This week, 7th-11th November, is Trustees’ Week 2022. The aim of the week is to celebrate the achievements and hard work of the trustees of charities in the UK. The theme of this year’s Trustees’ Week is making a difference in changing times. There is no doubt that we are living in changing times, and that many new challenges are arising for us all. Trustees play a huge role in the charity sector, which is now more important than ever.
We would like to take this opportunity to say an enormous thank you to our VOS trustees for everything they do for us, dedicating themselves and their time to helping our charity to succeed and grow. We’d also like to share some of our trustees’ own words to give you an idea of what being a VOS trustee is like and why it’s important to them.
Check out our VOS trustees in action at our 2022 strategy meeting!
Hear from our VOS trustees:
"Having led a charmed existence I count myself very lucky indeed and being involved with VOS, both as a Trustee and volunteer, gives me an opportunity to offer help to those who have not been so lucky in life. It also gives me the opportunity to use the skills I have scrapped together over the years and there is nothing more rewarding than being able to set someone's mind at rest by giving them a potential solution to what they had thought was an insurmountable problem".
“Having been a volunteer for Veterans Outreach Support for over ten years I was pleased to be invited to become Trustee eighteen months ago. As a trustee I am able to contribute to the development and operational aspects of the charity, whilst as a volunteer I am able to experience face to face the problems presented to VOS. It is hugely satisfying to meet and work with the VOS service users and see first hand how VOS has helped them. I am often humbled by the hardships our SUs have to face and only pleased that I am able to improve their lives in any way I can, however small. Every little helps.”
“I have been involved with a large number of charities over many years and amongst other charitable commitments, am currently both a trustee and a volunteer with Veterans Outreach Support (VOS). The two roles are very different, one at a governance centric strategic level and the other at the coal face delivering the output to our Service Users. As a trustee, it is very gratifying seeing a charity such as VOS grow, adapt and deliver and for me to have been and continue to be a part of that success is extremely satisfying and rewarding. The opportunity to oversee, advise and give direction to an already brilliant management team and then, as a working volunteer, to see all of that work benefitting our SUs is very rewarding. I would certainly advocate trusteeship to anyone that has a little time to spare. Being a trustee is certainly a commitment and one that carries significant responsibility but the rewards and satisfaction gained in giving something back for the benefit of others makes it so worthwhile.”
Our CEO, Ian Millen's perspective on trustees:
Whilst the buck may stop with the CEO in the day to day running of a charity, the overall legal responsibility for our charity’s management and administration sits with the Board of Trustees – a group of experienced volunteers who act as the governing body, operating in the best interests of the charity, managing resources with care and skill and ensuring that the charity is accountable to appropriate legal and regulatory bodies.
You will find a similar description to the above in the Charity Commission’s The Essential Trustee, telling you everything you need to know about being a trustee, but trustees are far more than the dry words written on the pages of such documents. In Veterans Outreach Support, we are extremely fortunate to have an experienced, engaged and strongly motivated Board, who care deeply about the quality of support we provide to our beneficiaries, and work diligently to ensure that the charity operates in the way that it should.
Everyone needs a boss, or at least someone they can turn to for advice and support, and our trustees fit the bill on both counts. As a valuable source of wisdom and guidance, they are at hand when complex issues present themselves, when strategic decisions need to be made, or simply when I need to test my own thinking. They have their legal and statutory duties, as detailed in ‘The Essential Trustee’, but most of all, they are a great source of support and encouragement for me and our team of staff and volunteers. Trustees truly are ‘essential’, so it’s important that we say a heartfelt thank you for all that they do.
If you’re a veteran from the UK Armed Forces or the Merchant Navy (from any time of service) or a partner to one, VOS would love for you to join our community. We are here to offer our support: call us on 02392 731 767, visit an upcoming drop-in, or email admin@vosuk.org.
VOS is immensely grateful to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, as without their support and funding we would not be able to provide our wellbeing activities.
