upReach Annual Report 2023-24 - Report - Page 39
Trustees’ Annual Report (Continued)
For The Year To 31 July 2024
medium-term needs of the Charity and the long-term aspirations;
• Area of need is identi昀椀ed and agreed;
• Trustee search: Dependent on the nature of the requirement the Board of Trustees will use
a recruitment agency or informal professional networks to identify a shortlist of suitable
candidates, supplemented by adverts in appropriate online forums;
• Interviews: The CEO, Chair and at least two Trustees interview any potential candidates.
This is an open conversation, which aims to understand more about their relevant experience
and their motivation for becoming a Trustee;
• Decision making: recruitment decisions are made by consensus as a board, informed by
the recommendation of interviewers and subsequent discussion prior to the appointments
being made;
• If successful then the candidate will be offered the role subject to the following:
○ A signed declaration of any known con昀氀icts of interest; and
○ A signed ‘Fit and Proper Persons’ declaration.
• An ordinary resolution is signed by the Board of Trustees to con昀椀rm the appointment.
Once this is completed we inform both the Charity Commission and Companies House; and
• Several of our Trustees are employed by Companies which may partner with upReach,
but any transactions between upReach and these Companies are conducted on an
“arms-length” basis.
Trustee Induction and Contribution
The trustee induction process was thoroughly refreshed in 2021, and the Chair discusses their
contribution with each trustee annually. The Chair’s performance is also assessed annually.
Organisation
The charity is governed by the Board of Trustees, who meet 昀椀ve times per year. There are
additional Sub-Committee meetings covering the core areas of Finance/Risk and Impact,
attended by upReach Management and selected Trustees. Day to day management is carried
out by the Chief Executive who is accountable to the Board of Trustees. The charity’s core public
bene昀椀t is delivered through a team of Programme Coordinators and Programme Leaders, who
provide direct support to the Associates. These are managed by the Head of Programmes &
Impact, accountable to the Chief Executive. An Advisory Group offer informal and unpaid advice
and support to the Chief Executive, Head of Programmes & Impact and Chair of the Board.
Risk Management
The trustees carry out their duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and
to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.
Our Risk Register and Risk Management framework was reviewed and updated in the 2020/21
昀椀nancial year. Each risk is assessed according to the likelihood of occurrence and impact on the
organisation, with a description of how the risk is mitigated. The risk register is reviewed quarterly
by the Finance and Risk Sub-Committee, and annually by the Board as a whole.
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