How to address disputes between charity trustees
Julian Lomas
Sometimes, when we are asked to help with a governance review or strategy development, we quickly discover that the underlying trigger for the charity asking for help is that there is disagreement or even conflict between trustees.
The reasons why this happens can be many and varied but, in our experience, there are a few common causes that can often easily be avoided. These include:
Lack of a common vision or shared understanding about what the charity should be doing.
Dominance of an individual or small group of people in the charity’s governance (often, but not always the founder(s)).
Undisclosed personal or private benefit or unmanaged conflicts of interest.
Poor behaviours in the Board room (or more often outside it, behind the backs of other Trustees).
A lack of understanding of Trustees’ duties.
Some of the above can, of course, lead to serious or even criminal impropriety, but for this purpose we are focusing on the potential for disputes between Trustees.
Given the fundamental importance of charity trustees, where a dispute arises between this can cause significant problems, even leading to the closure of the charity in the most extreme cases.
Often, simply getting the issues out in the open in a constructive way can solve the dispute, for example by helping to develop a shared view of the charity’s goals or because conflicts of interest are managed more effectively.
In many cases, the help of a third party to facility the discussions can make a big difference in building trust or resolving disagreements about matters of fact or good practice. For example, working with a consultant to explore the different perspectives amongst Trustees before a facilitated workshop (or series of workshops) to develop a shared future strategy can help clear the air and focus discussions on building common ground and resolving areas of difference.
In rare cases, however, there is a need for more formal methods to resolve the dispute including:
A formal vote at a board meeting to establish clearly who is in favour and against a proposition (and in extreme cases those who lose the vote may choose to stand down as Trustees).
Seeking advice from an umbrella or national body or a figurehead (particularly a spiritual leader in religious charities).
For membership charities a members’ vote might be appropriate.
Formal mediation from an accredited mediator.
Involving the Charity Commission. However, the Commission is very reluctant to get involved in internal disputes and it will almost certainly require one group of trustees to make serious allegations about others for the Commission to step in; not something to be done lightly.
Resorting to the courts. However, Charity Commission permission is required to pursue court proceedings and they will expect mediation to have been tried first.
Whatever the cause of the dispute, one thing we know for sure it that leaving it unresolved to rumble on and potentially undermine the future of the charity can never be a good thing (and can be regarded as a breach of Trustees’ duties). So if you can’t resolve the dispute yourselves, we strongly recommend you seek independent help sooner rather than later.
To find out more about the governance support and training we offer, please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.