Page 7 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

Good governance is fundamental to any charity’s success. It enables and supports the charity’s compliance with the law and promotes a culture in which everything works towards fulfilling the charity’s vision.
As a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, the QARANC Association must have effective governance and leadership to achieve its principal purposes, aims and ambitions. It is therefore essential that we have skilled and capable trustees and can demonstrate to the Charity Commission and our members that we comply with relevant legislation and regulation.
In October 2020 the board approved the 2019-2020 Governance Statement which is submitted to the Charity Commission every year and thus fulfils our duty to report on the ways in which we have fulfilled our responsibilities and obligations relating to our overarching duties.
A full copy of the Statement can be found on the Association’s website www.qarancassociation.org.uk but here are some highlights:
The Association’s activity in the first six months of 2020 was not hindered by COVID-19 restrictions. The advent of workplace restrictions inevitably heralded changes to working practices. The central staff worked from home and this incurred expenditure: lap tops, telephones, printers, stationary items, items to ensure compliance with Health & Safety, licences for software etc.
There is a requirement for Service Charities to undertake an annual Governance self-assessment and our self-assessment was judged by COBSEO as demonstrating that we had raised the bar further on what was already a high standard. The Board has been very effective in working through and developing the 38 work strands that the 2019 organisational review produced. The projects created a lot of work and have led to considerable improvements in the management and resourcing of the Charity’s operations.
The Heritage committee has developed a comprehensive online catalogue of the Heritage Collection to document acquisitions, and record provenance, loans and disposals. Researching of purchased items will
create a useful artefact which will be offered on loan to the Museum of Military Medicine (MMM). These items remain part of the Heritage Collection and can be loaned for other purposes, when they are not on display in the MMM.
The number of personal collections donated to the Association has increased as people become aware that we are willing to take them, document and research them and, the number of enquiries from the website, Facebook or Twitter has increased.
The project to gather Oral Histories continues.
Three peer-reviewed papers were delivered at the Florence 2020 International History of Nursing Conference.
The increase in networking either by inviting others to committee meetings or involvement in wider heritage projects. For example, we were approached by The National Archives to assist in their project of reviewing all of the records of Army nurses serving in WW1 in order to create a comprehensive dataset.
The Media and Communications committee has purchased a new website with a plan to introduce it in 2021. A Media and Comms Strategy is being developed. The Association supported the social media storm on the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s in May 2020. The sponsorship of Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Development Scholarships for serving personnel has raised awareness and improved engagement with the Association. There is still a disconnect in IT between the records of serving members, provided by the Defence networked IT and the data owned by the Association. Work continues to bridge this gap.
The Membership committee has regrettably been inactive for the period 2019-2020 following the resignation of the previous committee members for personal and Service reasons. A new committee has been formed and a plan to address various membership issues will be undertaken.
In 2019 the Finance committee introduced a shadow budget process for all sub-committees prior to the introduction of formal budgeting processes. In 2020 the central office
and committees submitted projected budgets for each Financial Year to the Finance committee for review, discussion and agreement prior to ratification by the Board.
The Association has obtained authorisation from HMRC to receive Gift Aid donations
Benevolence and Grants: In 2019- 2020 the committee authorised benevolence expenditure of £105,134.72. This included costs of £26,025 attributed to COVID-19 support provided to all serving and Reservist QARANC personnel.
The inability, on the closure of Robertson House during COVID-19 workplace restrictions, of the committee to meet in person to consider applications for benevolence led to the use of email communication with personal details of applicants redacted. As a result, all benevolence requests received from caseworker agencies have been responded to. A small group of Trustees form a stand- by group to assess and comment on urgent benevolence applications and grant requests.
The use of Zoom has enabled the Association to maintain contact with Branch Chairs and Secretaries and provided a medium for the sharing of ideas in which members were being and could be supported.
Grants made during 2019-2020 included:
• Annual contribution to AMS recruiting, the AMS Band and the AMS Sports Union.
• The distribution of “keeping-in- touch” gifts to Branch members and serving and Reservist personnel during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Support to Branches for events that foster mutual friendship.
• Support to serving personnel and Units for a number of events and initiatives including
The Gazette QARANC Association 5
The QARANC Association
– delivering good governance