NBE proposed move to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
Dear valued NBE members,
All those aficionados of the workings of the Board and avid listeners to my chat from the chair will be aware we have been exploring the possibility of moving NBE from a non-profit membership association to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It has taken over a year of work in the background, taking professional advice from lawyers and financial experts as well as utilising the expertise at Echo to get to the stage where this can now go ahead. We would ideally like to make this transformation by the end of this financial year for 31st of March.
I'd like to answer a few of the obvious questions about this proposed change.
1.What are the advantages of NBE becoming a registered charity?
·The obvious kudos and the additional substance a charity would give NBE
·Greater transparency and scrutiny of the workings of the Board and our accounting processes as we would be subject to the rules and regulations of The Charity Commission
·Potential tax advantages and efficiencies afforded by charitable status
·Preferential rates obtained when booking venues, attendance fees for shows and conferences as well as other commercial transactions
·Access to grants that may otherwise be unavailable.
2.What difference will I notice as a member?
·Very little/none – National Back Exchange will remain as national Back Exchange!!
·There will be no change to the day to day running of NBE
·The structure and function of the present Board will remain as it is, except being called the Board of Trustees
·Our current governing of NBE has been undertaken through our policies and procedures which will remain unchanged (despite a change of constitution) except alterations in terminology, and will be adopted by the CIO at the first meeting after the change
·Echo will continue to manage the administration and organisation of conference of NBE as before
·All communications will remain the same.
3.What are the significant changes to our constitution?
·Our constitution will be changed to a universally adopted constitution required by the Charity Commission for all charitable organisations
·All Trustees must be elected (and can be removed by the members)
·Trustees may stand for a 3-year period after which they must resign, however can be re-elected for maximum of 3 periods
·Members may call a General Meeting
·The AGM must be a face-to-face meeting (however with a lower quorum of 20 present)
·Voting on resolutions (motions) can be done before-hand either by email, by post or by proxy at the meeting, but these votes do not contribute to the quorum of the meeting
·Members can attend virtually but can't vote nor be counted towards the quorum of the meeting
·Any changes to the constitution must be ratified by the Charity Commission.
4.What happens now?
·Although our application will be sent to the Charity Commission it is reliant the membership voting to agree before any changes can be made
·An EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) is scheduled for 28th of February, notice of this will be formally sent by the secretary to comply with our current constitution when the proposed change will be voted on
·Between now and the EGM there will be an open consultation period including a video meeting when you can ask any questions. In the meantime, please contact me at: chairman@nationalbackexchange and I'll be happy to discuss any of this in more detail.
Kind regards,
Simon Love, Chairman, National Back Exchange