Mortgage and rental payment holidays have been in the news in recent months. However, there hasn’t been equivalent publicity for ‘Trustee holidays’ simply because there can be no such thing.  As Trustees we are in a permanent three-way partnership with the staff and service users. Board meetings and  interviews may have been switched to Zoom; obtaining the necessary signatures for the Audited Annual Accounts may have required military-level organisation; more scanned documents may have whizzed backwards and forwards than usual; the word ‘virtual’ may have become part of our everyday vocabulary but, essentially, since March, Trustees have continued to do what they always do.

Constitutional 'tinkering'

In my case, the recent situation and the need to adapt our normal practices prompted me to examine and then modify or update a few elements in our Articles of Association, in preparation for a decision at our virtual (that word again) AGM next month. Admittedly, it is the sort of task which, once embarked upon, soon brings about a diminution of whatever enthusiasm had provided the original motivation.  I have had to cope with meandering sentences, often written in arcane language and clumsy syntax as well as sections which piled clause upon clause until I could scarcely remember the starting point. I pondered the potential elasticity of the meaning of ‘present’ in relation to Covid-era meetings. It was a relief to come to the blessedly brief ‘Section 15: SEAL’ and read the unequivocal: ‘The Company shall not have a seal.’ Fortunately, help was at hand with invaluable advice from the OSCR, SCVO and Companies House websites so I was eventually able to draft a document laying out the proposed changes. At this point I allowed myself the somewhat childish pleasure of using an element of colour-coding.

The pandemic has shifted the focus to emergency funding

When not tinkering constitutionally as described above I have carried on with my customary Trustee task of searching for new funding sources for MCFB and, where appropriate, composed an application. Not surprisingly, many Trusts and Foundations have abandoned their normal procedures to focus on emergency funding during the pandemic; frequently only offering such assistance to those organisations they already support. Special funds have sprung up, too, and I have been able to pass details of some of these on to our CEO. In return, she has passed on information about particular needs.

I found that a daily visit to the often  inspiring Facebook and Twitter feeds have kept me  in touch not only with all the wonderful work that the staff have been doing and the generosity of strangers but also, and very importantly, with news about and from the families we support. And all of this has confirmed to me why I am a non-holidaying MCFB Trustee.

Jenny Lowe, November 2020