CIO Secretary/ Trustee

Support the Board of Trustees to oversee its shared responsibility for the governance and compliance of its activities and those of the organisation. It is a separate and discrete position in order to ensure the highest standards of good governance and compliance.

Role of CIO Secretary - overall purpose

The CIO Secretary is primarily responsible for the smooth and efficient running of meetings of the trustee board and any sub-committees, providing assistance and support to the chair of the board of trustees.

The charity secretary may also be closely involved in monitoring the requirements affecting the charity and its activities, and ensuring that the trustees’ decisions are acted upon, and that all decisions made by the trustees are in accordance with the governing document, reflect the objects of the charity, and continue to provide public benefit.

Independence of CIO Secretary

The charity secretary should be responsible for keeping the ‘conscience’ of the charity, by way of ensuring that the trustees continue to take decisions and act in line with the governing document, and comply with the relevant legislative and regulatory requirements to which the charity is subject.

The role-holder should be kept informed of potential developments and expected to challenge 

decision-makers at an early stage to avoid potential breaches of good governance practice.

The Charity Governance Code has seven principles to underpin organisational purpose: leadership; integrity; decision making, risk and control; board effectiveness; diversity; openness and accountability.

Details of role description for CIO Secretary

The role includes:

• Make sure the timetable of board meetings for the year ahead is agreed
• Send out notification of board meetings to charity trustees (and others where applicable) with due notice
• Work with Chair of the board to set each board meeting agenda, including the management of any agenda items received from other charity trustees. Preparation is necessary to ensure that board meetings are as effective as possible.
• Circulate board papers/pack at least ten days in advance of meetings
• Ensure any issues charity trustees have regarding board papers/pack are dealt with in advance of meetings
• Check that a quorum is present (and that it is present throughout the meeting if required) and be aware of any proxy voting arrangements if allowed by the charity’s governing document
• Ensure the venue/room is prepared appropriately for the meeting.
• Ensure good practice for meeting minutes, to provide an accurate, impartial and balanced internal record of what happened at a meeting.
• Maintain the records of all meeting minutes keeping a record of all issues discussed, decisions taken and any actions required to implement a decision
• Work closely with the Chair to ensure that draft minutes are accurate, issuing draft minutes to charity trustees for consideration after board meetings and dealing with any subsequent requests for corrections to be made before they are formally approved
• Ensure that minutes are stored safely and are accessible by the Chair and any other charity trustee if required
• Monitor committee member action points
• Support setting up and running any Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) where required. Make arrangements for any necessary reporting to be done, for example the annual report to members. The secretary may delegate some or all of these duties, but responsibility for his or her performance remains with the secretary.
• Deal with correspondence, writing letters, emails as agreed at committee meetings, summarizing correspondence/emails received at the next committee meetings and drafting replies as appropriate.
• Track progress with the charity’s risk register/business plan/strategic plan
• Manage and facilitate the induction and training of new trustees.
• Ensure that trustee decisions are implemented in accordance with the charity’s governing document or other internal operational procedures.

This role is hybrid between remote and in person.

Skills

• Knowledge of charity law and the voluntary sector.
• Organised and methodical
• Able to take good minutes
• Able to work as part of a team
• Have good listening, oral and literacy skills
• Committed to the charity values
• Able to keep accurate records
• Relevant skills to organise a meeting that is effective and takes well-informed decisions