Trustee e-Learning – Module 0 – Induction

Welcome to the E-induction for Trustee e-Learning, an e-learning programme for trustees.

0.1 Are You a One in Seventy Person?

It is estimated that in England and Wales there are around 900,000 adults of all ages, social backgrounds and walks of life who become trustees.

Without these people, charities would simply not be able to function.

Trusteeship can be extremely interesting and rewarding – many find that it offers more than promised.

You have the opportunity to be active and creative
You can use existing skills and learn new ones
You can share your vision and skills with others
You can broaden your horizons by coming into contact with people you may not ordinarily meet
You can fulfil a sense of duty, gain a new sense of self-worth and satisfaction.

0.2 Introduction

Trustee e-Learning is a non-accredited programme that aims to support you as you develop your role as a trustee. The content is also relevant to advisers (development workers, trainers, consultants etc. who support Voluntary and Community Organisations (VCOs) on their governance).

Working through the Trustee e-Learning materials will help you to develop your skills and knowledge as a trustee and enable you to lead your organisation more effectively.

As well as the material we have supplied, you will often find hyperlinks (highlighted in green) which take you directly to information and resources on other websites. Thus in the next paragraph, if you want to find out more about the Charity Commission, clicking on the words in green will take you to their website.

Trustee eLearning was originally developed by the Suffolk Association of Voluntary Organisations (SAVO) in partnership with the Governance Hub in 2006. In April 2013 , with the support and endorsement of the Charity Commission, we revised the materials so that they are up-to-date with current practices and legislation, and we continuously review the content to ensure it is up to date. This latest update (January 2022) includes updates to Charity Law, the Governance Code and some of the implications caused by the Pandemic.

The Trustee e-Learning programme is aimed principally at people who are currently trustees or who are considering becoming trustees, although a great deal of the knowledge and skills you can gain through the programme will also be relevant to members of management committees and those employed as senior managers and administrators within charities and non-charitable voluntary and community organisations. The programme is suitable for trustees from organisations of all sizes, but is particularly aimed at small and medium-sized organisations.

Learners undertaking this programme will come from a wide variety of organisations of different sizes, some that employ staff and others that are supported entirely by volunteers. It is possible, therefore, that not all the materials will be relevant to all learners and all organisations. Many of the broad principles of trusteeship, however, remain the same. There are 12 modules in this programme:

Introduction to Trusteeship
All About Charities
Leadership for Trustees
Roles and Responsibilities of Trustees
Complying with the Law
Building an Effective Board
Good Governance
Business Planning
Effective Trustee Meetings
Financial Management
Managing People
Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality Standards

Each module includes:

The essential points you need to learn and more detailed information for those wanting to take their learning further
Key issues to discuss with other learners or with your fellow trustees
Transferable knowledge and skills which you can take into the groups you’re involved with, whether as a trustee, management committee member, employee or volunteer
Examples of good practice
Template policies, procedures and useful documents which you can download and adapt to the particular requirements of your group
Learning exercises, including a simple quiz.

All the materials will be relevant to organisations within England and Wales. As we are aware though, the programme has been downloaded in countries around the world. Many of the generic materials will still be relevant to trustees across the globe, but it is important to note and appreciate that charities are subject to different regulatory bodies and legislation in other countries.

You will notice that some copy and some sections are repeated during the course. Not only does this help to cement your knowledge, but it is also done because whilst some participants study every module. there are some people who will be concentrating on particular modules and they will need some of the background information to understand the content.

0.3 About the Authors

The Trustee e-Learning programme was originally written/developed by Robin Hodgkinson and Simon Waldron, whilst working at the Suffolk Association of Voluntary Organisations (SAVO), but when SAVO was merged with other charities to form Community Action Suffolk in 2013 they set up the Suffolk Academy for Voluntary Organisations (SAVO CIC), to continue to provide training services throughout the East Region, sharing their knowledge, skills and learning opportunities nationally.

The 2013 revision was funded through the Big Lottery’s BASIS 2 and JISC Advance programmes, but we continually review the content to ensure it is kept updated with changes in legislation, and as such we make a charge to cover the costs of updates and hosting.

0.4 What is E-Learning?

As you are aware you are taking part in an innovative way of learning, and although you may find learning this way very different to any of your previous learning experiences, we are sure that you will find it challenging and enjoyable.

Definition of e-learning?

