Trusteeship

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Culpeper Community Garden Association is a registered Charity and a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, which means that it has to have Trustees to manage it. Under the Constitution the Garden is run on democratic principles by an elected Management Committee of up to eleven Trustees.

Trustees are vital to our success. Trusteeship is a voluntary, unpaid legal position. All Trustees must be Members of the Association. Some Trustees at Culpeper are plotholders and others are just people who love the garden and want to help take care of it. The Management Committee requires a raft of talents, particularly in gardening, administration, IT, finance, social media, people skills and fund-raising. Our Trustees coordinate and support the valuable work done by members, friends, and volunteers.

Trustees are voted for at Annual General Meetings. One third of Trustees must stand down each year, but may stand for re-election. If there are fewer candidates standing than there are vacancies, would-be Trustees are elected unopposed. The Committee may co-opt additional Members to the Committee to fill any vacancies, but this is entirely at their discretion. There must be a minimum of five Trustees at each Management Committee meeting (this is called being quorate), or no decisions can be made.

Under the Constitution the Committee must have a Chair, who runs any meeting of the Association and represents the Association to the public; a Secretary, who organises and circulates Agendas and accompanying documents for Meetings, and represents the Association to official bodies; and a Treasurer, who oversees the Accounts, prepares the annual Budget, authorises expenditure, and represents the Association to the Charities Commission.

Trustees meet for a maximum of two hours on the first Wednesday of alternate months.

At Committee Meetings Trustees receive reports on finance, fund-raising and management of the garden, and most importantly, fundraising through grant applications. It costs over £60,000 a year to keep Culpeper open, of which Members’ subscriptions account for around 4%.

The minutes of Meetings and associated documents, as well as copies of the Constitution and current policy documents are displayed in the Tea Hut. You can also access our Constitution and key Garden policies and resources here.

Garden Members are welcome to attend meetings to hear what is discussed, and may speak by invitation but cannot vote. In the past members have often become Trustees after attending a meeting.

Culpeper has 145 members of whom 45 are plot holders. Under the Constitution, the Trustees represent the interests of the whole of the local community – members, plotholders, groups and local schools that use Culpeper and the general public who enjoy visiting our Garden.

Culpeper provides therapeutic activities for a wide range of groups including people with many different needs including mental health issues, physical challenges and learning difficulties.

All Trustees need to take responsibility for informing themselves about their legal duties and becoming familiar with the Constitution (see links below). Most existing Trustees have demanding full-time jobs and may offer new Trustees any support they can but, as unpaid volunteers, they have limited time.

All the information you need if you are thinking of becoming a trustee can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3

The six essential duties of Trustees can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/544220/Jigsaw.pdf

There is a useful one hour Zoom session for anyone who is interested in becoming a trustee – it is repeated every month. If you would like to attend please let us know so the £5 fee can be paid for you.
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