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There are a number of different roles involved in governance within a voluntary or community organisation.

Some support meets the needs of a number of audiences but in many cases the support required needs to be tailored to individual circumstances.

Previously, the Governance Hub developed resources, guides, toolkits, case studies and built a database of information to support the needs of five key groups.

Trustees

Trustees are the people responsible for ensuring that an organisation has a clear strategy, that it remains true to its original vision, and that it complies with all necessary rules and legal obligations.

Collectively, trustees are known as the board, and they have a number of formal roles and responsibilities, which include appointing key people and keeping a check on the organisation's finances and activities.

Chairs

The chair is first of all a trustee, with all the usual responsibilities that involves. In addition they take on the role of chairing meetings, a legal requirement usually specified in the organisation’s governing document. They often take on other tasks as well. These can include planning the board’s work, working with the staff on governance and other matters, and managing the chief executive. Some chairs act as spokespeople for their organisations. Others, especially in smaller organisations without staff, find themselves taking on practical tasks too.

CEOs

The roles of the chief executive (CEO) and members of the trustee board are interdependent. Ideally, they should build and maintain an effective and harmonious relationship. Most organisations' governing documents however do not set out the role of the CEO in governance.

Advisers

A governance adviser is anyone who has a role to play in ensuring trustees are governing an organisation most effectively. To do the best possible job, trustees need support in their governance role. The person providing that support is the ‘adviser.

Therefore, an adviser could be:

Whichever role you hold, the board of trustees, or management committee, you are supporting could benefit from working with you to ensure your organisation is running as effectively as possible and achieving the aims it was set up to achieve.

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