E-learning is learning that is facilitated and supported through the use of information and communications technology. It can cover a spectrum of activities from supported learning, to blended learning (the combination of traditional and e-learning practices), to learning that is entirely online. Whatever the technology, however, learning is the vital element.

E-Learning is no longer simply associated with distance or remote learning, but forms part of a conscious choice of the best and most appropriate ways of promoting effective learning.

How is e-learning different?

The following section looks at some of the differences between a traditional learning environment and the e-learning environment.

With this method of learning there is no face-to-face teaching, so it requires significant self-motivation.
It is a very flexible way of learning, you can study at a time to suit you (or your employer), and at the pace you choose.
Although you will be working alone, it is good practice to share your learning with others. Indeed some trustee boards have used this course by allocating different modules to individual trustees so that the whole course is covered. Trustees have then reported back to their Boards on the modules they have studied, highlighting points of interest, relevant template forms and policies and discussion points aimed at improving their performance.

Blended Learning

For local and county infrastructure organisations such as Council for Voluntary Services who run training courses for trustees or mentor voluntary and community organisations, this e-learning programme could be used alongside your training or mentoring activities. You could blend face-to-face contact with use of this programme’s modules and materials.

Navigation

We have tried to make the navigation of this programme as easy as possible.

To access a module / lesson, click on Trustee e-Learning in the dark green menu bar at the top of the page, then click on the Course / Module you want from the list provided.

Once you are in a Module you will see an Index on the left of the page of ALL the Trustee e-Learning Modules / Lessons. You can collapse / expand this menu by clicking on the small arrow in the middle of the menu edge.

And finally … at the bottom of each section you will see a link to the previous and next section, or you can use the menu headings on the left of each page.

0.5 Technical Requirements

Internet Browser

This e-learning programme is designed to work with all current versions of Internet Browsers (i.e. Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari) all of which by default should check for the latest version of the course content / downloads.

Please check in your Internet Options settings that this is the case. i.e. in Internet Explorer 11, go to Internet Options, General, Browsing History, Settings, and ensure that ‘Every time I visit the web page’ is ticked for ‘Check for new versions of stored pages:’

Downloads

We have provided a variety of DOWNLOADS to support the Trustee e-Learning programme. You will need some essential software which you may already have installed on your computer, but if you don’t have these, or are unsure whether you have the correct version, we suggest you download the latest versions now by clicking the links below. Downloading the software is simple and will only take a few moments. Please follow the download instructions.

Audits / Quizzes / Tests etc. which are provided for you to print off and use are provided in PDF format, for which you will need:

A PDF Reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

Template documents / Policies / Procedures etc. which are provided for you to download, save, and customise for your own organisation’s use are provided in Microsoft^® Word or Excel format, for which you will need:

Microsoft^® Office or a Microsoft^® Live account (FREE @ www.live.com)
Open Office ( FREE @ www.openoffice.org)

0.6 Learning Exercises

The Trustee e-Learning programme includes a range of short, simple exercises that will significantly enhance your learning experience.

Some of the exercises are very practical. You may be asked to analyse your organisation and recommend improvements to the way it works. This is intentional so that not only you as an individual but hopefully your organisation can benefit from your learning.

We recognise that some learners might be involved with a number of different organisations; you might, for example, be employed by one organisation but act as a volunteer, trustee or committee member with another. When working on the learning exercises it is perfectly feasible to concentrate on one particular organisation for certain exercises and another organisation for other exercises.

For example you may feel that one organisation you are involved with is very strong on financial management but weaker on personnel management; with another group the reverse may be true. You could therefore concentrate in your learning exercise on the group that is weak in that particular area.

0.7 Certificate

You can gain a Certificate of Completion for each module that you complete,

In order to receive your certificate you will need to complete a test, which has a pass mark of 80%.

The test is a simple quiz which you should not have problems completing if you have worked through all pages of the module systematically.

0.8 Pre Course Test

Before you begin Trustee e-Learning, you will need to complete a simple exercise aimed at assessing your training needs.

The M.O.T. (Monitoring of Trusteeship) Test is a self-assessment tool for Trustee Boards, which aims to assess the effectiveness of your Board. There are questions that relate to each of the 12 modules of the Trustee e-Learning programme.

Please complete the MOT Test to identify your current effectiveness. Based on your answers, you will be able to determine which one or more modules of the TrusteElearning programme you need to subscribe to.

DOWNLOAD the MOT Test.

Once you have completed the MOT Test you will have some indication of which modules you should work on.

Trustee e-Learning – Module 0 – Induction