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deal with any other requests the charity may submit to them, which can hold up urgent consent applications.
You must also comply with the relevant law applicable to the sectors in which you operate.
3. Act in your charity’s best interests
Make sure you stay within your charity’s objects
Trustees must always act in the best interests of their charity’s objects in every decision they make. As the Charity Commission rightly points out this is not about serving the personal interests of trustees, bene ciaries etc.
It is one of the trustees’ key roles to set the charity’s direction for the year(s) ahead within the parameters of the objects. As religious institute charities often have fairly wide objects, problems usually only arise when either trustees do not read the objects and miss a geographical restriction (sending funds to Ireland when they can only operate in England and Wales) or when funds start off being granted to another charity for a speci c project (for example providing clean water in Sudan), but over the years the original project restriction is forgotten and a general grant starts to be paid to other charities whose objects could include for example the promotion of the Islamic faith. By accident the trustees in this example could have strayed outside their objects. So when starting a project or reviewing an old one, always check your objects rst.
Make informed decisions
Remember “It’s your decision” as trustees. While you may take advice from those outside the trustee board, ultimately it is the trustees’ responsibility to weigh up the pros and cons and come to a decision they are happy with. Below is a list of key points to consider when making a decision on how to apply the charity’s funds, and remember to always ask questions when you don’t know the answer and not stop until you are satis ed with the information you get:
(a) Are you acting within your objects and powers? (check your governing document)
(b) Are you making best use of resources?
(c) Has a rigorous business case been made?
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