Dave Does Trusteeship - Alan Pavey

Being a trustee is often sold as a noble bit of public service: attend a few meetings, nod wisely, and try not to spill coffee on the agenda. The reality is rather less tidy. Trustees carry real legal duties, real responsibility, and sometimes find themselves staring at a slow-motion organisational car crash while everyone else pretends the smoke is just "a bit of operational challenge."

Dave Does Trusteeship is a practical, funny and refreshingly blunt guide to what trusteeship actually involves. It explains the job in plain English, without the usual fog of jargon, and helps trustees understand how to govern well, ask better questions, spot risk earlier and avoid the sort of mistakes that leave organisations damaged, leaders unchecked and boards wondering how on earth things got this bad.

From governance, finance and strategy to safeguarding, people issues, conflicts of interest, culture, accountability and the awkward business of acting when something is clearly going wrong, this book takes readers through the realities of board life with warmth, wit and a healthy respect for the law. It is written for current trustees, aspiring trustees, charity leaders and anyone who wants their board to be more than a decorative panel of well-meaning bystanders.

If you have ever sat in a meeting thinking, "Surely someone should be doing something about this," this book is for you. It will help you work out whether that someone is, in fact, you.