Good Governance Requires a Steady Hand at The Wheel

Posted on
9 May 2018
by Mairead O’Connor is The Wheel’s Training and Advice Coordinator

"There are almost 50,000 charity trustees in Ireland today. This large group of committed and engaged citizens have ultimate responsibility and overall control of Ireland’s charities. And they are all volunteers."

That’s roughly the capacity of the Aviva stadium. Not that you’d get all the trustees in Ireland into one place long enough to shepherd them into their seats! Every year, these volunteers dedicate hours upon hours of their time to furthering their charities’ missions. They shoulder the sustainability of their organisations, the safeguarding of beneficiaries, staff and volunteers, the increasingly complex requirements of regulators, the expectations of funders and the guardianship of the public good. In the midst of all those competing pressures, where is the time and opportunity to dedicate to their own development?

A question we are constantly asking ourselves is how can we best serve our member trustees, and provide them with the support they need?

To that end, we have recently launched the Charity Trustee Driver’s Licence. This short video course for members of The Wheel, helps to get trustees up to speed with the requirements of their role in a jargon-free, easy-to-complete online video course.

Trustees can watch the short videos when and where suits them and complete a series of quick quizzes to test their knowledge. Completing the module should take no more than an hour and will introduce new trustees to their role and refresh experienced trustees’ knowledge of their legal duties.

To get a sense of what the course offers, watch this short video.