In recent years, holding meetings online has become the norm, making communication more convenient with less need to travel. However, using online platforms (such as Zoom or Teams) for board or members’ meetings not only requires new etiquette, but charities must ensure that they pay close attention to any rules governing whether such meetings are permitted to take place and how they are conducted.
The Charity Commission has recently refreshed their guidance on charity meetings and called on trustees to review their governing document, to ensure it contains specific procedures for online meetings and that these are followed.
Guidance
‘The ways in which people communicate has rapidly evolved since the pandemic, and it is now very common for charities to conduct their meetings online or in a hybrid form. Our revised guidance reflects this development and emphasises the importance of following a charity’s governing document and keeping it up-to-date to ensure good governance.’
Sam Jackson, Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy at the Charity Commission
Refreshed guidance on charity meetings (or CC48) was published on 19 July 2024. Any rules related to meetings should be relevant and practical for virtual and in-person meetings.
At a fundamental level, trustees should be clear whether their governing document permits either hybrid or entirely online meetings.
Your governing document may also cover:
- how to plan, run and record meetings
- balancing the number of in-person and virtual meetings
- the number of people needed to make valid decisions
- the types of meetings (trustee meetings, annual general meetings, etc.)
- who can participate, vote and how
- the number of required meetings per year
- methods of communication/document sharing
Technical issues can provide additional challenges to running an effective meeting when using virtual meeting platforms, so procedures should be outlined on what would happen to the meeting should these occur.
Additionally, you may wish to read the good practice guidelines for virtual board and committee meetings resource, published by Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland.
Should you need to make any changes to your governing document, please see this information…
