London Friends propose ‘pan charity’
Bid to simplify structures as it becomes harder to fill roles.
London Quakers are proposing to form a pan-London charity encompassing all London Area Meetings (AMs), in a bid to simplify structures as the number of members of the Society diminishes.
The plans envisage ‘a Pan London charity governed by a trustee body of twelve to sixteen people, with two or three trustees appointed or nominated by each AM’. The charity would have regular meetings open to all members and attenders, and would be responsible for all standard trustee matters, such as preparation of consolidated accounts and the trustees’ annual report; staff employment; policies such as safeguarding, health and safety, and data protection; and Charity Commission compliance, according to a summary of the proposals laid out in a document shared at North London AM in late January by the Pan London Working Group.
The group was formed across the seven London AMs in 2019 to explore ‘Pan London Governance’, in line with Britain Yearly Meeting’s drive to simplify structures and reduce the amount of time spent by Friends on administration.
According to the group, there are about forty Quaker Meetings in London, which are organised into seven AMs, with each AM being a separate charity. As each AM has to appoint a clerk, assistant clerk, treasurer, registering officer, custodian of records, nomination committee and body of trustees, sixty-seven Friends, out of the 1,300 in London, are currently required to serve as trustees. ‘This is a high number for nominations committees to find and fill – 1 in 19 members needs to be a Trustee,’ says a document from the working group. ‘As the number of active Friends in London diminishes, filling these roles – as well as other Local and Area Meeting appointments… has become increasingly challenging.’
Comments
A very good idea.
By DavidH on 12th February 2021 - 15:39
The problem of finding willing and capable Friends to take on roles in Meetings is common to many Area Meetings outside London also. Because of the small size of many Meetings not every Meeting has a qualified accountant, solicitor, surveyor or other professionals whose training takes longer than the three years tenure which is quoted as the new normal for Quaker role holders. When our books of discipline were ‘Christian faith and practice in the experience of the Society of Friends’ and ‘Church government’ the section was “Each monthly meeting shall appoint from its membership a clerk, assistant clerk ,treasurer and registering officer, and these appointments shall be revised at regular intervals.” I have not found when or why the idea of a three year limit came about; it is certainly not helpful where historic knowledge, capability and experience is needed.
By Gareth E on 13th February 2021 - 15:58
A London Meeting for 40 meetings. The key think is to separate the secular and the spiritual and have professionals involved with the secular, proportional to the risk. In the Friend a single charity for Quakers in England has been suggested. This may be better. Another key issue is for the large meeting to be “owned” by all the forty local meetings equally or proportionally to each’s membership. Do not secretly nominate individuals who that “unknowingly” manage the Quakers of the forty meetings with authority. best wishes David Fish Rugby Quaker Meeting
By davidfishcf@msn.com on 20th June 2022 - 15:42
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