Minutes of the Trustees’ meeting of the Cricket Club Charity convened via GoogleMeet on 4th October 2024
Attendees:
Colin Buckle, Trustee and Chairman (CB)
Robbie Book, Trustee (RB)
Mike Owen, Trustee (MO)
Push Patel, Trustee (PP)
Nick Gandon (NG)
Ben Wilson (BW)
The Chairman opened the meeting at 11.00am.
Apologies for absence: Donna Black, Radhi Nanalal
Agenda items:
1. Approval of SleepOut proposal – see pages 3 & 4 of Paper 240915 Gandon Prodger Legacy Fund
NG highlighted key elements of the plan, namely the intention to enlist 500 participants: 150 to be directly recruited by CCC / Gandon Prodger Legacy Fund; and 350 to be enlisted by incentivised charity partners. (Appendix 1 lists18 organisations which could be approached.)
NG said that it was assumed that 65% of SleepOut supporters /sponsors would confirm their Gift Aid eligibility.
After full and careful consideration, the Trustees approved the SleepOut proposal.
2. Approval of appointment of Saracens Foundation to act as project manager for SleepOut event as per NG email of 17 September @ 13.11; approval for NG to draw up a written Agreement; decision as to whether trustees wish to meet with Saracens Foundation team.
NG explained that the intended outcome was for Saracens Foundation to act as Project Manager for which we would pay them c. £20k. However, SF wish to avoid the work being considered as a VAT-able service and wish instead that it should be seen as their voluntarily helping us in acknowledgment of our choosing them as a beneficiary.
After full and careful consideration the Trustees approved the proposal. It was agreed that there is a way of drafting the Agreement to avoid the feel of a contract and that NG should come up with a first draft.
NG said he would consult with an accountant friend who will have encountered this situation before. He said that while he personally thought the risks to trustees were minimal, trustees should always be alert to their legal responsibilities.
3. Approval of proposal – see Table 3 on page 3 of Paper 240915, etc – of Individual Giving Programme.
After due discussion, the Trustees approved the 5 proposed levels of monthly donation, while recognising the Importance of ensuring that JustGiving buttons notably reflect these options. Trustees also recognised that, much as we want donors to donate via JustGiving via monthly commitments, individuals must support in ways that suit them personally.
The Trustees noted an additional paper tabled by NG, and reference to 1st X1 / Patron, about which there was inconclusive discussion due to time constraints.
4. Approval of Gift Aid proposal and fund to cover campaign expenses – see page 4 and Table 4 of Paper 240915, etc.
The Trustees confirmed that they each understood the proposal to create a £50k Expenses Fund deploying Gift Aid likely to be generated through the SleepOut. After due consideration, they approved the proposal SUBJECT TO further discussion around Risk and Risk Mitigation. (It was noted that in order to generate £50k in Gift Aid – based on an assumption that 65% of donations would be eligible for Gift Aid – a sum just over £300k would be needed to be generated, while £200kwould provide £32.5k in Gift Aid.)
5. Approval of proposal re Distribution of campaign funds to four charities – see page 5 and Table 6 of Paper 240915, etc.
Trustees confirmed that they each understood the formula underpinning Table 6 and how funds were to be distributed to the four beneficiary charities.
Trustees confirmed that funds should be distributed to beneficiary charities deploying the distribution formula at six monthly intervals (likely to be in May 2025, November, 2025, May 2026 and, if necessary, November 2026).
There was also discussion about how “restricted” donations should be treated in terms of distribution (in other words whether these should be “additional” to what otherwise might be forthcoming). It was agreed that “unrestricted” funds should be deployed in order to keep distributions level and in line with original distribution plans.
BW volunteered to check all numbers in the paper to eliminate risk of miscalculation / typos.
Subject to the numbers being checked, trustees agreed to approve the Paper 240915 as a whole and agreed that it could be shared with the beneficiary charities in order to ensure appropriate transparency and accountability.
6. Approval of Draft Paper 240914 Website and other; agreement as to how this will be uploaded onto website and converted into hard copy materials.
NG explained that the Paper240915 was detailed and confidential, Paper 240914 has been drafted to provide open communications needed for the website and hard copy documents.
Trustees approved the document for reproducing in the most appropriate way on the website and in other materials.
It was left that BW would liaise with Ash to ensure that communications are appropriately transposed onto the website.
7. Risk and Risk Mitigation.
NG said that, as he saw it, there were essentially two types of inter-related risk that trustees needed to consider within the context of all of the charity’s affairs and to ensure that mitigations were appropriately in place: REPUTATIONAL and FINANCIAL.
It was agreed that NG would produce a short document to stimulate further discussion.
8. AOB
NG resisted a suggestion that new trustees might be recruited with a specific brief to represent the Gandon and/or Prodger families on the Trustee Board. He said that, while he understood the need to refresh the Board, a long-term commitment beyond the life of the GPLF might not at this stage chime with individual motivations amongst those who had expressed an interest in getting involved NG suggested that any wish to bring in new people from the Gandon and Prodger networks would be best achieved through the creation of a time-constrained Advisory Group.
It was agreed that NG would draft Terms of Reference for an Advisory Group. A broad but inconclusive discussion took place about new trustees.
6) Date of next meeting
December 12th 2024, 12 noon at Lord’s Tavern.
There being no other business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 12.30pm.