable, and even diverse. The results make for interesting reading.
Elsewhere in the magazine, Civil Society News editor Rob Preston delves beneath the headlines on disability inclusion in sector employment, and the Charity Commission introduces its new guidance on accepting or rejecting donations.
G&L editor Tania Mason interviews Katherine Mathieson, CEO at the Royal Institution, about its revised trustee code of conduct and, in a separate piece, summarises the wider governance lessons for charities from the recent thefts scandal at the British Museum.
And Noelle Rumball, our regular back-page columnist, wraps up with some advice for trustees about knowing when it’s time to leave your board.
We hope you enjoy reading it.
