WES Governance
The Women's Engineering Society is a charitable company, so it is governed by the President and the Board of Directors of the Company, who are also Trustees of the Charity.
The Board is supported by the Directors' Committees, established in 2020, which Members may apply to join. The Directors' Committees focus on Members, Partnerships, Events and Communications. There is also a Finance and Audit Committee attended by the President, two Board Members and the Chief Executive Officer.
The Board consists of the WES President, who is the Board Chair and eight Directors/Trustees who are elected by the Members. The Board can appoint (or co-opt) an additional three Directors if they want to add expertise to the Board.
The six duties of the Trustees are as follows This information can also be found at the Charity Commission website here.
- Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit
- It’s about knowing:
- what your charity can and can’t do within its purposes
- how your charity is fulfilling its purposes and benefiting the public
- what difference your charity is really making
- It’s about knowing:
- Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law
- It’s about being:
- familiar with your governing document
- up to date with filing accounts, returns and any changes to your charity’s registration details
- aware of other laws that apply to your charity
- It’s not about being:
- an expert - but you do need to take reasonable steps to find out
- It’s about being:
- Act in your charity’s best interests
- It’s about:
- making balanced, informed decisions
- recognising & dealing with conflicts of interest
- ensuring trustee benefits are allowed
- being prepared to question and challenge
- accepting majority decisions
- It’s not about:
- preserving the charity for its own sake
- serving personal interests
- It’s about:
- Ensure your charity is accountable
- It’s about:
- managing risks, protecting assets (reputation) and people
- getting the resources your charity needs
- having and following appropriate controls and procedures
- dealing with land and buildings
- responsibility for, and to, staff and volunteers
- It’s about:
- Manage your charity’s resources responsibly
- It’s about:
- using your skills and experience
- deciding when you need advice
- preparing for meetings
- getting the information you need (financial, management)
- being prepared in case something does go wrong
- It’s about:
- Act with reasonable care and skill
- It’s about:
- meeting legal accounting and reporting requirements
- being able to show that your charity complies with the law and is effective
- being accountable to members and others with an interest in the charity
- ensuring that staff and volunteers are accountable to the board
- welcoming accountability as an opportunity not a burden
- It’s about:
From 2020 the Board and President are elected by and from the Members for three year terms, instead of the previous year-long term. This will provide stability for WES. To ensure that fresh voices are added to the Board, a third of the Directors are elected every year for three year terms. This will provide innovation for WES.
For the first three years of the new governance, there are transitional arrangements. In 2020 this means that the President and two Directors will be elected for three years, three Directors will be elected for two years, and three Directors for one year. The elections in 2021 and 2022 will be for three Directors for three years, so by 2023, every Director is elected for three years.
The Council has been replaced by the Directors' Committees and the Council Members chose a Committee to work with in January 2020.
Each Committee is chaired by a Board Director and has up to seven Members. Currently most of these Members used to be on the Council.
All of the Directors' Committees will be meeting together virtually at 12 noon immediately after the Annual General Meeting online on Saturday 24 October 2020. Everyone who has expressed an interest in joining a Directors' Committee will also be invited to find out more about them.
If you would like to be considered to be on a Directors' Committee, please email Elizabeth Donnelly at elizabeth.donnelly@wes.org.uk to let her know.
