A charity trustee is one of the people who have general control and management of a charity. Trustees are responsible for how it is run and what it spends, and are normally unpaid volunteers.
Who the trustees are
What they are called depends on the charity: trustees, directors, committee members, governors. Whatever the title, the people with ultimate responsibility for running the charity are its charity trustees. In a charitable company the directors are the trustees.
Their main duties
- Make sure the charity carries out its purposes for the public benefit.
- Comply with the governing document and the law.
- Act in the charity’s best interests and manage conflicts of interest.
- Manage its resources responsibly.
- Act with reasonable care and skill.
- Make sure the charity is accountable, including filing its accounts and returns on time.
Payment
Trustees can claim reasonable expenses, but can only be paid for being a trustee, or benefit from the charity in other ways, where the governing document or the Charity Commission allows it. Payments to trustees are disclosed in the accounts.
In Tax Optimiser
For a CIO the people on the period overview are shown as Officers, and one of the trustees accepts the declaration when the return is filed.