Our Board of Governors is responsible for the strategic direction and overall governance of the Foundation including the stewardship of its finances.
Led by Sir David Carter, the Board meets on a quarterly basis to set the strategic direction and goals for the Foundation, review performance and approve operating plans and budgets. It is also responsible for ensuring the Foundation complies with its statutory responsibilities as a registered charity and company limited by guarantee.
The Foundation places great emphasis on governance and accountability and aims to be considered as a leader in this field. The Board ensures that there are sufficient checks and balances in place to ensure that no one person, or group of persons, can use the Foundation for improper or inappropriate purposes unsupervised and unchecked. These include:
- robust and systemised Governor recruitment and induction processes
- limited terms of appointment
- transparent authorities and terms of reference
- explicit conflict of interest policies
- robust risk management strategies
- non-Governor appointments to corporate committees
- Board performance review processes and periodic external governance audits
The partnership between the Board and staff is integral to our success. To help ensure Governors are as effective as possible, they are appointed according to their skills and knowledge in relation to specific aspects of the Foundation’s work. This means we not only have a balanced mix of skills and experience on the Board, but that the expertise Governors’ bring to the Foundation is directly relevant to our work.
Governors are initially appointed for a term of five years, following which they may be reappointed for a further four years.
The Foundation also has 15 members. They appoint the Governors and are required to approve any formal changes to the Foundation's structure, name or charitable objects.