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Trustee · Role description
AnyoneWhat being a Trustee of Burning Nest involves, who can stand, and the time it takes.
What is the role?
Trustees/Directors are ultimately responsible for ensuring that Burning Nest Ltd operates legally and safely. While legally we're responsible, in practice we don't have much real power: we rely on everyone from individual volunteers to circle Links to make Nest happen. We try not to tell them what to do, but give them the tools to make their jobs easier. We focus more on handling the legal, financial and licensing issues. Trustees also carry the legal responsibility in the event of anything serious going wrong, and are the ones folk will tend to complain to.
As a Director of a company limited by guarantee, Trustees/members of the Board of Directors have to act in the best interests of the company, in accordance with the constitution. There are things that need to be done, such as making sure the accounts are filed, GDPR requests are handled properly, and that Nest operates legally and safely.
As an example, here are some of the things the Board does, or has done in the last year:
- Appoint the Links
- Make final decisions on event capacity, ticket prices and dates of sales
- Approve the budgets and sign off accounts
- Provide input to the event licence application and make sure we meet the deadline
- Negotiate and sign the contract with the site owners, while still searching for a potential new site (we continue to ask for anyone interested in this to join the sub-group)
- Obtain insurance and answer queries about it
- Review and draft event-wide policy. For example, last year we drafted the Assistance Dogs policy and the procedures for the Event Safety Committee, as well as getting the constitution changed so that we can hold AGMs and elections
- Hold the annual AGM, make sure the membership register is kept, and that required documents are shared with Companies House
- Respond to complaints and Subject Access Requests
- Trouble-shoot and seek to mediate if there are difficulties between departments
In essence we hold the future of Burning Nest in our hands, and try to steer things to best support the event.
What is the time commitment?
Being a Trustee of Burning Nest is a serious job and does require genuine commitment. Due to the nature of the role, it's difficult to put a number on the time commitment, and it increases closer to Nest.
There is a monthly board meeting. Sometimes we need to hold two meetings a month, either to respond to a specific issue that comes up or in the run-up to Nest. Not everyone can always attend every single meeting; that's not a problem as long as there are enough Trustees present to make valid decisions.
We're also in touch with each other on a messaging app most days to discuss issues and collaborate. There are also tasks that we work on between us. Sometimes we do that as a whole group, and sometimes we form separate sub-committees to help get something progressed.
While it's OK for folk to need to step away for a few weeks when their own lives get busy, overall, where people have capacity, it probably needs around half a day a week. We hope that if we're able to get more board members in place this might reduce.
Are there any risks to me personally?
While the Trustees are ultimately legally responsible, the company is also distinct from the individuals financially (for example, if the company went bankrupt, that does not mean Directors bear any financial risk).
Trustees or directors of UK companies have certain legal responsibilities, and breaching them has consequences or risks. Specifically, the duties of Trustees include:
- to act within the powers set out in the company's constitution
- to act in a manner that is most likely to promote the success of the company
- to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence when carrying out their duties
- to refuse benefits from third parties
- to avoid conflicts of interest
- to exercise independent judgement
- to declare any interest in a proposed transaction or arrangement that the company intends to enter into
If a Trustee of a company breaches these duties, they could face civil action and, in some cases, criminal sanction.
Who can apply?
We have some set criteria for Trustees, which are listed in our constitution. These are set out in full below.
Effectively, anyone seeking to become a Trustee must have signed up as a member by 1 November to be eligible. They must also meet the criteria below.
From our constitution, 3.7 Election of Trustees: any Member wishing to nominate themselves for election as Trustee must meet all the criteria in Part One, and one of the criteria in Part Two.
Part One: all of these
- Have attended at least one of the last 2 Burning Nests
- Be committed to the ongoing continuation of Burning Nest
- Have never been excluded from Burning Nest for breach of the code of conduct
- Have never been asked to leave a theme camp they've camped with at Burning Nest
- Provide a completed board application form and CV within the advertised timescale
- Be over the age of 18
- Not be legally disqualified from serving as a Director or Trustee of a UK company
- Be a Member of the Organisation
Part Two: one of these
- Have previously held a Circle Link or Circle Co-Link role at Burning Nest
- Have previously been a site lead
- Have previously led a Theme Camp at Burning Nest (including Welfare)
- Have previously brought large-scale art to Burning Nest (including Temple or Effigy)
- Have previously been a Trustee of Burning Nest Ltd
In addition, we require anyone standing for election to be proposed and seconded by a member eligible to vote. This is a fairly simple and easily met requirement.
We want to encourage anyone who cares about Burning Nest, meets the criteria and has time and enthusiasm to give to stand for election.
We also want to encourage more folk from marginalised communities, and in terms of the current representation on the board, we would particularly encourage those from diverse backgrounds to stand.
Requirements for election
In addition to the requirements for Trustees set out in our constitution, there are also some (rather basic) UK legal requirements on who can be a Trustee or Director of a UK company. These are:
- Being over 18 years old
- That you are not disqualified from serving as a Director
- That you are not an undischarged bankrupt
- That you are willing and able to go through Companies House's identity verification
What skills and experience would be helpful?
Enthusiasm, commitment, and knowledge and experience of Nest and how it works are key. The main thing, though, is a willingness to get stuck in and involved, with a desire to feed into decisions and policies for the betterment of Nest.
Different forms of experience and expertise are useful. We hope to have 9 Trustees, so collaboration between different personality types and experiences is a major part of the role.
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